Week 5 (July 8 - July 12)

 

Types of oral communication required at my internship include discussing with my programming partner on how I think we can solve an issue and letting them know what I think about their opinions. This is important because if partner and I are not aware of each other’s ideas and opinions, then we could be trying to implement two totally different things, which could mess up the whole code or be implementing the same thing, which would make our efforts be pointless since we both wasted our energy just to get to the same thing. It is best to discuss and work together so that we are not creating redundant code or are struggling by ourselves. Other oral communication include going to my supervisor to review a code that my partner and I have finished to get feedback on what we did well, what we need to fix, and why those changes are needed. This review process lets us know what our supervisor is looking for before he approves of our code and also lets us understand the considerations that he has to think for the CELTS users when choosing to approve or not approve a code. Written communication include writing on the Trello board at least once a day to update on the progress that my partner and I have made or if we did not make any progress, explaining what we struggled with and how we plan to resolve it. Another form of written communication include writing comments next to the code that we write in the files to explain what a code does if the code alone is not self-explanatory or if it is a complex code. These forms of written communication is for whoever has to look into the issue that we are working on so that they know what has happened, what still needs to get done, and what seems to be the biggest obstacle in resolving an issue. My academic training at Berea definitely prepared me for these forms of communication because good documentation and discussing with our programming partners are both very emphasized in the computer science courses with labs, in-class assignments, and final projects.

 

Although the relationships I have had with my programming partners have been positive overall, there are some challenges I have faced. When I am a driver, the main challenges I have had are where my partners would want me to do all the things they want without letting me know their thought process like I am a robot or not paying attention at all. When I am a navigator, challenges include my partners not listening to what I want them to try or scrolling to fast that I can’t read the code. There isn’t much I can do in these situations and so the majority of the time, I prefer to be a navigator watching what my partner does and also looking at the code on my screen so that I can read it more slowly and try the things I have in my head on my screen.

 

In terms of getting along with colleagues, I am not the type of person to strike a conversation with everyone in the room, but I make sure to communicate well with my programming partner so that it is not awkward working together. There are some partners that I get along with really well that we end up talking beyond just the tasks at work and asking each other about our past, interests, and history. I think those conversations, although they seem unrelated to work, are the best ones since they are a sign that we get along really well, and we enjoy each other’s company.

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