My greatest strength is empathy. It helps me think through issues and find solutions that will work for all involved.
It helps me communicate with others more clearly and effectively both in terms of understanding and presenting.
I know this is my greatest strength because it was a key focus and training area I led my teams through in hospitality. It has also come up as a top skill on all my annual reviews during my hospitality career. Training others on this skill helped me recognize and develop it in myself. Since our Gear Up was about empathy I wanted to reflect on one of my other strongest skills which is resourcefulness. This skill is tied to the mindsets of agency and grit. My training to be a teacher really instilled in me that I should use my resources and never try to reinvent the wheel. Resourcefulness helps me save time that could have been wasted trying to figure something out in vain. It also means I come across more information that is related and helpful that I might not have been looking for.
I work best when I feel like I am contributing something positive to others.
Any contributions that could benefit my team, my bosses, our clients, corporate, etc will motivate me more than anything that benefits me. I also work better in a team setting compared to working on my own because I stay engaged easier when others are involved. I am less likely to get distracted when working with others and enjoy work more.
My greatest area of improvement would be either organization or composure. I have had to focus on both in my career because they do not naturally to me. I've received positive remarks for my organization and composure in my annual reviews in the past which is great but I don't often don't feel organized or composed without really focusing on it. Over time my composure has improved as I grew and matured as a professional and as a leader. I don't have to focus on this nearly as much now as I did 6 years ago. I still see this as an area of improvement because without being mindful of it, I could see this area slip again. I want to continue to focus on organization because I know that mastering this skill will benefit me so much! It would make me less stressed and more effective.
I hope to maximize my strengths by using them to be a strong team player. My empathy and communication skills will help me work well with my peers which in turn allows me to gain knowledge and insight from my them that will help me in my career. They hopefully will help me navigate difficult situations and challenges gracefully and successfully. My resourcefulness can help me find solutions and get more information that I might not have known I needed.
- How might knowing about your strengths and working preferences benefit you as a software developer?
We can't positively, proactively influence anything that is not on our radar. By knowing and understanding my strengths and working preferences, I can be purposeful and proactive in my approach so as to utilize my existing skills while developing my areas of improvement.
