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Lessons from the Dojo
- 1. Lessons From the Dojo How being a sensei made me a better development mentor Miriam Goldman WordCamp Calgary 2019 @mirigoldman
- 2. Hi. I’m Miriam. ★ 14 years web development experience ○ Mentoring for the past 3 ★ 12 years of karate training ○ Currently 3rd dan ○ Actively teaching sensei for the past 9 years ★ WordCamp Ottawa co-organizer ★ July 13-14, 2019
- 3. ● Yoast Diversity Fund slide here
- 4. On Tap ➔ The benefits of martial arts ➔ Effective senseis ➔ Effective mentors ➔ Commonalities ➔ Lessons learned ➔ What can I do?
- 5. The personal and professional benefits of karate ★ Self-confidence ★ Self-discipline ★ Focus ★ Attention to details ★ Dedication
- 6. Characteristics of an effective Sensei ★ Patient ★ Ability to adapt to changing situations ★ Motivator ★ Perseverance ★ Good listener
- 7. Characteristics of a good development mentor ★ Loves to teach and learn ★ Tolerant ★ Patient ★ Good listener and communicator
- 8. Commonalities ★ Passion for sharing knowledge ★ Open-mindness ★ Communicators
- 9. Lessons Learned ★ Learn to lead by example ★ Dealing with various personality types ★ You learn as your juniors learn ★ Joy from the success of others
- 10. What can I do? ★ Find your passion! ★ Discover your strengths ★ Continue to gain knowledge yourself ★ You don’t need to be in a teaching position!
- 11. Thanks! Let’s stay in touch! Twitter: @mirigoldman Web: https://www.mirigoldman.ca Many thanks to my OWN karate mentors/teachers, Senseis Dom and Fort Aversa, for all the help in developing the sensei bullet points!
Editor's Notes
- -Started training karate about two years after finishing college. Never thought I would see a relationship between it, never thought I’d be a black belt, let alone 3rd degree black belt -Mentoring began with Canada Learning Code, and as I transitioned into a lead role, it naturally came along -Not all black belts teach actively. They may have the title of sensei, but only help out if commanded. -additional fun fact, graduated from Beaverbrook in 2002 -Karate sensei first, development mentor later. Was reflecting on how much karate has helped my career -WordCamp Ottawa, budget approved, website should be live any day now -Talk about Diversity Outreach Speaker Group
- Thank Yoast for the Diversity Fund For underrepresented speakers at a open source conference (magento, wp, etc)
- Self-confidence: I personally had very little self confidence growing up. With the right instructors (talk about how amazing Dom and Fort are here), and repetition, you start to believe you can do it. It’s hard at first, yes, but with support from those more experienced, and practice (practice makes permanence – JP) Self-discipline/focus: These are tied together. When you are in the dojo, you need to be focus on the now, not about what you are cooking for dinner that day. Gives you the ability to zero in on what’s in front of you, and not jump all around with things Attention to details: Technique in karate needs to be precise, effective. If not, you risk injuries. This can translate to code, where even a simple missing semi-colon, or a line break where there shouldn’t be one, can render things like garbage Dedication: You have a goal (new belt, new kata, tournament), and you are given the tools to get there. Same with completing your style sheet, JS file, or plugin (list goes on)
- Patient: Not everyone learns at the same pace. You go at the pace, and level, of your student. If you have multiple students, find the lowest common denominator. Don’t get frustrated or upset. Smile, and reassure Ability to adapt to changing situations: You might have students from another martial art discipline. There might be a medical emergency (talk about 3rd dan test!), or, you might be asked with no notice to run a belt test Motivator: You are there to help the lower belts succeed. Share in their success, find ways to help them through what they are struggling with Perseverance: It takes a lot to get to a point where you can teach. Good senseis don’t give up on themselves, or their students. Through whatever bad things might happen along the way, they pick themselves up, take time to reflect, and move on (Sensei Dom’s fighting anology) Good listener: Don’t tune out your students. If they are having trouble with something, or with a training partner, listen to what they have to say. Don’t dismiss anyone, ignore your own personal feelngs. You are there as a leader. DON’T HAVE AN EGO!!! You are not god’s gift to the martial arts. BE HUMBLE.
- Love to teach and learn: Nothing worse than having someone senior to you not enjoy the teaching process. You can tell when a mentor/teacher doesn’t care, and it doesn’t motivate you. Why should I learn, when they don’t care about this? Same with learning. If they aren’t consistently learning themselves, and furthering their own skills, what does that say to a junior developer? Tolerant: Everyone makes mistakes. Some people have different coding styles and methodologies. Just because it’s not the way you would do it, doesn’t make it wrong. Good mentors get their juniors to explain their process, and they consider it. No judgement. Patient: Similar to a karate sensei. Some people have that “lightbulb” moment later than others. Some people need hand-holding, and ask a lot of questions. Don’t get upset when asked a lot of questions. Try to help them, or point them to resources and/or ppl that might be able to help. Good listener and communicator: Again, like a karate sensei. Find the way to get the concept to stick. Find alternatives if one idea isn’t working. Try not to take the roundabout way to get to an endpoint.
- Passion for sharing knowledge: Both have a lot of built of knowledge and skill, and don’t like to keep it to themselves. Feel like they are bettering the world by passing on what they know. If people take ahold of it, bonus! Open-mindness: They know that their way is not the only way. Some things have to be done in a particular order, yes, but there is room for flexibility and alternative methods to get to the end. Communicators: They learn how others learn. What words to say, what actions to show. How does my audience need to absorb this knowledge the most effective way possible?
- Lead by example: Walk the walk, talk the talk Dealing with different personality types – also learning styles. How does one learn best? Use te-waza example and teaching kata, and then for dev, pure instruction, rubber duck programming Learn from juniors: teaching a concept makes you think about it, am I communicating this effectively. Makes your training/coding better Joy from success of others – seeing lower belts come up the ranks, black belt grading is my favourite time of year (I give up a WordCamp for it), and then seeing learners/junior devs celebrate/get a big smile on their face when their code does what they want it to, lifts up the heart, and makes my day personally
- Passion: doesn’t necessarily have to be martial arts, or development. There’s music, other sports, etc. I used martial arts as my example, but if you can find something that helps drive you professionally, go for it Strengths: I’m not a fighter, but a technician. I teach mainly katas, and I mainly mentor teens and those in minority groups. Find what your strengths are in sharing knowledge, and latch onto them, grow from it More knowledge: makes your more well rounded, and feeds your passion. Never stop learning. This works for peer-to-peer mentoring, and/or pair programming.
- -love to hear your experiences, or if you wanna learn more, or have a mentor for this on your own -shoutout Dom and Fort -other karate students, kata practice tomorrow at lunch?