Dev Bootcamp Phase 0 - Week Three: Students Log

Early on in the Dev Bootcamp experience you are asked to research the Gregorc Thinking Styles to determine which of the four thinking styles your prefer, Concrete Sequential, Abstract Sequential, Abstract Random or Concrete Random. After taking the Personal Thinking Style Quiz, I found out that I fell into the Abstract Random bucket. Doing some initial research, I could easily see some of the personality traits closely matched me. I recall that my first thought was “yes, I am a spontaneous, adaptable, perceptive and social person by nature, but what does that really mean and how does knowing this change my experience at Dev Bootcamp?”

Well, I am almost three weeks in and I can already start to see more of the personality traits and how they directly impact some of the challenges and/or exercises that I have struggled with as well as the ones that I excelled at. For example, in Learning Styles: Concrete, Abstract, Random, and Sequential, J.D. Meier says that Abstract Random thinkers learn easily, they are comfortable processing large amounts of data and jumping around from one thing to another but have a hard time expressing what they learned. Well if you read my first cultural bog, you remember how comfortable I am with this whole blogging thing.

Besides a pathological aversion to blogging, my first three weeks at Dev Bootcamp has uncovered a couple challenging areas for me. The first portion of the curriculum that I have found challenging has been the time boxing expectations. Understanding more about my thinking style, specifically the preference to hop around from one topic to another and maintain a balance between social activities and work, I can better identify the reasons why I have struggled with time boxing. In addition, I found the longer technical reading portions can be borderline painful.

For me, the benefit of learning about and understanding my learning style is that I can adjust how I perform some of these tasks to better fit my learning style. One example of this is with the technical reading, by mixing in time reading and time actually trying some of the examples I have found that I am able to stay focused and even excited to get back and read more about the thing that I just experienced. The challenge will come when we are time restrained, it will be important that I not only be able to identify and flex my style, I will also have to be able to acknowledge areas that will be challenging and focus to push through them.

After just a few weeks at Dev Bootcamp it is clear that understanding and adjusting your thinking style is important. Much like the DISC Personality Assessment, which is a tool that is used by many businesses to help there employees understand there preferred communication style so that they can work better together as a Team; the Gregorc Thinking Styles are important because they help us understand how we can make the most out of our Dev Bootcamp experience and work together effectively in pairing sessions and team projects.

Click Here for more information on the Gregorc Thinking Styles that I found helpful.