📓 Journal #12
You were asked to keep a journal while going through the program. Each weekend you'll receive a brief journaling assignment in addition to your coding homework. (Review the Journaling at Epicodus lesson for a refresher.)
Journal #12 Prompt
Think critically about the following questions, and record brief yet honest responses. Include a date or timestamp and quick summary of the prompt to refer to later.
As we move closer to our internship interviews and job search, we must begin considering how we'll represent ourselves to employers. This includes technical skills, but also who we are as people. We do this through a personal narrative.
Unlike a cover letter or resume, a personal narrative isn't necessarily a formal piece of writing. It doesn't have to be written down word-for-word, and it can change depending on context. It's simply the curated, thoughtful way you've decided to represent yourself, your story, and your trajectory, especially as it relates to your career. It can be presented in a cover letter, verbally in a discussion or interview, or even in your LinkedIn profile and other online presences.
And these narratives are really important. Beyond your technical skills, what's your background? What do you value? What makes you a valuable member of a team? What are you excited about? Is it the same things the company considering hiring you is excited about? Why or why not? Including this information in written cover letters, and discussing it in in-person interviews humanizes you. It represents you as the complete person you are, instead of only a set of coding skills.
For the next few sections we'll work on developing our personal narratives. To do this, we'll reflect upon our own values, and look back at other information we've recorded in our journals (primarily our strengths, weaknesses, skills, past experiences, and ideal job descriptions), to craft a narrative to best represent our skills, values, and personalities.
First off, let's identify our values:
Read through the Core Values list below. Determine which three you most identify with, are most drawn to, or find most important in your own life. Write these down.
How have these values shown themselves in your previous work? Whether work here at Epicodus, or on previous teams? Jot down an example for each.
How do these values positively contribute to a team or work environment? How could they contribute to a future team? Record an answer for each of the three values you listed.
Do these values inform what type of work you find fulfilling? Or the type of company/team you'd like to work for? (Refer back to your ideal job description from section eight's journal prompt, if necessary).
Did any of these values lead you to pursue code school? How or why?
Core Values
- Abundance
- Acceptance
- Accomplishment
- Adaptability
- Altruism
- Ambition
- Assertiveness
- Assurance
- Audacity
- Awareness
- Beauty
- Brilliance
- Certainty
- Challenge
- Change
- Clarity
- Commitment
- Community
- Compassion
- Confidence
- Conformity
- Congruency
- Connection
- Consciousness
- Control
- Conviction
- Courage
- Creativity
- Reliability
- Curiosity
- Daringness
- Decisiveness
- Discipline
- Empathy
- Enthusiasm
- Fairness
- Family
- Fearlessness
- Fidelity
- Flexibility
- Freedom
- Friendship
- Frugality
- Fun
- Generosity
- Gratitude
- Growth
- Health
- Honesty
- Imagination
- Independence
- Individuality
- Influence
- Integrity
- Intellect
- Introspection
- Intuition
- Justice
- Kindness
- Loyalty
- Maturity
- Meaning
- Mindfulness
- Non-Conformity
- Obedience
- Open-Mindedness
- Optimism
- Passion
- Peace
- Power
- Practicality
- Rationality
- Realism
- Reflection
- Reliability
- Reputation
- Resilience
- Resourcefulness
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Security
- Self-Control
- Selflessness
- Self-Reliance
- Self-Respect
- Sensitivity
- Strength
- Trust
- Truth
- Unity
- Warmth
Discussion
We'll discuss our responses at our next class session. Make sure your responses are recorded before then!