Build on your professional story by thinking about how you're progressing at Turing. Answer the questions below in your own gist to use your StrengthsFinder themes to add to your story:
Write 1-2 paragraphs about your StrengthsFinder themes: How have you seen yourself using these strengths at Turing? Has your understanding of these strengths changed since you first reflected on them? If so, how?
Being a 'learner' as my greatest strength, I continue to look for answers when I may not know them. This has been very useful as there is a lot I don't know and a lot to learn. I am also always seeking out not just a way of completing a project, but the best way of completing it. This comes hand-in-hand with ideation - also a strength -- which helps me connect the dots between different concepts and put them together. Many times here, I've felt that we're given a little information and expected to put everthing together ourselves. Thankfully, it's been happening so far.
Write a story about your Turing experience so far: When have you struggled? How have you dealt with struggle? When have you succeeded at Turing? How did you accomplish those successes?
I've struggled at times when I felt I just did not understand what I was doing. There were a few times I went to a pairing and I felt I had no idea what my pairing partners were talking about. A few times, I shut down. I've always been able to understand things and when something just seemed so far over my head, I felt like a failure. When I put that feeling on top of the pressure I already feel to succeed -- as I've quit my job and moved my family to another city to go to school -- I was in a low point. Almost always, those biggest struggles were followed by the biggest successes. Once I had time to separate myself from the problem and take a bit of rest, I broke down the solution into little pieces and celebrated each tiny step until I found myself completing what I had thought was impossible before.
Answer the question: how does your Turing story end? Create a vision for your future and your career transition into being a junior developer.
This story ends with me finding a job that fulfills me intilectually, can provide for my family and has flexibility to allow me to be able to take care of my family. The transition into a new career will take some time, but I hope to learn and figure it out the same way I do everything - by figuring it out piece by piece. I hope once I'm settled I can give back and help others who might also struggle - maybe giving support to women or mothers who would also like to change their lives and their career but feel stuck and don't know how to proceed.
After you practice storytelling in the session, answer this question: What was particularly easy or difficult about telling your story? What are 1-2 steps that you can take to continue to improve your abilities to tell your story, talk about yourself with ease, and examine your strengths?
What I found difficult about the storytelling session was talking about myself for an extended period of time. I hate talking about myself - I'd much rather tell the stories of others. However, if I want to start a new career, I need to practice more. Steps I can take are continuing to practice with my classmates, seek help from other staff members and try to attend networking events where I can practice telling my story in a low-key environment without the presssure of a possible job over my head.