- What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?
- How does empathy help you build better software?
- Why is empathy important for working on a team?
- Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.
- When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
Empathy has been an incredibly important facet of my life in so many ways; learning to cultivate empathy has helped me become a better person. I was introduced to the concept of empathy by researcher, storyteller, and social worker Dr. Brene Brown. Her work has been pivotal for me in understanding empathy, how it relates to shame, and what is the driving force behind human connection. Empathy is placing yourself inside of someone else's reality and imagining how they might encounter or feel about a specific scenario; it is the “me too” moment. When talking about development and design, imagining and reflecting on how your end user will use your product in their daily lives is hugely important. When working on a team, empathy helps us understand the perspectives and concerns of our colleagues. Empathy helps us understand the interior worlds of others and experience sonder (yes, ‘sonder’ with an ’s’ - incidentally, my favorite word in the English language.) Empathy enables us to step outside ourselves, and because it gives us a picture that is much larger than ourselves, it is an invaluable tool.