So I am finishing up Week 5 of Dev Bootcamp and I have gotten several good pairing sessions under my belt as well as some feedback from said pairing sessions. I have talked about the technical side of pairing (what it is, why it works), but this time, I want to discuss how I felt about it. I also want to talk about how I felt about the feedback I was given.
When I first started to approach pairing (and still a little now), I would start to get really nervous. I felt it was a combination of shyness and fear of my inadequacy. I was afraid I would hold the other person down. What I got was far different. I found the people I paired with to be in about the same boat as me. Some may have been a little ahead or behind, but no real discernible difference. What was super rewarding for me were moments when I was able to help someone through a concept they were struggling with. I was able to watch their "ah-ha" moment. It helped solidify in me the idea that "ok, I can actually do this." I won't say that my shyness has completely dissipated. I still find myself getting nervous when I pair with someone new. What has changed for me is the realization that we are all in this together and people want to help more than they want to tear you down.
As far as I can tell, this is my first experience where I get constant written feedback from my peers. All of the feedback I read was very positive, even when there were criticisms. I found that to be very encouraging. One recurring criticism was that I sometimes blur the line between driving and navigating and take control of the pair. My first reaction was to get defensive. "How dare they think I was messing up!" But when I took a step back and really thought about it I realized they were completely right. I did tend to run the session. Especially when I was excited about the material. I realized that though this helped me, it wasn't beneficial for the people I was pairing with. I was robbing them of a key aspect of their learning. After I realized this, I was able to make some corrections to how I did things and saw an immediate return.
The other aspect to feedback is giving it. I would always make a point of giving feedback right after a session. I wanted to make sure that my feelings and experiences were fresh in my mind. The trouble I had was making sure I hit all aspects of ASK (Actionable, Specific, Kind) feedback. I found it difficult to always pin point, what I considered, specific or actionable things. The other tricky thing is trying to give feedback that is uplifting but still effective. It really made me think about how to phrase my feedback. This had an unintended consequence. While I was thinking this hard about how to give the feedback, I would also reflect on my actions and find ways to improve myself. By giving feedback to others, I was unintentionally improving myself.
I would say that so far, the pairing and feedback process has been my favorite thing about my time at DBC. It has really helped me grow not just as a programmer but also as an individual.