What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you? I have used empathy to improve my working relationships with others. Instead of letting my personal thoughts and perspectives cloud my vision, I have learned the value in looking at things from other perspectives and often surprise myself at what I find. It can be easy to believe your own mental fallacies and that belief only grows stronger over time, however people have surprised me by giving their perspective that may be different from mine and bringing up things I would have never thought of.
How does empathy help you build better software? It allows you to see past your own vision for what you think the software should be, and envision what other people with different needs might want in a program. If you are able to strip away your own ego and understand someone elses perspective, it can really help you be more successful not just in a workplace but in the world.
Why is empathy important for working on a team? Similarly, other people might have different ideas based on their own unique experiences, and it's important to validate those ideas even if they don't apply to you, because that idea could apply to a lot of other people. It is also important to have empathy when working on a team beause if someone doesn't feel like their opinions are being validated enough it may discourage them to contribute further.
Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful. I am in a band with three of my friends, and it isn't uncommon for us to have conflicting ideas about what we play sometimes. As the chief songwriter I am often opinionated about what the rest of the band plays. If I want something changed, I will bring it up, and sometimes (let's be honest...usually) the band agrees with me but sometimes the band will have a justified reason for playing something a certain way, and instead of being selfish and insisting they play it the way I imagined I utilize my empathy to realize the value of other peoples ideas and perspectives, because they are often things I have not thought of before.
When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios? I find empathy pretty natural, actually, especially in professional settings. I suppose the hardest times are when I am dealing with a difficult client (my last job was a phone job) so it was really hard to feel empathy sometimes when you are on the phone with someone you have never, and will never meet. Often times, though, I easily got over the frustration, sometimes imagining the difficult client as a friend or family member which usually works.
What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?
I have used empathy to improve my working relationships with others. Instead of letting my personal thoughts and perspectives cloud my vision, I have learned the value in looking at things from other perspectives and often surprise myself at what I find. It can be easy to believe your own mental fallacies and that belief only grows stronger over time, however people have surprised me by giving their perspective that may be different from mine and bringing up things I would have never thought of.
How does empathy help you build better software?
It allows you to see past your own vision for what you think the software should be, and envision what other people with different needs might want in a program.
Why is empathy important for working on a team?
Similarly, other people might have different ideas based on their own unique experiences, and it's important to validate those ideas even if they don't apply to you, because that idea could apply to a lot of other people.
Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.
I am in a band with three of my friends, and it isn't uncommon for us to have conflicting ideas about what we play sometimes. As the chief songwriter I am often opinionated about what the rest of the band plays. If I want something changed, I will bring it up, and sometimes (let's be honest...usually) the band agrees with me but sometimes the band will have a justified reason for playing something a certain way, and instead of being selfish and insisting they play it the way I imagined I utilize my empathy to realize the value of other peoples ideas and perspectives, because they are often things I have not thought of before.
When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
I find empathy pretty natural, actually, especially in professional settings. I suppose the hardest times are when I am dealing with a difficult client (my last job was a phone job) so it was really hard to feel empathy sometimes when you are on the phone with someone you have never, and will never meet. Often times, though, I easily got over the frustration, sometimes imagining the difficult client as a friend or family member which usually works.