# Welcome to Professional Development at Code Your Future ## Why Professional Development? At Code Your Future our aim is to empower people to change their lives by giving them the tools to have a successful career in tech. We choose to work with people facing significant barriers to employment. We know that learning tech skills alone is not enough to become employable. ## What do we do? We developed the Professional Development (PD) syllabus in response to these challenges. We work together with the Tech Education team to help trainees manage their learning and improve their employability. ## How do we do that? From Fundamentals to Final Projects, the basic concept we want our trainees to understand is that agile teams use people with different skill sets playing different roles (e.g. designer, developer, QA) to produce something together. Each module of our software development course is four weeks and each week has one hour-long PD session. We are focusing on the following soft skills: * Basic professional skills * Confidence * Communication * Time/Project management * Teamwork * Employability ## Existing Resources * Docs * * Technical Syllabus * * Technical Teacher Training * *This is a living document. Expect it to change and grow over time. If you'd like to suggest an enhancement or change please speak to the Head of PD.* # Ice-breakers Play these games as a whole group to get to know each other, cooperate, build empathy and connection. ## Resource {% embed url="" %} # Connect me This is a fun writing activity that can promote empathy and connection. ### **Steps** 1. This game should ideally be played with all cameras on if the participants are online. 2. The facilitator types in a word or a phrase, one at a time. Examples: strawberry, New York, sky, ball, one year. 3. Participants have 1-2 minutes to write something about themselves associated with the word or phrase - or something they associate with the word or phrase. 4. Facilitator plans a speaking order and sets a timer for 2 minutes. 5. Sentences are shared. 6. The facilitator shares the next word or phrase. 7. After one round or more, there can be a brief reflection before going on to the next word. ### **Reflection** * What was this activity like for you? * Did you discover anything? * How did this activity make you feel? * What did you learn about other people today? #### **Tips** * Depending upon the groups’ level of maturity, a participant could suggest a word and send it to the facilitator. * Depending on the group’s median age, words (like justice, hope, safety, etc.) can be more evocative and challenging, and touch off deeper conversation. # Move together This embodied team-building activity builds visual focus and concentration, and invites non-verbal connection. ### **Steps** 1. This is a physical game that requires participants be on camera if participating online. 2. Explain that you will start a movement, and everyone should try to follow you and move together. 3. Keep the initial moment simple and slow, and encourage participants to work together nonverbally. Focus on the movement, and remind the group your goal is for everyone to move together. 4. As the group gets more practice with moving together, ask another participant to take over as the leader. You can rotate the lead role so everyone has a chance to lead the group through movement. 5. Advanced challenge: If the group likes movement and finds this to be easy, challenge everyone to move together without a lead. ### **Reflection** * What skills are we building as a team when we move together nonverbally? * How is moving together on-screen different than moving in real space if you were online? * How is moving on-screen different than talking on-screen if you were online? #### **Tips** * If online, on Zoom video settings there is a box called “Mirror My Video.” For this game, it’s recommended that everyone turn this feature off if they are online, so that everyone works with the same screen orientation. # Cooperative counting This activity builds group cooperation, focus, and concentration.\ **Steps** 1. The goal is to count to 20 as a group. Someone will start with “1,” then someone else will say “2” and so on. (NO assigned order) 2. Anyone can say a number. However, if two people speak at the same time, you go back to 1 and start again from the beginning. 3. If the group gets to 20 and wants to continue, the group can see how high they can count, or go backwards from 20 to 1. 4. Optional: Depending on the size of the group, you can require that every person contributes at least one of the numbers. \ **Reflection** Invite students to share: * What was challenging about this? * What did we have to do as a group to work together? * How could our group take it to the next level next time we play? \ **Tips** * If the group finds this challenging, ask, “What could we do as a group to do better?” Encourage suggestions that build teamwork such as listen closely, everyone only say one number, remember who has gone before, etc. * Discourage short-cuts such as establishing a pattern or using nonverbal signals. # Conversation starters ### A**ctivity 1** Choose 2-3 of the following questions to ask. Write the questions in the Slack channel and make a thread everyone can add to. * Do you want to stay the same age forever? If yes, what age would that be? * What is your favorite possession? * If you could grab one superpower, which one would you pick? * Are you a morning bird or a night owl? * Which season is your favorite? Autumn, Winter, Spring, or Summer? * Do you prefer writing with pen and paper or digitally? * Do you prefer large group hangouts or smaller groups? * Would you prefer to go to the mountains or the beach? * What is the coolest vacation you have ever taken? * What’s your favorite food? * Which historical figure would you want to meet? ### **Activity 2** First player decides on a topic and chooses a person in the group to start. That person has 15 seconds to name five specific items within the topic. Then that player chooses another topic and another player to continue. Continue until everyone has had a turn. ### **Activity 3** Use these 12 carefully designed questions that require team members to step out of their comfort zone, open up a bit more and be vulnerable. * Where do you see yourself in 10 years? * What do you want people to remember you for when you die? * What aspect of your personality is the most valuable to those around you? * Recall the best day of your life. Why was it the best? * Recall the worst day of your life. Why was it so bad? * If you could add or improve upon one characteristic of your personality, what would you add/improve? * Who has been the most influential individual in your life thus far? * When considering what makes you feel engaged and dedicated to work, what three characteristics do you look for in a work environment? * Name a few things in a work environment or situation that would compel you to look for a new/future job and leave? * What qualities and skills does a good boss/manager have in your opinion? * What is one of your biggest goals within your personal life? * What is your biggest accomplishment within your academic or professional life? # Problem solving Imagine you are going to choose the next class for CYF from the people doing Intro to Digital. Discuss in your group and come up with your admissions criteria. Write your notes on a virtual whiteboard like the class Miro board or Google Jamboard. You will be presenting your criteria to the group at the end. * What characteristics (technical or soft skills) are you looking for in the applicants? * What characteristics are you not looking for in the applicants? * What are some of the things you need to consider when choosing who gets into the class? After 10 mins present your criteria. After the first group presents, the following groups only present anything that is different from the previous group. # Gesture relay \ This activity builds group focus and cooperation, encourages active participation and demonstrates the importance of each individual in the group pattern. **Steps** 1. Make sure everyone in the group can see each other. 2. Explain that you will establish a pattern by sending a CLAP to someone and saying their name. They will then send the CLAP to someone else and say their name. Everyone should receive the CLAP one time only. The last person to receive the CLAP passes it back to the facilitator. If necessary, help participants identify who has not yet received the CLAP. 3. Tell participants to remember WHO they received and sent the CLAP to. Explain that our first goal is to establish a pattern that can be repeated. 4. Send the CLAP through the group again, SAYING THE NAME of the recipient, while following the same pattern. 5. When the group has successfully sent the CLAP through the same pattern twice, pause when you receive it. Tell the group you are now going to send through the same pattern, WITHOUT saying the name of the person you are sending it to. 6. Optional intermediate step: When/if the group masters sending the CLAP without saying the names for 2-3 rounds, announce that after sending the CLAP, you will start sending a second movement in the same order. (This can be a SNAP or something else you choose). Our goal is to keep both gestures moving through the established pattern. 7. Advanced step: When/if the group masters sending two gestures around consistently, announce that you will add a third gesture. (This can be a WAVE or something else). Try to keep all three gestures moving through the pattern consistently. This will probably take some practice and playing the game a few times.\ **Reflection** * What did we have to do, individually and as a group, to keep the gestures moving around? * What is challenging about this game? * What skills are we building with this game? \ **Tips** * It’s best to make sure each gesture is different from the others, so they are clear to see. * You can invite participants to suggest the three gestures. * Once participants know the game, you can call on a participant to be the lead and start sending each of the gestures. * Conversation during the game can confuse things, so point out that if we’re talking, we may lose track of the gesture. * Strategy tip: Always keep your focus on the person you are receiving gestures from. (Better to let participants discover this themselves) * Keep track to ensure that both gestures continue to move around the group in the pattern. When a gesture gets dropped, you can say “We lost our CLAP movement, I’m going to start it again.” # Fundamentals The personal development objective of Fundamentals module is to develop basic introspection skills. ## # Week 1 - Introspection ### **Session: PD Intro** **Session objective:** Professional Development starts here. Today is the very beginning of your career journey, and it starts by thinking about your personal and professional development. #### Exercise 1 (30 min) **Exercise objective:** To identify goals and motivations. Work in small groups. Introduce yourself. Identify a speaker for your group. Answer the following questions in turns: * Why did you apply to CYF? * What is one goal you have achieved in your life? * What is your career goal? The speaker presents the group's ideas to the class. #### **Exercise 2 (30 min)** **Exercise objective:** To discuss specific actions and commitments. Work in small groups. Identify a speaker for your group. Discuss why you want a job in tech and name three actions you will take as a commitment to your journey into your new career. Consider following questions: * Will you keep up to date with job opportunities by researching roles? * Will you build side projects to make yourself stand out? * Will you commit to CYF? The speaker presents the group's three specific actions to the class. # Fundamentals W1 coursework ### Coursework #### Tips for Success (PD - 1 hr) Read the [Tips for Success page](https://syllabus.codeyourfuture.io/fundamentals/preparation/tips) and join a thread in your class’ Slack channel to discuss how you will apply them. Create the thread if nobody else has already done so. # Week 2 - Feedback ### **Session: Giving and receiving feedback** **Session objective:** Transparency is the key to success. An important part of being a successful developer is the ability to give and receive feedback. In order to start that process, you must be able to showcase your work in progress. Now that you have had a chance to try some coding, it’s time to be transparent and talk about it. #### Exercise 1 **(20 min per person)** **Exercise objective:** To talk about challenges, ask and give feedback. Find a partner. In pairs take turns to discuss the questions below. Talk through your fears, get feedback, and work together to find solutions to some of the challenges you face. Each person has to give one piece of advice to support their fellow team member: * When it comes to showing your work in progress, what are your three biggest fears? * How will you overcome these fears? * When it comes to showing your work in progress, what’s the absolute worst thing that can happen? * What is the best thing that can happen? * When it comes to the working world, what do you need from your teammates? * How will you support your teammates? * What’s a better outcome, making a mistake and learning something new or never making mistakes and never learning at all? After 20 min, switch groups. #### **Exercise 2 (10 min)** **Exercise objective:** To practice public speaking skills Volunteer to share your challenges to the class and ask for feedback. # Fundamentals W2 coursework ### Coursework #### Organise a study session (PD - 2 hr) Working together is the best way for you to learn. Teaching someone else helps to strengthen your knowledge. And getting help from your fellow students saves you time and keeps you from becoming a passive learner. You will be randomly assigned a group using [random list team generator](https://www.randomlists.com/team-generator). In groups of 3, organise a study session to work on one piece of coursework. As a group you must decide on: * The topic of the call * The time of call (give people a few hours to get ready. Remember Slack is asynchronous communication) * Who will create the link to Google Meet where you will have the call * Who will open (start) the call in Google Meet. Once you have decided the above: * Make an announcement in Slack with your topic, time and link to call (anyone can join even if they are not in your group. Just keep to one topic and maximum 5-6 people in a call) * Ask people to react with an emoji if they want to attend * What should you do if there are too many people? Decide on a plan of action. # Week 3 - Presentations ### **Session: Presentations** **Session objective:** You have now developed several products. It’s time to deliver like a professional. As a developer, you will * develop an MVP * test your product * be transparent about the challenges you have faced * discuss the next iteration of your product Developers are always iterating their products, which is why you might experience software updates on your devices at home. Each iteration is shared in public. It’s time to showcase your work. #### Exercise 1 **(20 min)** **Exercise objective:** To prepare presentations Once you have shipped your website you will deliver a 3-min presentation. You do not need to make slides, but you must show your product. Your presentation you must cover the following * The CYF Blocks project you developed * Why you chose it * What your goals were * What your challenges were * What you learned * What you would do differently if you had another opportunity #### **Exercise 2 (30 min)** **Exercise objective:** To practice public speaking skills Work in small groups. Each trainee has up to 5 min to present a summary of their product their group. # Fundamentals W3 coursework ### Coursework #### Linkedin profile (PD - 1 hr) Professional communication is critical when it comes to landing a role. Employers are looking for passionate candidates and use platforms like Linkedin to source future employees. Set up your LinkedIn profile. Let employers know that you have built your first product and started your journey into the tech industry. #### Soft skills research (PD - 1 hr) It’s time to do your research. It’s time to get familiar with the industry that you want to work in. Search for roles on Google: look at the person specifications that companies are hiring for. Fill out the form below with the three soft skills employers are currently looking for. You will find roles on CW Jobs, Linkedin, Indeed, and any jobs board. Employers are looking for Full Stack developers that can: 1. Build rapport with a diverse range of people 2. Employers are looking for Front End developers that can: 1. Effectively present information and respond to questions from management, business, and users 2. Employers are looking for UX designers that can: 1. Employers are looking for QA testers that can: 1. Employers are looking for product managers that can: 1. # Welcome and Induction The Induction module introduces the expectations from Code Your Future Trainees, the technical and soft skills to be developed and the support available during the course. ## Celebration!!! Make an effort to mark the achievements up to this point. You completed ITD and Fundamentals. Some of you never wrote a line of code before that! # Session 1: Goals and Expectations ### Session 1: Goals and Expectations **Session objective:** The presentation below aims to identify your goal(s) for being on the CYF software development course; to highlight the expectations CodeYourFuture has for its trainees; and to introduce the concept of progressing from the Intro to Digital, Fundamentals courses to the software development course. {% embed url="" %} Goals and expectations slides {% endembed %} # Session 2: What do developers do? ### Session 2: What do developers do? **Session objective:** In this section we'll explore how a professional developer behaves and thus how you should behave. #### Exercise (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To brainstorm and think about future responsibilities. Work in small groups, imagine all the day-to-day activities and behaviours of a professional software developer. Use an online board (Miro, Google Jamboard, etc.). Think about whether you do all those things already. Discuss how to change things so you begin to do more and more of those things. Highlight that practice is the way to develop. # Session 3: SDOT analysis ### Session 3: SDOT analysis **Session objective:** In this session, each participant will do a SDOT (Strengths, Developments, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. #### Exercise (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To conduct a personal SDOT analysis Think about the key areas that you want to improve on by some introspective work and writing your own personal SDOT analysis: * Strengths: What are you great at? What makes you personally stand out from other people? What positive comments do people say about your strengths? What are your greatest achievements? * Developments: What skills do I need to work on? Where do you need to improve? What holds you back? What key habits do you want to overcome? What do others say about your development areas? * Opportunities: If I invest my time in my technical skills, I will land a good job. Who can help me achieve my goals? What can I do differently to other people that makes me more employable? How can I go the extra mile? How can I make opportunities happen for myself? * Threats: What could stop me from achieving my career goals? What do I need to stop doing now? What's out of my control that I can’t change? # Induction coursework ### Coursework #### Applied Digital Skills class - Communication course (PD - 1 hr) Join and work through our Applied Digital Skills class - Communication course 1. Go to g.co/AppliedDigitalSkills 2. Click "Sign in" in the top right 3. Sign in with your Google account, or create a new one 4. Click "I am a student" 5. Click "Join a class" and enter class code: qchyyg 6. Start the Communicate Effectively at Work course 7. Do lessons "1 - Communicate Effectively at Work Introduction" and "2. Facilitate a Team Meeting" 8. Share the links of the exercises of both lessons Use this applied digital skills course to help you with your communication skills. # HTML / CSS The PD objective of the HTML-CSS module is to focus on communication skills that are essential for a developer. ## # Week 1 - Developer communication ### Session: Developer communication **Session objective:** In this section we'll explore how a professional developer uses technical language to communicate to different audiences. #### Exercise (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To explain concepts to different audiences Work in small groups. Prepare a 3 min tutorial based on what you have learned so far. Address one of the three different audiences:: * A group of 10 year olds * Your boss * A peer group at a similar level to you The tutorial should explain the following: 1. Why is it important to build accessible websites? 2. What is an HTML tag? 3. What is semantic HTML? 4. What is the CSS box model? #### Exercise (30 min) **Exercise objective:** To practice public speaking skills Volunteer to present back to the class. #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To reflect on tasks and identify strengths Reflect on what you found challenging and share one positive feedback to the wider group. # HTML/CSS W1 coursework ### Coursework #### Create a study schedule (PD - 1.5 hr) Over the next months you will have lots of coursework to complete! How will you manage it all? Create a study schedule. This activity will give you practice using Google sheets to create and maintain a schedule. Go to the link below and do the course. Completed the quiz at the end of the course. We will be able to see your responses. [Create a goal setting worksheet here](https://applieddigitalskills.withgoogle.com/c/middle-and-high-school/en/create-a-study-schedule-to-meet-your-goals/overview.html). #### Learn how to use Google Doc and Slides (PD - 1 hr) The goal is for you to be comfortable using Google Doc and Google Slides, which you will use a lot in your professional life. 1. Go to g.co/AppliedDigitalSkills 2. Click "Sign in" in the top right 3. Sign in with your Google account, or create a new one 4. Click "I am a student" 5. Click "Join a class" and enter class code: qchyyg 6. Start the Communicate Effectively at Work course 7. Do lessons "4 - Communicate Ideas in a Proposal" and "5. Present Information About Your Job" 8. Share the links to the exercises of both lessons Use this applied digital skills course to help you with your communication skills. # Week 2 - Active listening ### Session: Active listening **Session objective:** This section explores active listening techniques, good listenings habits and offers tips for better listening skills. #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** Identify feelings resulting from passive listening 1. Group splits into two (A & B) 2. Bs leave the room and wait outside 3. Instruction for As: Whilst listening to their partner, As will put their hand up for five seconds everytime their partner says something that evokes As 'inner voice' (e.g. they want to ask a question, makes them think about something etc.). They do this for the entire conversation. They are not allowed to interact with Bs; ask questions, affirm understanding, etc. They just raise their hand every time their inner voice kicks in. 4. Instruction for Bs: Bs will speak to As about something of interest to themselves; an experience, last holiday, anything positive that has happened in the last six months. They have three minutes to talk. 5. Bs come back into the room, each trainee from group B pairs up with another trainee from group As. 6. Bs talk for three minutes to their pairs. 7. At the end of the three minutes groups switch, and they repeat the exercise the other way around. 8. At the end of the second three minutes, trainees discuss how they felt while talking or listening to their pairs, and what emotions were evoked. {% embed url="" %} Active listening slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (15 min) **Exercise objective:** To reflect on learning and come up with practical ideas for communication challenges Step 1: Write down in bullet points how you can build trust within a team Step 2: Write down in bullet points how you will show empathy and concern for others Step 3: Write down how you will seek clarity if someone in your group is not clear, and clarify when someone has misunderstood what you are trying to say Step 4: Write down three open-ended questions which will help you to de-escalate a conflict in your group # HTML/CSS W2 coursework ### Coursework #### Active listening techniques (PD - 1 hr) Read [these active listening techniques](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UnYMDsrN60PIDKOep6QO780pAZzGuXjPCuB-6m_aheI/edit) and reflect. Write a 250 word essay on your own listening habits, challenges and improvement goals. # Week 3 - Delivering tutorials ### Session: Delivering tutorials **Session objective:** In this section we'll continue exploring how to use the technical language to communicate to different audiences. #### Exercise (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To explain concepts to different audiences Work in small groups. Prepare a 3 min tutorial based on what you have learned so far to one of the four different audiences: 1. A group of 10 year olds 2. People who are new internet users 3. Your boss 4. A team of new developers The tutorial should explain the following: 1. What are HTML forms used for? 2. How do form control labels benefit users? 3. Why are forms useful for different types of users? #### Exercise (30 min) **Exercise objective:** To practice public speaking skills Volunteer to present back to the class. #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To reflect on tasks and identify strengths Reflect on what you found challenging and share one positive feedback to the wider group. # HTML/CSS W3 coursework ### Coursework #### Developing a growth mindset as a developer (PD - 1 hr) Task 1: Write your reflections on on why it is important to have a growth mindset as a developer and how a growth mindset will positively impact you in your career in the long term. Video 1: Task 2: Introspection Learn more about neuroplasticity (Watch, Hear, See). How can you change your brain? Is neuroplasticity, the biological foundation for growth mindset? 1. Watch this Sentis Brain Animation Series video - 2. Based on the information in the video reflect on these questions: * When did I have a closed mindset this week, and why? * When did I have an open mindset this week, and why? * What have I learnt about myself, as a result? * What will I do differently next time? Task 3: Reflect on what your barriers are when it comes to participating in live coding, hold yourself accountable and write in the Slack channel about what actions you will take in order to overcome your barriers to participating in live coding and write a supportive message to your peers who have shared their barriers in the channel. # Week 4 - Presentations ### Session: Presentations **Session objective:** It's time to reflect on what you have learned and share it with each other. #### Exercise (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To work on a task as a team Work in small groups. Prepare a 3-min presentation. Your presentation must cover the following points: * Why it is important to build accessible websites? You must cover who browses the web, and the different types of users * What form controls we use when we want the user to choose multiple options from a list * The difference between the DOM API and the Accessibility API * Why it's important to be transparent as a developer * Why developers use pull requests * Why we do a retro #### Exercise (30 min) **Exercise objective:** To practice public speaking skills Volunteer to present back to the class. #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To reflect on learnings and processes, to come up with suggestions Let's spend some time on a class retrospective for the this module. Discuss the following points: * What we covered over the past weeks * What parts we enjoyed * What we will do differently in the next module * What tips and tricks we can share with each other * What advice we would give to the next class # HTML/CSS W4 coursework ### Coursework #### Using critical thinking to remain inclusive as a developer (PD - 1.5 hr) Companies are very interested in the data provided by Apply Magic Sauce. Automated language analysis is already being used in the hiring of personnel. Click on the link below for the source of this information. [Apply Magic Sauce](https://applymagicsauce.com/demo) is an alternative machine interpretation of one’s personality based on the analysis of how a person writes a sentence in an email or the types of content they like on social media. This is great when it gets the personality traits 99% accurate. But what if it goes horribly wrong and ruins lives? Choose one thing that Apply Magic Sauce can do that you don't like (or like the least). Describe what it is and say why you don't like it (250 words). Below are three scenarios for you to contemplate: 1. What if the software wrongfully judges and jeopardises a person’s career without their knowledge? 2. Are humans unable to think for themselves and do they have to rely on machines to form a non-holistic opinion? 3. Are civilians expected to be on guard at all times and be careful of what they say and how they comment a post or tweet in a censored cyber world where everything is traceable and nothing is ever really erased? [Additional article](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-internet-knows-you-better-than-your-spouse-does/) # JavaScript 1 The PD objective of the JS1 module is to improve teamwork and professional skills. ## # Week 1 - Agile development ### Session: Agile development **Session objective:** This session provides an overview of the agile software development methodology. {% embed url="" %} Agile development slides {% endembed %} # JS1 W1 coursework ### Coursework #### Course Checklist (PD - 15 min) Previous CYF trainees built the following course checklist to self-assess their understanding. 1. Reflect on your understanding so far 2. Fill in the course checklist for HTML/CSS 3. Take the PDF to your study group and work on the areas you have identified You can use [this checklist](https://cyf-course-checklist.netlify.app/) throughout the course. # Week 2 - Dealing with conflict in teams ### Session: Dealing with conflict in teams Adapted from [Tectonica Interpersonal Conflict Resolution](https://github.com/Techtonica/curriculum/blob/main/career/conflict-resolution.md). **Session objective:** This session explores what conflict is and the common ways we address it; how can we add to our conflict resolution toolkits and become better at solving conflict effectively; what effective body language is; what effective choice of words is; and how to build trust among teams. {% embed url="" %} Conflict resolution slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise 1 (15 min) **Exercise objective:** To role-play a workplace conflict scenario. We are going to read through the scenario and practice with some role play. In groups of 3 – one person will play the role of Missy, one person will play her manager, and the third person will be the observer. Missys: It’s after the meeting and you are going to talk with your manager about what happened. You want to practice doing this the right way – click back to previous slide for advice. Managers: You will play the role you think the manager might play – you can respond well, or poorly to Missy – the choice is yours. Observers: you will be experiencing this practice session as an invisible observer. If you see Missy struggling or stumbling, you are the only person who can call a time out and provide her with some coaching/advice. You get 3 minutes to prepare. **Exercise 2 (5 min)** **Exercise objective:** To identify feelings evoked through different body languages. SStand (if able) and face another trainee. (If you're online, you'll be placed in separate breakout rooms). First, display to each other an example of closed body language. * How do you feel about the communication? Now display an example of open body language and eye contact. * How do you feel about that communication? Facilitators will adapt the exercise to the diverse needs of trainees, or skip the exercise when the adaptation is not possible. **Exercise 3 (5 min)** **Exercise objective:** To identify the impact of emphasis and intonation during verbal communication. Try reading "I can't wait to go to work today" out loud like you are excited. Now try nervous, and angry. Say the sentence out loud emphasizing the word “I”. Next try emphasizing “work”, and “today”. How does the sentence means different things when you emphasize different words? Facilitators will adapt the exercise to the diverse needs of trainees, or skip the exercise when the adaptation is not possible. # JS1 W2 coursework ### Coursework #### Resolving conflicts (PD - 7 min) Watch this 7-minute video on [Resolving Workplace Conflicts](https://youtu.be/qDfSYz0PX9g). #### Writing an email for an internship (PD - 1 hr) Draft an email to apply for an internship at a fictional company called Vonda. Make sure to include the five things below: 1. Why you want to become a software developer 2. Your background and your past 3. What you are doing at the moment 4. Where you see yourself in the future 5. Why Vonda should give you the opportunity to do an internship The email should be formatted in a way that is ready to be sent. Make sure you include a subject title and pay attention to the formatting (font type and size, alignment etc). # Week 3 - Critical thinking ### Session: Critical thinking **Session objective:** This session highlights the importance of critical thinking for developers, and provides methods to form good arguments. {% embed url="" %} Critical thinking slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To identify arguments formed through critical thinking Put the statements in the slides in the right order. #### Exercise (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To brainstorm as a group about critical thinking skills. Work in small groups. Explore how and why developers need to develop critical thinking skills. * How will you use critical thinking skills as a developer? * Why is it important to use critical thinking skills when developing products for diverse audiences? #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To practice public speaking skills Volunteer to share to the wider group one important reason to use critical thinking. # JS1 W3 coursework ### Coursework #### Working with your team (PD - 2 hr) Every week you will be requesting feedback from two people to help you get more insight into how you are progressing. This week, invite one person from the class you have worked with this week (someone you have not already asked for feedback) for a call, and invite your PD or Education Buddy. Ask for their feedback. Write a 250 words essay reflecting on your strengths and development areas as a result of their feedback. # Week 4 - Asking good questions ### Session: Asking good questions [Adapted from Tectonica workshop](https://github.com/Techtonica/curriculum/blob/main/onboarding/asking-good-questions.md) **Session objective:** This session focuses on learning on the job by being proactive and asking for help in a structured way. {% embed url="" %} Asking good questions slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (15 min) **Exercise objective:** To practice asking questions following the format provided. Work in small groups. Pick a programming concept that you have difficulty with or are trying to learn. Use StackOverflow to see if you can get some good information about it. Role play for asking questions with a partner, use the the template sample script: "*I could use some help. I’m using this tech stack: \_\_. I want to \_\_ to accomplish \_\_. I searched for \_\_and I read \_\_ and tried \_\_. I’m getting this error/result: \_\_. I think the problem could be \_\_. Here’s a link to my code: \_\_. Do you have any suggestions for me?*" # JS1 W4 coursework ### Coursework #### Writing a meeting request email (PD - 30 min) In the following scenario imagine you are a recruit for a company and your team leader asks you to write an email requesting a meeting with the Head of Customer Services (HCS). Remember to include the subject line and use appropriate formatting.\ \ *HCS has complained about the customer services application to the software team leader. He has found some frustrating problems with the user interface. The team leader told you to go and see the HCS, find out what is wrong and then come back with improvements. The HCS is very busy. You should email requesting a meeting and outline clearly what you needs the meeting for.* # JavaScript 2 The PD objective of the JS2 module is to focus on teamwork skills that are essential for a developer. ## # Week 1 - Setting up the team ### Session: Setting up the team During the JS2 module, you will prepare a **Teamwork Project** for your PD coursework. You will set up a team and work on a fictional product for a fictional client. You are not going to do any coding. This project aims to improve your teamwork skills. You will learn how to prepare for a project before the web development phase. You will: * Set up your team * Agree on the fictional product you will prepare for * Define the minimum viable product for your project * Prepare a brief for your project **Session objective:** In this session, we will talk about tech teams and different tech roles. We will briefly discuss different aspects of teamwork; such as setting up goals, software development processes, time management, communication, and conflict management. #### Exercise (10 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To brainstorm about teamwork at tech industry Think about the teams you will work with in future when you move in tech. Discuss in groups: * What is your dream future job? * What job roles will be in your team? * What other people/teams will you interact with? * What non-technical skills do you bring? * What non-technical skills should you develop while at CYF? Work in groups for about 5 minutes, then discuss as a class for 5 minutes. #### Exercise (5 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To talk about different roles in tech teams The following are the roles typically found within a development team. There are plenty of roles other than ‘Full-Stack Developer’. Discuss as a class the responsibilities of the following tech roles: * A front end web developer * A back end web developer * A UX/UI designer or UX researcher * A Product manager * A QA tester * Tech lead * Team lead / Manager **\*Answer key\*** Brief descriptions of the roles: * A front end web developer: developer that mainly works on the look and feel of the website * A back end web developer: developer that mainly works on the server-side code (database, API, etc) * A UX/UI designer or UX researcher: Provides the design of the website * A Product manager: Sets work priorities, and product direction * A QA tester: quality assurance team member. Their responsibility is to test the work that developers produce, making sure it works well, with no defects or missing functionality. * Tech lead: Hands-on developer responsible for tech excellence, code best practices (no people management responsibilities) * Team lead / Manager: Hands-on developer responsible for the wellbeing of the team, and team morale (sometimes has people management responsibilities) #### Exercise (10 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To discuss the importance of setting clear goals and responsibilities within a team You might come across the following questions in your future work as part of a ceremony called “team charter”. Team charters define roles, responsibilities and ways of working. If these are not clear for you when you join a new company, you should ask and seek clarification urgently. Discuss as a class: * Why is it important for your team to understand their main goal? * Why is it important for everybody on your team to understand the role each other play? * What happens when you are not clear about these two points? #### Exercise (5 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To get familiar with different processes in the software development cycle Match the process to the stage in the software development cycle (SDC) as a class. Don’t go too much into detail, you can do some research later if you would like to learn more. These processes vary from company to company, and determine what steps need to happen before code is shipped to production. They aim to reduce the risk of mistakes going to production. For example during the deployment process, code is reviewed by at least one person, deployed to a testing environment (server), successfully tested by a QA, and the release is scheduled to a time approved by the end customer. **Process:** a. Gathering Requirements b. Code Review c. Bug Fixes d. Deployment Processes **Software Development Cycle:** 1. Planning 2. Analysis 3. Design 4. Implementation 5. Testing\&Integration 6. Maintenance What other processes can you think of? **\*Answer Key\*** Gathering Requirements - Analysis and planning Code Review - Implementation Bug Fixes - Testing and maintenance Deployment Processes - Integration #### Exercise (10 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To identify the most common time management challenges when working as a team Work in groups for about 5 minutes, then discuss as a class for 5 minutes: * How will you ensure that your group will remain on schedule? * What is your strategy if the project falls behind schedule? #### Exercise (10 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To recognise the value of co-working tools Work in groups for about 5 minutes, then discuss as a class for 5 minutes: * What is your strategy for communication within your team? * How would you work with your team to agree on task/workload allocation? What tools will you use? **\*Answer Key\*** For the second question the correct answer at CYF is “GitHub Projects”. Some examples for tools: Jira, GitHub (repo and project boards), IDE (integrated development environment), Slack, Teams, Google calendar, Calendly, Microsoft Office, Outlook, shared documents, Miro, Figma, Jamboard #### Exercise (10 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To brainstorm about the causes of conflicts and methods to manage them Remember, there will be a more detailed PD session on conflict resolution in the upcoming weeks. Work in groups for about 5 minutes, then discuss as a class for 5 minutes: * How would you communicate key challenges in your team? * How would you minimise conflicts in your team? * How would you resolve conflicts in your team? * How would you hold each other accountable? * How would you hold yourself accountable? # JS2 W1 coursework ### Coursework #### Teamwork Project - Set your team up (PD - 1 hour) In small groups, your challenge is to collaborate and design a product for a fictional client. Your product must have a positive impact on the world or solve a global challenge, for example you might choose to build a website that provides information on how to grow your own food. The goal of this teamwork project is for you to understand how the pre-work of the coding is done. This is an important phase and, if done well, can ensure the teamwork is efficient and delivers fast. The team should be: * A mix of technical skills/levels * A mix of genders * Groups can be max size of 5 1. Define the team 2. Define what fictional product you would build #### Teamwork Project - Roles research (PD - 1h) Each of the team members should research one of the roles below: * A front end web developer * A back end web developer * A UX/UI designer or UX researcher * A Product manager * A QA tester Once you have researched the roles, you must create a one slide presentation explaining what each of the roles do and how these roles work together in a team on a project. #### Teamwork Project - Agile reading (PD - 1 hr) Read the following material and discuss the 4 key principles of agile in your Teamwork Project group. * [Agile manifesto](https://agilemanifesto.org/) * [Agile 101](https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/) # Week 2 - Gathering requirements ### Session: Gathering requirements **Session objective:** This session will explore what a tech product is, who are the users of a product, and how the product meets user needs. ### What is a product? Let's talk about briefly as a class what we mean when say a "product". Quick definition: Product is something that satisfies a Business Need. Products deliver value to the business stakeholders (internal or external). #### Exercise (20 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To understand the mission of a product During the previous week's coursework you defined your team's product. Discuss the following questions to identify the users for your product. * Who are your users? What different user profiles will there be? * What user needs is your product trying to address? Volunteer to share your thoughts with the class. #### Exercise (20 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To identify how products achieve user needs Brainstorm the following questions in your teams to understand your product better. * What is the functionality of your product? * How does it address the user needs / solve their problem? Volunteer to share your thoughts with the class for group discussion. Invite other groups to provide feedback, thoughts, additional suggestions. ### Quick definitions Go through the following definitions. You don't need to go into details, you will need to have a basic understanding of these concepts for this week's coursework. What is an MVP? * MVP (Minimum Viable Product) refers to a product that has just enough features to satisfy the needs of early customers and, more importantly, give them something to provide feedback on to shape the future of the product. What is a feature? * A feature is the product’s service/function that provides business value and meets customer needs. A single product is likely to have multiple features. What is a user story? * A user story is a brief description of software features, written from the user's perspective, that describes how that functionality will provide some values. # JS2 W2 coursework THIS COURSEWORK IS BEING RE-DEVELOPED ### Coursework #### Teamwork Project - Gathering requirements (PD - 3 hr) Thinking back to your Agile Development class on JavaScript 1, Week 1, your group should: 1. Define what would be the minimum viable product (MVP) 2. Define which features are need for the MVP 3. Create some user stories that reflect these features Stretch target: define the acceptance criteria of the user stories so that you can ensure that developer and tester have all the necessary information #### Teamwork Project - Resolving conflicts (PD - 1 hr) If you need to remember [this video on Resolving Workplace Conflict](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDfSYz0PX9g), watch it again. It's 7 minutes long. Make a plan about how to resolve conflicts in your group. #### Agile reading (PD - 1 hr) Read the following material and share your 3 key takeaways: * [Scrum](https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/scrum/#q=~%28infinite~false~filters~%28postType~%28~%27page~%27post~%27aa_book~%27aa_event_session~%27aa_experience_report~%27aa_glossary~%27aa_research_paper~%27aa_video%29~tags~%28~%27scrum%29%29~searchTerm~%27~sort~false~sortDirection~%27asc~page~1%29) * [Github for project management](https://www.jobsity.com/blog/a-quick-guide-to-using-github-for-project-management) # Week 3 - Delivery ### Session: Delivery **Session objective:** This session will explore how to create features, user stories and tasks for a product. #### Exercise (5 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To understand the requirements of building a library website. Let’s assume we have been asked to build a library website, one that would allow you to borrow books. Let’s discuss briefly as a class what would be the questions we would ask in order to have a better understanding of what we have been tasked to build. #### Exercise (15 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To understand the process of breaking down a product into features. Let’s assume that we got answers to all our questions about the product. Overall, the goal is to build a website that would have a catalogue of books that can be borrowed by users of the system. In small groups, identify what would be **the main features** you would expect to see in this website? You can refer to the slide #11 from [JS1 - Week1](https://personal-development.codeyourfuture.io/em-modules/javascript-1/agile-scrum-intro) to remind yourselves about the features and user stories. Discuss in small groups. Group representatives share thoughts with the class. #### Exercise (20 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To understand the process of breaking down features into user stories. Now that we have all the features, we need to break them down into user stories. A user story is an informal, general explanation of a software feature written from the perspective of the end user. Its purpose is to articulate how a software feature will provide value to the customer. In small groups, pick one of the features and break it down into at least **3 user stories**. Discuss in small groups. Group representatives share thoughts with the class. #### Exercise (20 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To understand the process of breaking down user stories into tasks and distribute those tasks among team members. Now that we have user stories, it is time to break them down into tasks. Tasks are used to break down user stories into smaller components that can then be assigned to individual team members. Let’s take a user story and in small groups, complete the following: * Identify all the tasks that need to be completed in order to deliver value to the user, providing the outcome described in the user story. * Identify relationships and dependencies between tasks. How does a change in Task A affect other tasks? Does Task A need to be completed before we can work on Task B? * Size those tasks taking into account complexity and dependencies. * Answer this question: when it is time to assign tasks to team members, what would be the criteria you would follow when assigning tasks? Discuss in small groups. Group representatives share thoughts with the class. #### Answer Key This key offers some examples and is not exhaustive. *Exercise 1* In this example features could be: a shopping cart, book search, user personalisation, library events banner, etc. *Exercise 2* For example, for the shopping cart feature the user stories could be: * As a library user I want to be able to manage items I have included in my shopping cart so by the time I checkout only the books remaining are the ones I want to borrow. * As a library user I want to be able to check out books in my shopping cart so they can be delivered to me. *Exercise 3* Examples of tasks for a user story describing the book search functionality could be: Search Box, Text Autocomplete, Database creation and setup. An example of a dependency between tasks could be not being able to work on Autofill functionality without having the search box and the underlying database ready. # JS2 W3 coursework ### Coursework #### Teamwork Project - How is your group working? (PD - 1 hr) By now you have had a chance to work with your team for some time. Some teams are working very well together and some teams are not. But do you know *why* your team is performing like it is? \ \ 1\. Read the introduction article "[Belbin's Team Roles](https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_83.htm)" from MindTools and watch the video\ 2\. Think about your team and how it has been working together. \ 3\. What role(s) have you taken as part of your team? You can refer to the "[Belbin Team Roles summary sheet".](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GBSHVjba9_frlEYmvxOPILsyYT4BVvVw/view?usp=drive_web\&authuser=0)\ 4\. What role(s) are your other team members taking? \ 5\. Is there something you can do now to change in order to help your group perform better? \ 6\. Write your reflections and to your student area Extra material: "[Team roles in a nutshell](https://drive.google.com/file/d/188asjInD3_UW3wAj4EDCSuC70lz3gYvK/view?usp=drive_web\&authuser=0)" #### Teamwork Project - Presentations (PD - 3 hr) In the next session, you will present your learning and work during the Teamwork Project.\ \ Presentation format: * You must present your project's brief, how you will work together, what your current barriers are to doing the work and how you will overcome them, how you will manage conflicts within your group * Everyone in your team should get a chance to speak; some of you may speak longer and some shorter, have a team decision * You will have 5 minutes to present Post your presentation slide deck to your student area. # Week 4 - Presentations ### **Session: Presentations** **Session objective:** In this session, each team will present their learning and work during the Teamwork Project. #### **Exercise (60 min)** **Exercise objective:** To practice public speaking skills Each team will deliver their presentation to the class. Remember to refer to [the previous week's coursework](https://personal-development.codeyourfuture.io/em-modules/javascript-2/week-3-delivery/js2-w3-coursework). # JS2 W4 coursework ### Coursework #### How to conduct yourself professionally (PD - 1 hr) Watch '[How to conduct yourself professionally](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QphclWBVzGQ)' (Do, Watch, Hear) * Reflect in what behaviours you learned in the video were new to you * Write what behaviours you need to stop to appear more professional * Write what behaviours you need to start doing or doing more so you can appear more professional * What behaviours do you need to change or adapt for an online/ remote work environment like CodeYourFuture? #### Watch this short video about body language (PD - 20 min) Watch this video about [public speaking skills](https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_may_shape_who_you_are). # JavaScript 3 ## # Week 1 - Difficult Workplace Conversations ### Session: Difficult Workplace Conversations **Session objective:** This session discusses some of the potential difficult conversations in the workplace and offers tips to have constructive outcomes following these conversations. We all find ourselves in situations where we have to have difficult conversations with our colleagues at work. Although these are usually uncomfortable situations, if we know how to navigate our way through these, they will help our professional growth and our relationships in the workplace. Examples of some difficult situations one has to deal with in the workplace include: * You’re overwhelmed with work * The job you have is different from the one you applied for * You keep running into conflict with a colleague * Your manager doesn’t notice the work you do * You’ve made a major mistake that harmed your team * You get a bad performance review * You are passed up for a new role in the organization * You struggle to collaborate with your team * You feel like the work environment is hostile or inequitable * You need help with a mistake that you have made Having difficult conversations in the workplace can be emotionally charged. This makes it difficult to communicate well. It is easier to convey and receive messages when you are calm and confident. Additionally, when there is a conflict we often make assumptions about why it is happening and the intentions of the others involved. Learning to take a step back and prepare for these times is essential to your success in the workplace. Sometimes avoiding difficult conversations seems like the best route. We think we can ignore the inappropriate banter of colleagues. We make excuses in our heads for why someone else got the new position that we wanted. It feels easier to ignore the conflicts with others on our team. Wrong! These problems will continue to cause challenges if you avoid having the difficult conversation. #### Exercise 1 (15 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To identify the steps to form a constructive response. Imagine that you are at a new job and one colleague has scheduled to collaborate/meet with you several times and then canceled at the last minute. You need to meet with this person to take the next steps in the project that you are both working on. Use the list below to prepare for the conversation you will have with them. Discuss as a class what you would say to your colleague. * What is the key problem to be addressed? * What impact is this having on you/the team/work? * What responsibility are you going to take for your part? * What do you want to achieve by the end of the conversation? #### Exercise 2 (35 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To role-play a difficult conversation. Work in pairs. Use one of the following scenarios where you need to have a difficult conversation. If you finish your first scenario and still have time, choose another one. Activities you will do are listed below: * Role-play the conversation with your partner. List emotions that you associate with that moment whilst doing the activity (10 min) * Discuss with your partner how that conversation could have been better if you were able to take the emotion out of it (5 min) Role-play scenarios: 1. You are a developer in a team. A very important project has been presented; however, you have not been assigned to it. The person who will be working on this project is a peer, who you think isn’t as competent as you. You want to question that decision with your manager. 2. You are working on a team with a person you have had issues with before. You think that they're not doing tasks you're dependent on on purpose because they dislike you. You want to talk to this person about it. 3. You have been working hard and would like to get a pay rise. Have this discussion with your manager. 4. You think that the project you have been allocated to is impossible and it can't succeed and you are worried you are being set up to fail. You want to talk to your Product Manager or Product Owner about this. 5. Someone in your team isn’t doing their share of the work and you want to talk to them about it. 6. You have been receiving positive feedback all year long, but you didn’t get a promotion. However your peer did. You want to talk to your manager about it. 7. You have been working on 3 different projects and you just received an e-mail asking you to support a 4th one and to lead a workshop next week. You want to talk to your manager about your workload. 8. Your company had an internal job opportunity that you applied for. You weren’t the one chosen and never got feedback. So you arranged a meeting with the interviewer to get feedback on your performance. 9. You have done a mistake in your work and after Googling and asking for help at the CYF community, you still do not know the answer. You have to ask your tech lead or senior developer for help. 10. You started your new job one month ago but the tasks you are given do not align with what was on your job description. You want to talk to your manager about it. 11. You are given a bad performance review. You want to talk to someone in your team to get more information and specific feedback on how to improve your performance. Volunteer to share your pair's thoughts with the class. # JS3 W1 coursework ### Coursework #### Key learnings about difficult workplace conversations (PD - 2 hr) Read the following materials about difficult workplace conversations. Write a 250-word essay about your key learnings from the PD session and these two articles. 1. [How To Have Difficult Conversations At Work](https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2018/10/28/how-to-have-difficult-conversations-at-work/?sh=49b0cee810b7) 2. [How to Have Difficult Conversations](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/some-assembly-required/201703/how-have-difficult-conversations) # Week 2 - How to give and receive feedback effectively ### Session: How to give and receive feedback effectively **Session objective:** In this session we will look into different ways of providing feedback. Feedback is a valuable tool for indicating whether things are going in the right direction or whether re-direction is required. It is also an effective way to help people develop and grow professionally. How feedback is communicated will not only determine how effective it will be but also how positive its impact will be. In this session, we will look into different ways of providing feedback and will go through different scenarios that will help us understand the power of providing and receiving effective feedback. #### Exercise 1 (5 min) **Exercise objective:** To understand positive and negative feedback. Let’s share our understanding of what feedback is. Volunteer to explain your definition of feedback. Once a few trainees have expressed their opinions, volunteer to describe the differences between positive and negative feedback. Do you think negative feedback is a bad thing? #### Definitions **Positive feedback**: This is the type of feedback that we all want to hear, it’s when someone praises our work. Appreciation and positive remarks in the workplace can help an employee feel appreciated, can help to reinforce good behaviours and will help employees with their professional development. However, it is important not to overuse positive feedback as its value will decrease. You may find it more valuable to hear positive comments from someone who almost never praises you for your work than a coworker constantly telling you how awesome you are. Too much positive feedback can also make employees complacent and feel less challenged in their roles. Also, specific positive feedback can be much more effective than general positive feedback. The first feedback is better than the second one: 1. The way you presented graphs to show our progress really made it easy to notice what tasks I needed to focus on which helped me get the project delivered. 2. It was great working with you, it helped the project succeed. **Negative feedback**: This is the kind of feedback that people don’t like to hear, especially without warning. Negative feedback can make individuals feel attacked, demotivated, and undervalued at work. However, negative feedback can be effective when utilized correctly. It becomes **constructive feedback** and identifies ways an individual can improve. **Destructive feedback** is the direct opposite of constructive feedback and it’s not very useful. Instead of focusing on the work, destructive feedback will focus on the individual and is very personal in nature. There is little productive advice given and the feedback tends to point at faults without any solutions. #### Exercise 2 (25 min) **Exercise objective:** To practice providing both positive and negative feedback. Work in small groups. Take turns to play the roles below and answer the following questions for each situation: * Was feedback positive or negative? * Was the way it was communicated appropriate? Why? * How would you improve it? * What would be your reaction after receiving such feedback? * Were people in the right mindset to give and receive feedback? *Situation 1: Tom asked Katie for help on the code he was writing.* Tom: “Hi Katie, would you mind spending a few minutes looking at this function I am working on? I can’t seem to find what’s wrong with the code.” Katie: “I am extremely busy and stressed with a deadline, but let me have a look.” Tom: “Here is the function. Do you see anything wrong with it?” Katie: After looking at the code for some time… “Seriously? How could you miss this? You are missing an End statement. You need to be more careful when writing code so you only ask for help for things that are not this obvious.” Katie walks away. *Situation 2: Patricia stops by Carla’s desk.* Patricia: “Hi Carla. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the work you did in the last project and I hope we get to work together again” Carla: “Oh Thank You! You made my day!” *Situation 3: Team members in a project retrospective meeting where they discuss things they did well and things that need improvement.* Jessica: “I think overall the project went well but developers were constantly waiting for Karen to finish testing their code before they could deploy to Production. She was overwhelmed with the amount of work on her plate” Karen: “Yes, I felt bad for blocking deployments but I cannot give my approval until I have completed testing the code.” Jessica: “Did you ask for help? We can have developers take the role of QA tester when you are overwhelmed.” Karen: “No, I did not ask for help. I did not think of this as an option. I will start implementing this strategy going forward” Volunteer to share your role-playing experience with the class. #### Exercise 3 (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To practice turning destructive feedback into constructive feedback. Work in small groups. Turn the feedback below into constructive feedback. Try to be creative. Feedback 1: After a weak sales pitch, Ryan’s manager blamed Ryan for what went wrong. The manager told Ryan that he had no idea what he was doing. Ryan’s personality was being questioned rather than his work. The feedback provided no helpful insights to help Ryan perform better. Feedback 2: During a project retrospective, Peter stood up, went to the board and put up a huge graph showing developers' contributions during the project measured by the number of code commits. He immediately pointed out how low Joseph’s numbers were and added he was not surprised as he has always been lagging when compared with the rest. Feedback 3: Carol went to Chris and told him she is tired of wasting her time telling him what to do and explaining things over and over again. Chris has been in the company already for 6 months and still needs to constantly be helped with his daily tasks. She told him to better start becoming independent or she will escalate with his manager. Volunteer to discuss your work with the class.

# JS3 W2 coursework ### Coursework #### Giving constructive feedback (PD - 1 hr) Imagine yourself in one of the following scenarios. How would you prepare to give constructive feedback in that situation? Write a short paragraph explaining what you would do or write a dialogue between you and the person you are giving feedback Scenarios: * Your colleague took your lunch from the office fridge * Your colleague keeps interrupting you and others in meetings * Your flat-mate left dirty cups in the sink for several days # Week 3 - Resilience ### Session: Resilience **Session objective**: This workshop is about understanding resilience, the challenge of looking for jobs and how you can develop a resilient mindset when being faced with job rejections. At the end of this session, you will be able to understand what resilience is, identify current coping habits, and develop resilience strategies. #### Exercise 1 (10 minutes) **Exercise objective**: To define what resilience is. Discuss as a class the following questions: * What does resilience mean to you? * Why is it important to have resilience? **\*Answer Key\*** Resilience is the ability to face adversity (challenging situations, rejection, trauma or stress), and being able to bounce back from it. Resilience helps to protect our mental health. It allows us to keep balance during stressful times in life, giving us the strength to bounce back. When facing difficult situations, our resilience defines how quickly we can pick ourselves back up and build our strength. Think about resilience as “it’s not what happens to us, but how we react to it”. We cannot always control what happens to us, although we can control how we deal with the situation, and what we learn from it. #### Exercise 2 (20 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To reflect on past experiences of demonstrating resilience. Work in small groups and answer the following questions: * What does it mean to be resilient as a web developer and job seeker? * How have you shown resilience in the past when you have faced adversity? Remember: * This is an interactive session * You all come from different backgrounds and have a lot of lived experiences you can draw from and it would be useful to share them with others * It’s really important to hear your views throughout the session * Please write down the main points you’ve discussed, and nominate someone within your group to share them afterwards with the class. #### Exercise 3 (20 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To develop a resilient mindset. Work in small groups and make a list of tips for someone who would like to develop a resilient mindset. Volunteer to share your list with the class. **\*Answer Key\*** Good answers would include: 1. Reflect on your own achievements - look at what you have achieved already to get here. Your life experiences are full of examples of resilience and achievement. 2. Focus on things in your control - focus on the aspects that you can control, make sure you apply for the right type of job at the right time. 3. Embrace rejection - rejection is part of the process. There is so much you can learn from making mistakes and things not going your way. Take time to reflect on what went well, and what you can improve next time round. 4. Employers need you as much as you need them. - it’s a 2-way process. 5. You’re not on your own - you have a ready-made support network at CYF. Volunteers, mentors, teachers and your peers are here to support you all the way. 6. Apply when you are ready - you will know you are ready by discussing with CYF. Your Edu buddies, PD team and chatting with your mentors. If you apply too early or when you are unprepared, you are more likely to get rejections ### Wrap up When looking for your first role after CYF, you’ll find yourself applying for a large number of roles. Job hunting can be a frustrating experience, particularly when changing career paths due to the lack of hands-on experience in the new field, which is something most employers are looking for. Today we focused on how to best navigate through uncertainty, frustration, and rejection, unpacking some techniques on how to create a resilient mindset. We’ll learn about specific interview skills in a different session, but a few words here: Interviewing is an art that needs to be learnt and mastered. We improve and learn new tips in each interview we get through. Try to look at an interview as an opportunity to practice your interview skills, regardless of the outcome. Take time to reflect on what went well, and what areas you could improve next time. Key 2023 job interview statistics * An average of 10 to 20 interviews are needed before getting an offer - These numbers are average, remember it can take many more or less to achieve your first job. * The average interview process in the UK takes 27.5 days to complete - The average number of interviews needed to get an offer, plus the time that each company takes for their own interview process, means that you’ll need resilience to keep going through it until you get your first job in IT. * Only 2% of applicants will get selected for an interview. (*Source: *) Top tips: * Have a plan B! * Look at what you have achieved already! * Develop a resilient mindset! * You already have a support network * CYF is here to help you! * Focus on things in your control * Have realistic expectations
# JS3 W3 coursework ### Coursework #### Resilience learning points and suggestions (PD - 1 hr) Watch the following video and read the articles. How do you think CYF can improve the PD session on resilience? Share 5 of your own learning points and 3 new suggestions for us to make the session even better. * [Listening to shame](https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame/comments) * [Growth Mindset + Vulnerability](https://medium.com/teachers-on-fire/growth-mindset-vulnerability-c956512286) * [Failure, vulnerability, and the true nature of change](https://www.impactinternational.com/blog/2022/09/failure-vulnerability-and-true-nature-change) Optional video list: * [The benefits of failure](https://www.ted.com/playlists/418/the_benefits_of_failure) # Week 4 - Growth Mindset ### Session: Growth Mindset **Session Objective:** Trainees to understand the growth mindset, distinguish it from the fixed mindset and understand how to achieve the growth mindset. **What is a Mindset?** A mindset can be described as a set of beliefs that shape how you see people and the world around you. When you learn new information, your mindset often determines how you interpret it. **Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset** A fixed mindset is a belief that one’s abilities are fixed and cannot change. Fixed mindset prevents development as it doesn’t encourage learning new things. When we have a fixed mindset we actively avoid challenges as we are convinced we are doomed to fail. A growth mindset is the opposite. When we have a growth mindset we chart the path to our goals, learning and honing our skills. We are committed to challenging ourselves in each new opportunity. | **Fixed Mindset** | **Growth Mindset** | | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | “I can do it, or I just can’t.” | “I can learn if I put in the effort.” | | “I cannot change who I am.” | “I constantly evolve.” | | “Working hard is a sign of inability.” | “If you challenge yourself, then you improve.” | | “I can’t fail if I don’t try.” | “If I don’t try, then I fail.” | | “That job is too challenging for me.” | “This job looks difficult. I would like to take on the challenge.” | #### Exercise 1 (20 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To understand the characteristics of fixed and growth mindsets. As a class, discuss the characteristics of fixed and growth mindsets. Solve [this quiz](https://www.positivityguides.net/test-your-mindset-quiz/) together. Create a jamboard where you compare the differences between the two mindsets. **\*Answer Key\*** | **Fixed Mindset** | **Growth Mindset** | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | Avoid challenges | Embraces challenges | | Gives up easily | Sees effort as the path to mastery | | Sees effort as meaningless | Persists in difficult circumstances | | Ignores negative feedback, blanketing it all as non-constructive | Learns from criticisms | | Threatened by the success of others | Finds lessons and inspiration from the success of others | #### Exercise 2 (25 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To reflect on one’s instances of a fixed mindset and identify where the growth mindset could have been adopted. Reflect upon your own experiences. What is an example of a time when you took a fixed mindset to a situation where it would have been beneficial to adopt that of growth? When thinking of your experiences, ask yourself the following: * What was the scenario? What events took place? * Why did you have a fixed mindset? What characteristics did you display? * What negative effects did your mindset have on you? * What would have been the outcome if you had adopted the growth mindset? What benefits would you experience? Imagine you were to mentor your past self. How would you advise yourself in that moment to have a growth mindset? Be as detailed as possible. Discuss ideas with each other and make bullet points (10 minutes) and share stories and reflections as a class (15 minutes). **\*Answer Key\*** Any answers along these lines can be considered acceptable. * Focus your attention on your development towards your goals and focus your energy on achieving your goals. * Remember that you are a work in progress and have not mastered your craft yet. * Be mindful of the way you speak to yourself - putting yourself down or using language like “I cannot”, “I won’t”, or “I will never” are not conducive towards your developmental journey. * Do not be afraid of challenges; actively seek them out. # JS3 W4 coursework ### Coursework #### Changing fixed mindset (PD - 1 hr) Watch [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU). Think about a fixed mindset you currently have. Try and pick one relating to programming or your career. Make a new post in your cohort’s Slack channel where you briefly describe your situation and ask for help on changing your mindset. Additionally, you should also make a comment on one of your peers’ posts to help them. # React # Week 1 - Building confidence ### Session: Building confidence **Session objective:** This session will explore the confidence and imposter syndrome concepts. Confidence plays an important life in a person's professional life. It’s not easy to work on it and improve it, especially in a competitive environment. So, it’s important to identify one’s area for improvement. Weak self-confidence can show through having an imposter syndrome and negative self-comparison. It’s important to know yourself enough to understand what causes you to feel like an imposter and how to overcome those feelings. #### Exercise 1 (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To learn about confidence, it’s misconceptions and imposter syndrome There are some misconceptions about confidence, especially it being confused with being showy or arrogant and thinking that it’s a skill that can’t be improved. Below are some scenarios, try to identify which ones are a misconception, which ones show confidence and which indicate having imposter syndrome: 1. Asking your boss for a raise - you’ve worked in the company for years, have been selected as employee of the year but still haven’t received a raise 2. You get assigned a task by your boss who knows your capabilities well and you feel like it would be better if one of other coworkers did it or at least helped you with it 3. Not agreeing with your coworkers about certain work - sharing your opinion, explaining your own views/doubts on the topic 4. Presenting your ideas and thoughts on certain projects to your co-workers who have been employed in the company much longer than you 5. After finishing a project in pairs your coworker takes more credit for it than deserved and you let them, thinking “ah it’s ok, maybe sometimes they have worked more than me” 6. Having a meeting with your boss and explaining you should be able to come to work later than the rest of the employees because you work harder than the rest of them 7. Asking your boss to give you a better position at the workplace because you have more experience and knowledge than your coworkers 8. Not following the official schedule because you have a better plan how to reach the goal of a project 9. After encountering the problem and trying to solve it for a couple of days you ask a colleague for help and they call you incompetent 10. You see your co-worker do something bad and wrong but you don’t say anything as you don’t think it’s your place #### Exercise 2 (25 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To role-play the conversations and practice skills to gain confidence Work in pairs. Choose one (or more if you can) of the following scenarios and practice your abilities to gain confidence in difficult positions. 1. You just started working in the company. You work on a project with your co-worker who is not satisfied with anything that you do and is also sometimes rude with how little experience you have. The co-worker is talking rudely to you and does not take you seriously. Your challenge is to approach this co-worker in a professional manner and try to find the middle ground since you have to finish the project. 2. You play the role of manager and you are responsible to give your employee a performance review. You would like them to improve their performance if they want to get a salary bonus. However, the employee already thinks they’ve done a lot since they’ve been working more hours than the rest and have finished more projects than any of them in one year. 3. A customer comes to a company, being very upset about the product, claiming the product is not functioning properly. However your role is to show the customer the product does work correctly, they just don’t know how to use it in the right way. ### Wrap up What is imposter syndrome? Imposter syndrome is having doubts about your abilities, feeling unwanted in the situation/area as if you don’t belong and thinking less capable than you are. It often feels like having anxiety, insecurities and not being able to perform at the level you are usually capable of. You feel discouraged by the achievements of the people around you and are unable to experience the full joy of your own success. It’s important to be confident so you can: * be assertive * do more (challenging) work * communicate more effectively * push yourself to step out of your comfort zone * always stay true to yourself * accept praise for your work * know your weaknesses and strengths # React W1 coursework ### Coursework #### How Self-Confident Are You? (PD - 1 hr) Read [this article](https://www.mindtools.com/ahqz3nl/how-self-confident-are-you) and do the quiz that is part of it. After you do, write a 250-word reflection on the results you got (was it what you expected, did something surprise you, have you learned anything from it etc). #### Optional material: * [Using affirmations](https://www.mindtools.com/air49f4/using-affirmations) * [Positive Thinking, Thought Awareness, and Rational Thinking](https://www.mindtools.com/au3crwx/positive-thinking-thought-awareness-and-rational-thinking) * [Personal Goal Setting](https://www.mindtools.com/a5ykiuq/personal-goal-setting) * [Stress Diaries](https://www.mindtools.com/ag3ueu7/stress-diaries) * [How to Build Self-confidence](https://www.mindtools.com/ap5omwt/how-to-build-self-confidence) * [Sheryl Sandberg impostor syndrome](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNikR2GQwVg\&t=39s) * [Positive, Rational Thinking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjDfnUaFKCE) # Week 2 - Futurespective ### Session: Futurespective **Session objective:** This session aims to explore how to use the futurespective technique. *Adapted from* [*How Futurespectives Help Teams to Reach Their Goals*](https://www.benlinders.com/2015/how-futurespectives-help-teams-to-reach-their-goals/) Many agile teams conduct retrospectives to reflect on their ways of working and to find things that can be improved. But what if teams are just starting up and trying to figure out how to do their work? A futurespective exercise helps agile teams to find ways to reach their goals, agree upon their ways of working and define a “definition of done”. In a futurespective, teams place themselves in the future by imagining that the goal they set in the past has been reached. #### Exercise 1 (30 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To identify the goals of the team and the benefits earned achieving them. Work in small groups. Imagine that this is your CYF final project. You have been tasked with developing an app that will collect feedback from CYF trainees on their experience of the PD sessions to help improve the course for future trainees. Start by discussing your team’s goals. As a team, you should build a common understanding of your goals, and write them down so that they are visible to everybody in the team. When this list of your goals is ready, imagine that today is the day after the final projects. You achieved all your goals! Make a list of all the benefits you earn from reaching your goals as a team. #### Exercise 2 (20 minutes) **Exercise objective:** To identify good practices that helped achieve the goals. It’s time for a retrospective. Continue working as a group and discuss your imaginary past and explore how you achieved your goals. You can use the following questions to help with your discussion: * What are the things that have helped you to get here? * Which things made it hard for you to reach your goal? * What did you learn as a team along the way towards reaching your goal? # React W2 coursework ### Coursework #### Futurespective vs Retrospective (PD - 1 hr) Reflect on the PD session and describe how futurespective technique is different from retrospective. Write a 250-work essay on your thoughts. Try to answer the following questions as well - what are the key elements of each activity? What are their benefits? If you were tasked to design a futurespective session for your CYF final projects team, what would your design look like? Share the link to your Google doc in your cohort’s channel and ask for feedback. Each of you should provide feedback for at least one peer.
# Week 3 - SMART goal setting ### Session: SMART goal setting **Session objective**: In this session we will explore how to set goals using SMART framework. #### Exercise 1 (10 min) **Exercise objective**: To discuss goal setting process. Discuss as a class what you understand from "setting a goal". Continue discussing the following questions: * Why is it hard to achieve goals? * What are the requirements to achieve a goal once it is set? ***Answer key*** * Goals should be **specific, achievable, measurable, relevant and time-bound**. * Eliminate/pause other less important competing goals. * Use existing habits to help you make progress towards your goals. “Pushups: Before I take my morning shower(existing habit), I will do 10 pushups.” * Align your environment with your ambitions. Make it really easy to follow your plan to reach your goals. For example, if the goal is improving your health don't set your environment in a negative way - if you can easily find junk food in the kitchen, then eating unhealthy food will be your default choice. Set your environment in a positive way instead: If you keep a dumbbell next to your desk at work, then pumping out some quick curls is more likely to be the default decision. #### Exercise 2 (20 minutes) **Exercise objective**: To get familiar with the dynamics of setting goals using the SMART framework. As a class, use the scenario below and write a goal following the SMART framework. Start with a very simple goal and then go through all SMART criteria and apply them one by one until you have a goal that meets all those criteria. Let’s assume your job requires MongoDB skills and you believe this is something you need to improve. The company you work for performs regular codility tests to measure skills. ***Answer key*** *Goal before meeting the criteria* * I want to get better at MongoDB * I will increase my knowledge in MongoDB * I will complete 5 courses in MongoDB * I would like to increase my knowledge in MongoDB, so I will set aside 1 hour every day to organize my workspace *Goal that meets the criteria* * Specific: I want to complete a MongoDB course * Measurable: I will complete a MongoDB course by measuring progress tracking my daily study hours * Achievable: I will complete a MongoDB course first before searching for other courses. This way I can achieve this goal by making small increases in my knowledge * Relevant: My job requires MongoDB skills, therefore I would like to increase my knowledge in MongoDB, so I will set aside 2 hours every day to learn and practice my new skills * Time-bound: I will increase my knowledge in MongoDB in 1 week. I will set aside 2 hours each day to study and practice my new skills #### Exercise 3 (25 minutes) **Exercise objective**: To become more comfortable writing SMART goals by applying the learnings to different scenarios. Work in small groups. Go through all the scenarios below and write goals for each of them following the SMART framework. * Your job requires exceptional stakeholder survey skills and you believe this is something you need to improve. * Your latest health assessment didn’t go too well. You would like to improve your overall health. * You want to publish more on Linkedin. * You want to watch less tv and read more. * You want to be more in control of you emotions. ***Answer Key*** * I will complete a stakeholder survey course in a month and following this course I will apply my learning to the next 5 surveys I conduct. * My goal is to lose 15 pounds within the next three months so I can live a healthier lifestyle and feel better physically and mentally in my daily life and to accomplish that I am going to get at least 30 minutes of exercise three days a week using the exercise gear I have at home and cut my daily caloric intake by 25%. * Starting next week, I will post an article on Linkedin each week for a year, culminating in fifty-two posts and increased traffic to my profile. * I’ll spend more time reading and less time watching TV by going to a book club every week and completing one book per month for the next six months. * I’ll meditate at least ten minutes per day, every day, for the next six months. I’ll track my meditation time with an app and will assess my results in six months. ### Wrap up ***What is Goal Setting?*** *“The act of selecting a target or objective you wish to achieve”* Having a goal is the easy part. The real challenge is willing to go through the process required to achieve your goal. * Goals are useful for setting the direction but without a plan, they will just be a wish. * Systems are great for actually making progress towards achieving a given goal. If you’re a runner, your goal is to run a marathon. Your system is your running training schedule for the month. *SMART Framework* **SMART** is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting. It can be used to set both professional and personal goals. **S for Specific** - Target a specific area of improvement **M for Measurable** - Quantify or suggest an indicator of progress **A for Achievable** - Stage what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources **R for Relevant** - Determine if the goal is in alignment with your values and long-term objectives **T for Time-bound** - Specify when the result(s) can be achieved\

# React W3 coursework ### Coursework **Set your SMART goals (PD - 2 hr)** Check this [site](https://smartblogger.com/smart-goal-examples/) where you will find goal setting scenarios you can practice with. Think of 3 goals you want to achieve. They can contribute to your professional or personal development, they can aim to help you get healthier or even to find a job! Once you decide what the goals are going to be about, follow the guide below: **Write Goals Down** Take the time to write down your goals following the SMART framework and post them somewhere that you can see them. For team goals, place them somewhere everyone can see them. If it’s just for yourself, post a note next to your computer screen with the goals. Writing goals down brings them to life and makes them real. It’s also a good reminder of what you are working on. **Share Goals With Relevant People** Sharing goals sets the tone for accountability. Share goals with your team, your supervisor or a mentor. A shared goal is a goal that comes with a commitment to work hard to achieve the goal. Make sure that you share goals with a supportive person who will encourage you to press on when things get hard. **Regularly Evaluate Progress** Check in and see how you’re doing toward your goal. If the goal is a monthly goal, you may want to have daily or weekly check-ins to see what progress has been made. This helps you redirect energy and change course if something you are doing isn’t working and you aren’t making progress. It’s better to see this sooner than later while you can still adapt with enough time to succeed. **Celebrate Wins** When you succeed, celebrate. But don’t think that you need to wait until the entire goal is achieved before you give yourself a pat on the back. If you find yourself making excellent progress during a check-in, celebrate that too. The little successes help you maintain the energy to work toward the bigger goal. To submit this coursework, share 3 goals on your coursework page and your plan to achieve them.
# Week 4 - Guest speaker about career in tech ### Session: Guest speaker about career in tech **Session objective:** In this session, you will have a chance to hear from a professional in the tech industry about their professional journey and to ask questions. The Programme Manager (PROM) or PD leaders will book the guest. The guest can already be a CYF volunteer or someone from outside world. # Node The PD objective of the Node module is to improve professionalism and leadership skills. # Week 1 - Professionalism ### Session: Professionalism *Adapted from Tectonica workshop* {% embed url="" %} **Session objective:** This session explores the professional conduct, behaviour and attitude required in the work place. We will talk about the accepted standards of professionalism and the myths about behaving professionally. {% embed url="" %} Professionalism slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To communicate with colleagues with a professional attitude 1. On your own write a Slack message to a team member saying you're running late to a meeting. Volunteer to share your message with the class. 2. On your own write an email to a manager notifying them that you'll be out of the office on some future date. Volunteer to share your message with the class. #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To role-play a conversation between a team member and manager about project deadline Pair with another trainee. Take turns role-playing the following scenario: One of you is a team member and you need to tell your manager in person that your project is likely not going to be finished by the agreed deadline. The other person is the manager and should express unhappiness about this, but also work together to come up with a new, reasonable deadline or some other alternative (e.g. reduce the scope of the project or get help from a team member). Be sure to switch roles. # Node W1 coursework ### Coursework #### Brag Diary (PD - 30 min) Write your first entry for your Brag Diary. This will be the record of your achievements, the moments you feel proud about yourself. Think positively, you might find more to write than you think. Take turns to present your diary entries in your group meetings with your PD buddy. # Week 2 - Diversity and inclusion ### Session: Diversity and inclusion Session objective: How to recognise systemic problems and to contribute to a more diverse and inclusive community {% embed url="" %} Diversity and inclusion slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To idenfity feeling associated with being included in and excluded from a group Think about a time when you have experienced: * Being part of a group * Being excluded by a group Discuss as a class how it feels to be included and excluded. #### Exercise (15 min) **Exercise objective:** To think about the existing privileges and discrimination experiences Discuss as a class: * Some ways you have privilege * Some ways you face oppression or discrimination \
# Node W2 coursework ### Coursework #### Reflect about your own biases (PD - 1 hr) Think of when you are stressed, feeling tired, rushed, as these situations tend to activate our biases. How may these feelings influence your behavior when working with a group? Reflect in a 250 word essay. #### Challenge yourself (PD - 15 min) Take an Implicit Association Test (IAT) [here](https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html) to identify what your unconscious biases are. There are multiple topics to choose from: Age, Gender, Sexuality, Skin-tone, Ethnicity, etc. Remember: Awareness is the first step to combatting bias. # Week 3 - 5 Whys Problem Solving ### Session: 5 Whys Problem Solving **Session objective:** In this session we will talk about how the 5 Whys technique is a proven and effective problem-solving technique. {% embed url="" %} 5 whys problem solving slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (30 min) **Exercise objective:** To practice 5 Whys problem solving technique Pair with another trainee that has a different work style to yours. Talk to each other in turns about a recent problem you faced, what action you have taken so far and what help you still need. Use active listening skills and apply the 5 Whys technique to discover the root cause of the problem. Repeat this exercise in 3 different pairs. # Week 4 - Leadership compass ### Session: Leadership compass **Session objective:** In this session, we will try to develop a deeper sense of self-awareness about different leadership styles and approaches. {% embed url="" %} Leadership compass slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To identify own leadership style 1. Create a copy of [the Leadership Compass Score Sheet](https://docs.google.com/document/d/18-40VW24dcUemUUoeG3KYLn5t_vqcutvHDh1eIHOKCk/edit) 2. Test yourself by marking 1 for completely disagree, and 10 for strongly agree 3. Add your scores up 4. At the bottom of the sheet put your scores under the North, South, East, and West directions #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To join a competition as a team 1. Form a team of four 2. Each member of the team chooses an object to describe to the rest of the team. Don’t tell your team what your item is; they have to guess. 3. Prepare as a team for 2 minutes to decide how to work as a team. 4. Each member of the team will have 2 minutes to describe their item to the rest of the team. 5. The team(s) that guesses most items wins! Tips: * Keep it simple. * Choose items that are easy to find and likely to be nearby (pen, phone, book, notepad, mug, glasses, keyboard, etc.) * Keep an eye on the time # SQL The PD objective of the SQL module is to improve confidence and employability skills. ## # Week 1 - Competency-based interviews ### Session: Competency-based interviews **Session objective:** This session explores the competency-based interview concept, and the STAR framework. {% embed url="" %} Competency-based interviews slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (5 min) **Exercise objective:** To observe implementation of STAR framework for competency-based interviews Two volunteers pair up. One of them acts as an interviewer, and the other one as interviewee. Interviewer asks the following question: What’s your greatest strength? Interviewee answers badly. They rush and don't listen, so give the wrong answer and talk about what they would do rather than what they have done. They don't give any examples. Discuss as a class. What did you think? What did the interviewee do well? What did they do badly? #### Exercise (5 min) **Exercise objective:** To analyse the implementation the STAR framework for competency-based interviews. Two volunteers pair up. One of them acts as an interviewer, and the other one as interviewee. Interviewer asks the following question: Can you give me an example of how you’ve dealt with the frustration of things not working. This time, whenever the interviewee starts doing something wrong, shout STOP! Then explain to the interviewee what they should be doing differently and the interviewee will then try again until they’ve got it right. # Databases W1 coursework ### Coursework #### STAR Framework (PD - 4 hr) Use [the provided spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JvPFFewdrVP7nY7sL7l13TeGUxLos7h3NxWb0itxm84/edit#gid=0) to come up with interview examples in line with the STAR framework. # Week 2 - Learning to sell yourself ### Session: Learning to sell yourself **Session objective:** This session explains how self-promoting is different from bragging. {% embed url="" %} Learn to sell yourself slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (20 min) **Exercise objective:** To turn arguments with a negative connotation into positive ones. Let's spin this! Get into groups to brainstorm more positive spins on the following sentences. Then come back and share with the class and put together some great answer on a white board. * I am currently working in a different sector * I am a stay-at-home parent so have not worked for ten years * I don’t have any experience in software development * I don’t enjoy the job I am currently doing * My English is not very good
# Databases W2 coursework ### Coursework #### Positive thinking (PD - 1 hr) Think about up to 5 negative thoughts you have/used to have about your skills and experience. Give them a positive spin. # Week 3 - CVs and transferable skills ### Session: CVs and transferable skills **Session objective:** This session focuses on identifying transferable skills and designing effective CVs, Linkedin and GitHub profiles. {% embed url="" %} CVs and transferable skills slides {% endembed %} #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To identify transferrable skills from different life experiences. List 3 transferable skills to be gained for your previous jobs or educational experiences. #### Exercise (10 min) **Exercise objective:** To identify skills that can be developed during the CYF course. The following is a real ‘junior software developer’ job description from LinkedIn. In small groups, map these skills back to the skills you will gain at the end of your CYF course. Share back with the group. You can collate the answers on a white board. *JOB DESCRIPTION - JUNIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER* *Your skills and experience:* * *Demonstrate passion for technology (personal projects, open source involvement)* * *Have excellent interpersonal, oral and written communications skills.* * *Enjoy problem-solving and be logical.* * *Be able to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment.* * *Like working in a team with lots of different people.* * *Be able to take responsibility for a piece of work from start to finish* * *Be good at planning and prioritising workload* * *Articulate and justify conceptual ideas and solutions to clients and internal teams* * *Focus on delivering value to the business with relentless efforts to improve process* * *Fluent in written and verbal English* # Databases W3 coursework ### Coursework #### Professional statement clinic (PD - 1 hr) Prepare a professional statement for your Linkedin profile. Share your professional statement with the group in Slack and help each other out to create the best, most impactful, honest, and exciting statement. # Week 4 - Applying for jobs ### Session: Applying for jobs **Session objective:** This session explores the job search cycle and good practices when applying for jobs. {% embed url="" %} Applying for jobs slides {% endembed %} # Databases W4 coursework ### Coursework #### Final Projects - Team canvas (PD - 2 hr) Come together with your final projects team and go through [the team canvas slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hUVnvev7UC9YNbNSrrzml4QlrBl46Ui5aOKmnqGjB5c/edit#slide=id.g1c606b9ea85_0_1500). Prepare your own team canvas as the first step of your final projects work. # The following pages are currently under revision # Professional Development Volunteer Onboarding Guide \ ## Welcome to the Professional Development Team! #### By now you should have: * Completed the Volunteer Agreement form * Had a formal onboarding with your city manager! This page is a step by step guide into the Professional Development team, please refer back to this page if you have any questions or get stuck! Please find your next steps below: * [ ] **Step 1:** Fill in the Global Professional Development Volunteer Directory form [here ](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeTzpj53SO4Rr00Hck6tr9SvAhBuW_FJhCg2wqLkt3affIh6Q/viewform) * [ ] **Step 2: Read** the 'Who are our trainees page' * [ ] **Step 3: Read** more about our PD Volunteers roles and select your role! * [ ] **Step 4: Join** the Global PD volunteers slack channel and introduce yourself! You can find the channel [here ](https://join.slack.com/share/enQtMzk4Njg4MTQ4MDMyNC1iN2U3YjhkYmU4ZjVkOWNkM2M3ODhiMGVmOTNjM2UyNzdjOGVkM2ZkNTgyM2ZmZjQyZDUzZDg4Njk1ODYzYjJi) * [ ] **Step 5:** Attend one weekly Tuesday onboarding meeting from 7 - 8pm. You can find a link to the meeting below: meet.google.com/ddq-vurn-xjb * [ ] **Step 6: Attend a Global PD volunteers meeting (Please note that these meetings take place on the last Wednesday of every month from 6:30 - 8:30pm. If you missed this months, please make sure to join next months meeting) - Copy and paste the link to attend.** meet.google.com/zqf-wokn-zum ## Roles * [ ] **Professional Development Syllabus Team** * [ ] **Professional Development Buddies** * [ ] **Regional Welfare lead** * [ ] **Trainers** Find out more about the roles below: {% embed url="" %} # Who are our trainees? \ On this page you will find some information on common demographics of our learners, the challenges they face and what we can do to support them. ### We humans are complex beings. Remember that these labels do not reflect the full identities of our learners! Asylum Seekers Refugees Long term unemployed Learning Difficulties/ Differences Parents Insecure housing English as a 2nd/3rd/4th/5th language ## How can we support our trainees? # Common challenges for trainees seeking Asylum \ ## Finances ## Bank accounts for U.K. asylum seekers It isn’t illegal for someone seeking asylum to have a bank account – but it will depend on the stage they are at with their application for asylum. If the claim for asylum is rejected and all right of appeal has been exhausted then the person will not be ‘legally resident’ in the UK and the position changes. The Immigration Act 2014 & 2016 prevents banks from offering accounts to ‘disqualified persons’. Under the Act a ‘disqualified person’ is: (2)A person is within this subsection if he or she—\ (a) is in the United Kingdom, and\ (b) requires leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom but does not have it. **This is why we pay for all course related expenses; it is important for our trainees to know that we do have support in place.** **Further reading:** ## # Regional Welfare Lead \ # How to be a great regional welfare lead \ # Professional Development Buddy Role \ **How long is my commitment?** * Last for 6- 8 months * Start of Full stack course to the end of Final Projects **Who will I be supporting?** * Trainees on the Full stack Course **What do I need to do with my Buddies?** * Keep track of changes or difficulties in their personal circumstances in an individual session * Keep track of their professional development through checking weekly coursework assignments * Keep track of their learning progress through discussion in a group session **How frequently do I need to meet with my Buddies?** * Meet each buddy for 30 mins once during every module (3 weeks) * These Trainees will stay with you for the duration of the course **How frequently do I need to facilitate group sessions?** * Facilitate a group session with trainees to discuss their learning goals and learning progress *at least* once during every module (3 weeks) * You will start with your group of Buddies and work with them for 2 months * Then you will get a new group to work with in group sessions * They will rotate every 2 months so you can get to know a number of Trainees * You can decide with your PD team how the rotation will work **What else do I need to do?** * Monitor their professional development through checking weekly coursework assignments on Google Classroom (check at least 3 days after assignment has been handed in) * Assignments will be due on Friday night 9pm. * Please check for completion and give some feedback by the following Tuesday. * Update the student tracker with any changes to personal circumstances you learn in your the individual Buddy sessions * Meet with the other PD buddies to discuss and plan progress * Deliver at least one Saturday class # PD Buddy Training \ Being a PD Buddy is a key way to support students on their learning journey. ## Projected Time This training will take roughly 90 minutes to complete. ## Prior Knowledge To take part in this training you are expected to * Have some understanding of the challenges faced by our students * Be a good listener * Be able to empower You may also * Have taught on the tech stack with CodeYourFuture in the past * Be a graduate of CodeYourFuture * Have a desire to help others develop We do not expect you * To have any professional background in mental health, immigration, finace, housing, social services or employment. {% embed url="" %} ### Training Feedback Please fill in this form to feedback on the training and how useful you found it in preparing you for your role. {% embed url="" %} Buddy training feedback form {% endembed %} ### Volunteer Learning Log Whenever you complete training please fill out your Learning Log. This allows us to track of the support and development opportunities you have had during your time with us. \ \ Please make a local copy of the Learning Log and fill in your details. {% embed url="" %} {% endembed %} # Using the GROWS Model for coaching How to use GROWS model during the goal setting process | | Your role is to: | What you do | | ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **G** | Help clarify the **GOAL** |

Help your trainee to set and articulate their goals.

• Help set clear goals and identify what they would like to achieve

• Agree areas for discussion in the session

| | **R** | Help them understand what is happening now / **REALITY** of the situation |

Get a clear picture of what’s actually happening, when it happens, what the effects are and what they have tried to do about it so far (motivation).

• Clarify the issue / situation

• Determine current impact

• Determine future implications

| | **O** | Help them to find out what is possible by generating and assessing **OPTIONS** |

Have your trainee describe an ideal outcome and encourage exploring a range of ways this may be achieved

• Brainstorm many options

• Assess pros and cons

• Only offer your ideas after you have pushed them hard to come up with their own

| | **W** | Help them determine a **WAY FORWARD** & commit to the best actions |

Convert the discussion to a decision.

• Help them determine a way forward

• Identify possible obstacles to overcome

• Work out what they are actually going to do

| | **S** | Help identify who else can **SUPPORT** them |

Allow the trainee to think of all the people who can help them move forward with their goal.

• Help them see how people can be a resource

| | | | | # 42 Best GROWS Model Coaching Questions | | Questions you can use at each stage of the model | | --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Goal** |
  1. What would you like to achieve in this meeting?
  2. What goal are you trying to resolve?
  3. What could we work on that would make a big difference in your learning journey?
  4. What would make you feel that this time has been well spent?
  5. What’s important to you at the moment?
  6. What new skills do you want to learn or develop?
  7. What challenges are you facing at the moment?
  8. What does your ideal future look like?
| | **Reality** |
  1. What is happening now?
  2. What have you tried?
  3. How does this make you feel?
  4. If nothing changes what is likely to happen?
  5. What does your ideal future look like?
  6. What is working well at the moment?
  7. What is your inner critic saying to you?
  8. What parts of your life will be impacted by you achieving your goal?
| | **Options** |
  1. What is your first step?
  2. If you had 50% more confidence, what would you be doing that would be different?
  3. If success was guaranteed, what would you do?
  4. What action step is the best use of your time at this moment?
  5. If someone else came to you with your obstacle, what would you tell them?
  6. What strengths can you use to move forward?
  7. If you could do only one thing this week, what would it be?
  8. What are the pros and cons of these options?
  9. What options are you most drawn to?
| | **Way forward** |
  1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how motivated are you to achieving your goal?
  2. What will it take to get that motivation closer to a 10?
  3. Whatever your first step is, can you think of anything that might stop you from doing it?
  4. How committed are you to achieving this goal?
  5. How do you want to be held accountable for this goal?
  6. How will you celebrate when you’ve achieved your goal?
  7. What are you going to do in the next 24 hours?
  8. Who do you need to include in your journey to that goal?
  9. What else do you need to consider before starting?
  10. What is the smallest thing you can do to move forward?
  11. What blockers do you face?
  12. How can you overcome them?
| | **Support** |
  1. Who else can give you another perspective?
  2. Who can help you with your plan?
  3. Who else needs to know about your plan?
  4. Who else would be impacted by your plan?
  5. What is the best way for us to follow up about this?
| # How to form Buddy Groups \ ### **Setting up your PD Buddy Groups** * Ideally you should only be volunteering in the PD team. * Buddy groups should meet at least once per module (every 3 weeks). * You can structure your support any way you feel will be most effective. (1-1, group or mixture). #### **Starting your Buddy relationship:** To get started, you can: * **Have a group meeting** * **Tell your Buddies something about yourself:** this could include why you have gotten involved as a PD Buddy. * **Establish how you will be working together:** explain the kind of support you are able to provide. Highlight how and when you expect them to connect with you, use the Buddy group on Slack for communication, etc. If you will have group or individual sessions, the frequency etc. **Remember:** if you don’t hit it off straight away, don’t panic. It takes time to build any relationship and it will get easier the more you meet because you’ll build up trust and get used to each other. **What is the first meeting for?** The first meeting is all about getting your relationship off to a good start by establishing some ground rules and acknowledging that the relationship is two-way. This is also the best time to discuss the scope of your role as a PD buddy and share your expectations with one another. **We recommend you get a sense of your Buddy’s personal circumstances in relation to:** * their English speaking, reading and writing skills * employment/ financial situation * housing situation * family including any childcare needs * legal situation if they are asylum seekers, refugee, or other * any other needs **You should also cover a few basic essentials:** * when you would like to meet – how often and for how long * vehicle for follow-up meetings (Zoom, Hangouts, Slack, phone call) * how you will keep in touch (by email and or Slack) and how you will remind each other of future meetings. * discussing and agreeing how you will work together * confidentiality * responsibility * how you will record progress and issues/targets for further development **KEY PRINCIPLES IN BUILDING TRUST** * **Get to know your buddies.** Talk about their studies at CYF and their life outside it. Try to understand what they think and why. Value their viewpoint. * **Do what you say you are going to do.** Agree what you are aiming to achieve through your mentoring sessions. Be reliable and always do what you say you are going to do. * **Communicate openly and honestly.** Discuss issues as soon as they arise. Ask for and give feedback. * **Don’t be afraid to challenge.** Your open, honest relationship will allow you to challenge your Buddies constructively to explore a wider viewpoint. #### **Building rapport with your Buddies** Taking time to build rapport with your Buddies will help you to get the most from the relationship. Rapport comes from shared values or experiences, and sometimes from a ‘chemistry’ that is hard to define. One sign that there is comfort or rapport between two people is that they have similar tone of voice, body language, movements and so on. Next time you are in company, watch other people talking together. Look for examples of similarities or ‘synchronicity’ between them. Ask yourself: * Are their body postures similar? * Do they use similar hand movements? * What do their faces tell you, especially their expressions? * Do their moods seem similar? * How similar are their voices? #### **Barriers to an effective Buddy relationship** Most barriers stem from: * Personality issues * Lack of awareness of the roles of the volunteer Buddy and the trainee **Common barriers include** * Poor time investment from either volunteers or trainees * Volunteer or trainee dissatisfaction about the way the support is being utilised * Unrealistic expectations about the skills and abilities of trainees * The lack/blurring of boundaries in the mentor/mentee relationship We can help you to overcome any barriers you may encounter. **Challenges facing your mentee may include:** * Being more time efficient * Having confidence * Having low self esteem * Having little or no work experience in UK * Having little knowledge of tech work culture * Low level of English reading, writing and speaking **Confidentiality** It’s really important that you establish a trusting relationship so that your Buddy feels comfortable talking with you about any difficulties they may have. You may want to tell them that their information will be kept just between the two of you but this way of working is risky for both you and your Buddy. You may hear something that makes you feel uneasy. Something that you don’t know how to handle. Something that you cannot solve on your own. It’s important to share issues with your PD team so you can support each other. You cannot be the sole **Four things to think about are:** 1. **Concerns**. If you’ve got any, chat with your the PD team, your city coordinator or escalate to Head of PD. 2. **Secrets.** Don’t promise to keep any secrets. Make that clear from the beginning and remember to ask your mentee if they mind you sharing confidential information with anyone else. 3. **Information.** Keep information about your mentee (like their phone number) somewhere secure. 4. **You.** Confidentiality works both ways. Be aware of those personal areas of your life you’re happy to share with your mentee and those you are not. #### **Tools and Techniques** #### **1. Goal setting and action plannin**g – A great way to start is by setting goals and making an action plan. This will keep you on track and help you to: * Find out where your Buddy needs support * Agree goals that they can work towards * Gauge how you are doing * Keep an eye on your goals * Pat each other on the back for your successes Don’t forget, goals are most useful when they are **SMART**: **Specific** – for example, rather than ‘get a website’, say ‘choose a suitable domain name for my business’. **Measureable –** Decide how you’ll know when you’ve achieved it. **Achievable** – Can you do it? **Realistic** – Do you think you have a real prospect of reaching your goal? **Timed** – Is this a long-term or short- # Buddy Session Plan \ Personal development Buddy sessions are there to help the students work together to reflect on their learning. What is going well, what isn't going so well and keep track of their progress. ## Brief Below you will find an example session plan that you can use to structure the time with your students. You are encouraged to add, remove and change this plan as you see fit - this plan should give you a basis to work from. ## Buddy Group Session (45 mins-1 hour) ### Welcome & Icebreaker (10 minutes) Open the session with some chat about their lives and what they've been doing recently. One of the most critical parts of coaching or mentoring is the relationships that is built over the course and the trust that is developed from that. Icebreakers are a great way to start a group session so you all can get to know each other and gel together. Don't be afraid to talk about yourself - they are always interested in what you do as well! ### Goal Catch-Up (5 minutes) Have each of your student Buddies update on where they are with thier goals. For the first few sessions you can be focusing on how they are coping with the PD assignments and feeling integrated into the larger class. \ Make sure you hold your students accountable for not completing the goals they set for themselves - it's important that you show that they are important. Encourage the other students to offer support to each other. You are there to guide the students but they learn better helping ### Recap & Orientation (10 minutes) It's important to orient yourself to what the student has been working recently so that you can help them. This can be both their PD and technical coursework. You want to get a sense of how their behaviour contributes to their learning. You'll want to have them answer the following questions: 1. What did you learn in the last class? 2. What was the homework for the last class? 3. What was challenging for you in the last class? ### Group mentoring/coaching (15+ minutes) One of the most important aspects of personal development is self reflection. Students can get caught up in their learning and forget to take time to see what they have learned and how they got to where they are. When trouble arises they have difficulty seeing how the situation developed. When good things happen, they forget all about them! They will need to recall these experiences when they go to interviews and have to answer those, 'Tell me about a time when...' questions. In this part of the session you will have your group share their entry from their [Brag Diaries](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jyMl8YGAZkTZVxd71LAMrmiC3Ls3Lu153PPPSJr1NTg/edit?usp=sharing). The Brag Diary is a document where students refect on their learning by **‘**bragging’ about themselves and celebrating their achievements. They will share their weekly entires and give each other feedback.
### Goal Setting (10+ minutes) In order to help your students get the most from the course, you should help them set achievable goals to work on. Goals are important to a students development as they keep pushing them towards growth in a personalised way. We suggest you use the GROWS menthod to help your students work through the goal setting process. Wherever possible - remember to keep the goals [SMART](https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm). The goals they set should most importantly be achievable by the students in the time that they have available. ### Wrap Up (5 minutes) For anything that you didn't get to in the session direct them towards resources to help them. For example * Tell them -don't ask them - to share their problems in the class Slack channel * Direct them towards online materials to help them * Encourage them to go to a study group or to partake in peer learning * And finally - schedule follow up calls to catch up with them about their personal circumstances. Spend your final few moments encouraging them and how well they've done on the session - try to find specific moments that they made progress over the past week. ### # Individual Buddy Session \ This session should be short, around 15 mins. This should take place regularly, once during each module (every 3-4 weeks) Your role as a PD Buddy also requires keeping up with your student's personal circumstances. It is important to keep up with what is going on in the trainee's personal life as it can greatly impact on their ability to effectively engage with their learning. ## Brief Below you will find an example session plan that you can use to structure the time with your students. You are encouraged to add, remove and change this plan as you see fit - this plan should give you a basis to work from. ## Individual Buddy Session (15 mins) ### Welcome & Icebreaker (5 minutes) Open the session with developing rapport and building trust. Remember this session is about them sharing important information which could be difficult, stressful, or painful. You need to create a space where they feel safe enough to trust you and share what is really going on in their lives. In the early stages of your relationship, you can just spend some time getting to know each other. We suggest during your first session, you set up an [agreement](https://docs.google.com/document/d/169W_yXdi2O9YXbDWHhrcmu8uY20PDE8qbIK1THFfoYI/edit?usp=sharing) with your student about how you will work together. ### Some points to cover: * Explain the purpose of the Personal Development Buddy relationship * Explain your role as PD Buddy (they will also have one for Education) and what you will commit to * Decide together the format of the meetings and how these will work * Clarify what is expected behaviour from trainees and their role ### Personal Circumstances Checklist (5 minutes) It can be challenging to know what/ how to ask about personal issues. So here is a checklist of topics to check in on, each time you meet with your Buddy. Remember to ask open questions in order to get more information. You don't need to know how to solve their problems. Also don't promise that you will solve them. You also cannot promise confidentiality either, as you will be discussing their personal circumstances with the PD Buddy team. Reassure them that it will only be for the purpose of getting them the support they need. Since we last met... * [ ] Has anything changed with your family situation? * [ ] ie, with spouse/partner/children/dependents/parents/family in another country * [ ] Has anything changed with your financial situation? * [ ] got a job/ lost a job/ took a loan/ waiting for benefits * [ ] Has anything changed with your housing situation? * [ ] loosing housing/ looking for housing/in the process of moving/recently moved * [ ] Has anything changed with your immigration situation? (ask this for asylum seekers) * [ ] upcoming immigration interview/ recent immigration interview/ looking for solicitor * [ ] Has anything changed with your physical health situation? * [ ] injury/illness/recent diagnosis/long term health condition * [ ] Has anything changed with your mental health situation? * [ ] mood/friendships/romantic relationships/sleep/appetite **Trainee Professional Development:** Brag Diaries # Buddy Meetings \ ### Brag Diary * To introduce the idea of knowing your strengths and achievements * To show how useful keeping a Brag Diary will be when doing job interviews and answering competency questions * To further develop self reflection skills # Example PD Buddy Schedule \ {% embed url="" %} # PD Buddy Sessions - Reflective Journalling \ Adapted from Gargi Sharma, Shukri Ali, Aisha Ali and Danica Sugic Throughout your training at CodeYourFuture you will be doing lots of reflective journalling. The Brag diary is one type of journalling you will use to keep track of expreiences you have throughout the course to learn from and refer back to when you start your job search. ### What is a Brag Diary? This document is personal to you and an opportunity for you to ***record your growth*** and the skills you pick up over the next few months. Too often we are hard on ourselves and compare ourselves to others. It’s important to remember that everyone has different abilities, which is a good thing! You will be building an ***experience map*** for yourself. You will do this by reflecting on what you have done over the week, talking about what you have achieved, and what you have found difficult. Through regularly reflecting in your Brag Diary, you can track your self-growth and achievements on your journey with Code Your Future. ### Why should I keep a Brag Diary? A lot of work you will accomplish in the next few weeks will get forgotten and by the time you reach the end of your training. You will find it difficult to remember the skills you picked up along the way. The brag diary ensures that knowledge isn't lost. You can track what you have learned, it is also good to see the extra tasks you did and what you learned from them. Do not forget any invisible work, i.e extra hours spent on learning a new concept. ## 3 steps to creating a Brag Diary entry You will reflect on your skills, achievements, and challenges every week. **You need to use the template to do your reflection once a week. You will also present your entry to your PD buddy groups when you meet.** We want you to give feedback to each other and support each other with challenges. There are 3 steps you need to reflect upon every week: Each week you must pick one competency that you used or worked on, i.e. if you did some pair programming with one person or more then you can select teamwork - tell us how it went and about your role in that team. Please, try to write your response according to the STAR method as this will allow you to have your answer in a very concise way. 1. You need to note down and discuss a **challenge** you came across. Challenges are good as they are an opportunity to learn something new and grow. You all have different abilities and can learn from one another. Please support the other members of your group with challenges and bounce ideas off each other. You can refer to challenges you came across in homework or a tech project or even a challenge with trying to get work done, i.e. time-management. 2. You must also list an **achievement** every week, it can be something that might seem very small but mean a lot to you. It can be anything such as finally understanding a new concept, or learning a new technique or having a fun time with your buddy group! If that is your achievement, then please list it. 3. You can write a sentence or a paragraph for the individual steps, as long as you have a clear example for each one. You can choose more than one competency or challenge or achievement and discuss that, one is just the minimum. ### ## **Competencies** The following competencies/skills are highly valued by employers, specifically tech employers. They are critical for you to develop because they cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence. Each week, list one competency you used during the week, with an example of how you used it. When you start writing your CV and applying for jobs you will be ready with a database of all the times and have examples of when you have used these skills. Then you will easily refer to them during your job interviews. | **Competency** | **What does it involve?** | | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Attention to Detail |

is about achieving efficiency and accuracy in your work.

This will help to improve your performance.

| | Adaptability |

is about being able to adapt to new situations and being open to change.

You can learn exciting and new things through adaptability

| | Critical Thinking | being able to precisely and objectively evaluate a situation in order to find the best solution. | | Decision making | is being able to make important decisions. | | Leadership |

is taking the initiative to oversee a process and lead a team to achieve goals.

Being able to listen to everyone in the team, delegate tasks, communicate effectively and inspire your team members.

| | Oral/written communication | is being able to communicate effectively with others and get your point of view across. | | Problem solving | is being able to find a solution to a difficult or challenging task. Looking at a challenge from different angles and trying to find a new solution. | | Taking initiative | is the ability to see something that needs to be done and deciding to do it without someone else telling you to do it | | Teamwork | is being able to listen to others, take their thoughts/opinions on board and work with them towards a common goal | | Time management | is planning and controlling your time to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. | ### What do I need to do afterwards? When you meet in your Buddy Groups, take time and encourage each other to share your achievements. Praise the hard work and achievements you all have made, no matter how small they may seem.
# Wellbeing Task \ **Find Something Funny Activity (Do over the course of the week)** Laughter has been found to boost resilience. A study evaluating humor induced [**positive psychology interventions**](https://positivepsychology.com/positive-psychology-interventions/) identified the benefits of incorporating daily humor activities to induce laughter reduced depression and increased joy for participants, even months later (Wellenzohn, et. al., 2016). Spend 10 minutes each day for 7 days on the following exercise: 1. Write down the three of the funniest things you have experienced, seen, or heard that day. Provide detail and note how they made you feel. If you can’t think of anything, do an online search for funny stories or anecdotes. Social media can be a good source for funny material. 2. Write down why you found it funny. The more specific you are, the more effective the exercise will be. 3. Write these three funny things at the end of your day. Doing so will foster a new [**habit**](https://positivepsychology.com/gratitude-exercises/) and may help you absorb the emotion more as you are going to sleep. # Brag Diary Template \ Please follow this format each week when you are completing your reflection. Remember, you should write a reflection each week of your training. **Week (number)** **Core Competencies: Employability and Personal Development Skills** **Challenges:** **Achievements:** ### **Example: Week X** **Core Competencies: Employability and Personal Development Skills** **Taking Initiative** *During the Fundamentals course of Code Your Future, I was tasked to do the Fish Tank project on the Khan Academy. This project required me to draw a fish shape using functions and some of the other programming tools we have learned. For bonus points, you can add additional features like seaweed, pebbles, bubbles that float to the top and to make it more interactive with mouse click.* *I was able to draw the fish and the pebbles/seaweed but the other bonus task was extremely difficult for me specially getting bubbles to float. I realised that other students were having the same struggles and so I have taken the initiative to organise a call with the students. During this call we were able to come up with some solutions and I was able to learn a few things that I didn't think of when I was working on my own. At the end, we were able to get the bubbles floating in the fish tank with the help of the other students and this saved me a lot of time.* # Brag Diary Presentations in Buddy Groups \ Adapted from: Each week you will be taking turns to present an entry from your Brag Diary. In order to make this useful we would like you to use the STAR method. You will be practicing just how you would answer in a real interview situation. #### What is the STAR method? * helps you answer behavioural interview questions in a simple and meaningful way * Behavioural interview questions are looking for you to give a real life example of how you managed a particular kind of situation in the past. * The acronym STAR stands for: * **S**ituation: Set the scene and give the necessary details of your example.\ **T**ask: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation.\ **A**ction: Explain exactly what steps you took to address it.\ **R**esult: Share what outcomes your actions achieved. * Keep it simple and focus on just one or two sentences for each letter of the acronym. #### How do you use the STAR method? 1. Choose your example 1. You need to choose an example to talk about 2. This will be the situation you choose for the week to show your success 3. As time goes on you will get better at choosing examples that really highlight your achievement 2. Next you will set the scene **(S)** 1. Clearly describe the situation you were in and highlight the challenge 2. Keep things short and focus only on what is relevant to your story 3. Then move on to the task **(T)** 1. Specifically describe what was the objective set for you and what your responsibilities were in that particular scenario 4. Now you can share what action you took **(A)** 1. Describe what steps you took solve a problem or reach a goal 2. Be specific - Did you work with another person or team? Did you use a particular piece of software or technology? Did you form a detailed plan? 5. Finally close your story with the result you achieved **(R)** 1. Share the results of the action you took, what you learned or the steps you took to improve. 2. This should be positive! #### Putting it All Together - STAR story **Competency:** Time Mangement; Problem Solving; **Example:** **Situation:** *“In my previous sales role, I was put in charge of the transfer to an entirely new customer relationship management (CRM) system—on top of handling my daily sales calls and responsibilities.”* **Task:** *“The goal was to have the migration to the new CRM database completed by Q3, without letting any of my own sales numbers slip below my targets.”* **Action:** *“In order to do that, I had to be very careful about how I managed all of my time. So, I blocked off an hour each day on my calendar to dedicate solely to the CRM migration. During that time, I worked on transferring the data, as well as cleaning out old contacts and updating outdated information. Doing this gave me enough time to chip away at that project, while still handling my normal tasks.”* **Result:** *“As a result, the transfer was completed two weeks ahead of deadline and I finished the quarter 10% ahead of my sales goal.”*\
![](https://1048754441-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M69tKxGKKOXSFB-2slS%2F-MS7SY86GyLdw69KoD89%2F-MS8Mntk0DDLgpw2JH8u%2Fimage.jpg?alt=media\&token=eb6b4135-0f69-4f16-9417-e2fc423118e5) # Coursework Review \ You will need to access the class Google Classroom to see the PD course assignments. Check with your city coordinator for the log in details. --- [Next Page](/llms-full.txt/1)