Your Brain's API: Getting and Giving Technical Help

Transcript

1. YOUR BRAIN’S API Giving and getting technical help @sashalaundy
2. YOUR BRAIN’S API Getting technical help without being scared, ! and giving technical help without being a jerk accidentally
3. YBA: GTHWBSAGTHWBAJA
4. YOUR BRAIN’S API Giving and getting technical help @sashalaundy
5. asking can be hard
6. helping can be hard
7. helping can be HUGE
8. helping IS CULTURE
12. error g “dammit!”
13. error g “interesting!”
15. Culture as competitive advantage
16. Why are YOU here?
17. Why are YOU here? ! • want speed up your growth? • hard to get unstuck? • working on mentoring? • having trouble with a particular person?
18. TODAY! ! Tools for asking! Tools for helping!
19. The Little Voice
20. “I’m never going to get good at this…”
21. “This is so hard, and I keep getting stuck…”
22. “Maybe I’m just not cut out for this…”
23. from Humans of New York
24. "Who’s influenced you the most in your life?” “My principal, Ms. Lopez.” “How has she influenced you?” ! “When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us…And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.” from Humans of New York
25. from Humans of New York
26. from Humans of New York
27. “What are they all going to think?”
28. from xkcd
29. Remember the Little Voice
30. Fear stops people from stretching
31. Fear stops people from GROWING
32. asking: MINDSET
33. What THEY know What YOU know REMEMBER!
34. CONFUSION is a sign you’re about to learn something
35. be BRAVE
36. asking: TOOLS
37. 1 Pick a good place to work
38. 2 15-minute rule Ask early!
39. 3 Demonstrate competence ! Experts like helping people who will take the ball and run with it.
40. 3 Audit your speech patterns
41. 4 Tell them what you need
42. 4 30% feedback
43. 5 Say what you’ve already done
44. 5 My current understanding is __. I expect to see ___ here but instead it’s doing ___. What’s going on?
45. 5 I want to do ____ and I’m trying it by ____. What do you think?
46. 5 Then, say it back to them to check your understanding.
47. 1) Pick a good team 2) 15 minute rule 3) Say what you need 4) Say what you’ve done 5) Say it back to them
48. helping: MINDSET
49. This is hard
50. The “curse of knowledge”
51. Every question you get asked is an opportunity to make your team STRONGER
52. Model NOT KNOWING
53. helping: TOOLS
54. 1 Welcome questions
55. 1 Not enough questions? Reward question-asking
57. 1 Too many questions? Teach them to fish
58. 1 Before you ask… ! 1) Google it 2) Read the error message (!) 3) Ask another student 4) THEN you can ask a teacher. ! —Flatiron School
59. 2 People will always remember how you made them feel
60. 2 “No feigning surprise” — Hacker School social rules
61. 2 Assume competence
62. 2 How familiar are you with ____?
63. 2 Praise in public, critique in private
64. 2 “…if I’m giving feedback on a pull request, I always go find the person first and check how they’d best like the feedback, sometimes I’ll offer to pair with them on it, or email them feedback privately. I think it’s polite to give people options.” —Alice Bartlett http://alicebartlett.co.uk/blog/six-months-at-gds
65. 3 Share the how and the why, not just the what
66. 4Don’t grab the steering wheel
67. 5 Watch your LANGUAGE
68. 5 “Easy” “Just” “Obviously”
69. 5 Emote in writing
70. 5 “No ‘well-actuallys’…” — Hacker School social rules
71. 6 Advanced move: don’t coddle. PUSH + support
72. 1) Welcome questions 2) Make them feel good 3) Share the how & why 4) Ask for the wheel 5) Watch your language
73. What are you going to take home?
74. THANKS! slides & more at sasha.io