Hello!
For the final pattern blog of the semester, I decided to close off with the “A Different Road” pattern from “Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman” by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye.
This pattern is related to following your own map but straying from the Long Road in the process. As you spend time following the Long Road, you may come to see that your values have changed. For example, you may value family or money more than before. Your goals may not align anymore and this may cause you to leave the Long Road. However, what you have learned along the way isn’t rendered completely useless–they can be applied in other ways to whatever you choose to do.
You may realize after leaving the Long Road that you would like to go back. There may be some organizations that would give you a tough time for that gap in your resume, but there are some organizations that aren’t as bothered by that and may welcome your perspective of leaving and returning to the field. The pattern encourages you to not be afraid to go for something different, and either way, your skills can be utilized in a different way. You can take action by making a list of what you would do if you were not a software developer, and what you may enjoy– and reach out to people who are doing those jobs to learn what their experience is like, and compare it to what you like about software development.
I think this was a useful pattern to read. It is recognizing that some people change, and they may shift what their focus is on. I think it’s reassuring to see that it acknowledges the industry may be tough on people who have gaps in their resume but that wouldn’t be a complete set-back. It wouldn’t be the end if we can’t exactly make it back to the kind of position we were in before, but some important skills we gained along the way can be transferred to something new. There’s more flexibility than we think, and I think that I would definitely have this in mind going forward. Sometimes it feels like I may be reaching a dead end if I don’t meet certain deadlines, but of course, we all have different timelines and paths. I don’t have anything I disagree with for this pattern as I agree that diverging doesn’t mean the end of everything or means that everything would be wasted.
CS With Sarah 