self-engineering

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Introduction to Self-Engineering Module 4

A Day in the Life

30 minute module

Instructional Objectives

1. Students will view a sample of ‘day in the life of software engineers’ videos.
2. Students will share thoughts regarding these daily software engineer activities, to clear misconceptions and faulty assumptions..
3. Students will make connections from the activities in the videos to metacognitive skill, growth mindset and identity as reviewed in prior modules.

Opener

In this module, we gain an understanding for the tasks, responsibilities, and daily activities of the typical software engineer. We use this information to draw ties from what we know as successful uses of metacognitive skill, growth mindset and positive identity thoughts, to draft a self-engineering best practices plan.

Video 1

(4 min) A Real Day in Garret Halstein’s Life as a Software Engineer at IBM 2020

Discussion

(3 min) Comment responses in the chat box:

What are some activities from the video, where as a “real-world engineer” using metacognition could come in handy?

Debrief

(1 min) A few metacognitive skills as takeaways from the Halstein (2020) video:

• He sets a daily routine
• He checks Slack first on his agenda to organize the day’s activities
• He defines what he will work on for the day
• He identifies “blocks” that might be inhibiting his work progress
• He holds meetings from peers and supervisors to obtain feedback for use to improve
• He takes small breaks throughout the day (e.g.: eat lunch, short walk)
• He monitors his work progress and knows when to stop working for the day
• He uses a dedicated work space
• He balances life’s work and personal interests, for the purpose of mental/emotional health

Optional Videos: ‘A Day in the Life -Software Engineering’

(10 min) Another Real Day in Garrett Halstein’s Life as a Software Engineer (2021 follow-up)

(17 min) A Real Day in Mai Nguyen’s Life as a Software Engineer)

(11 min) A Real Day in Rafeh Qazi’s Life as a Freelance Software Engineer)

(6 min) A Real Day in Justin Hammond’s Life as a Software Engineer)

(6 min) A Real Day in Ali Mir’s Life as a Software Engineer)

(5 min) A Real Day in Neil Fraser’s Life as Software Engineer at Google)

Software engineers use personal metacognition to self-engineer their days and work goals, as you’ve seen in the sample of videos. We know that awareness is a human superpower. We want to give you a process that can help you to self-engineer your thoughts and behaviors to solve problems as well, while a student at Kenzie Academy and in your career.

Think, Pair, Share (Chat Box)

(12 min) Think about the following prompt, pair with a few other students to further drill down on your ideas. Upon returning to the large group, you will share responses in the chat box.

Given our workshops today on metacognition, growth mindset, and identity… How might a new student best self-engineer their actions to learn and see success in the Kenzie Software Engineering program?