From 6cc0ef89d6ed42ef335da0672a15484311f13fc4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Rohrer Date: Wed, 12 May 2021 11:55:02 -0400 Subject: wrote journal entries --- hireme/final-pres.tex | 53 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ hireme/journal1.tex | 86 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ hireme/journal3.tex | 99 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 238 insertions(+) create mode 100644 hireme/final-pres.tex create mode 100644 hireme/journal1.tex create mode 100644 hireme/journal3.tex diff --git a/hireme/final-pres.tex b/hireme/final-pres.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed50108 --- /dev/null +++ b/hireme/final-pres.tex @@ -0,0 +1,53 @@ +\nopagenumbers +\setbox0=\hbox{\vrule} +\newdimen\leftwid\leftwid=2in +\newdimen\rightwid +\rightwid=6.5in +\advance\rightwid by -\leftwid +\advance\rightwid by -3\wd0 +\advance\rightwid by -16pt % padded box +\def\tr{\noalign{\hrule\penalty-5}} +\def\link#1{#1} +\long\def\pad#1{\vtop{\hbox{\hskip4pt #1\hskip 4pt}\vskip 4pt}} +\parindent5pt +\halign{\vrule\pad{\vtop{\emergencystretch.5in\hsize\leftwid\unskip #\ignorespaces}}\vrule& + \strut\pad{\vtop{\hsize\rightwid\unskip #\ignorespaces}}\vrule\cr\tr + Name& + Holden Rohrer\cr\tr + Internship location and site supervisor's name& + 7Factor, Chelsea Green\cr\tr + Please describe your main duties and responsibilities at the + Internship site, what you are doing, and why& + I was responsible for analyzing existing code and writing new + code to fix bugs and add new features, in response to + ``stories'' that are written by the 7Factor sales team based on + customer requests or predicted needs.\cr\tr + Reason for your choice of Internship in this career field& + I want to be a software developer in my professional career, so + I was interested in getting hands-on experience with a project + that people actually use, instead of the more toy-like projects + that I've previously worked on.\cr\tr + Personal characteristics and lessons you learned from this + semester's internship experience& + \noindent Characteristics about yourself that you learned from the + internship:\par + {\parindent0pt\leftskip5pt + I learned that + \par} + \noindent Major lessons you learned from the internship:\par + {\parindent0pt\leftskip5pt + I learned that + \par} + \cr\tr + What was the greatest thing you got to do, learn, or see through + your internship?& + ??\cr\tr + How did this internship impact you?& + bruh\cr\tr + Is there anything else you want us to know about your internship + site, site supervisor, and/or experience?& + No\cr\tr + {\bf Video Link:}& + \link{https://hrhr.dev/hireme-final.webm}\cr\tr +} +\bye diff --git a/hireme/journal1.tex b/hireme/journal1.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fbcadf --- /dev/null +++ b/hireme/journal1.tex @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +\font\twelverm=ptmr7t at 12pt +\twelverm +\baselineskip=24pt +\nopagenumbers +\headline={\hfil Rohrer \number\pageno} +{\obeylines +Holden Rohrer +Ms Rosner +Hire Me +1 Apr 2021} + +% Describe how you are preparing for your interview. Consider several +% questions you would ask your new supervisor and write them out. (If +% you have already started, please describe what happened in your +% interview. What questions were you able to ask and what were the +% answers?) + +\centerline{Journal Prompt \#1: Interview Questions} + +During my interviews, I spoke with Mr.~Phil Muldoon and Mr.~Jeremy +Duvall over the phone. +Both went well and I learned more about the 7Factor company from them. +I asked them questions about the processes 7Factor uses to develop +software and what I'd be working on in the two interviews. +My interview with Mr.~Muldoon, the HR point of contact, mostly covered +some basic details about the internship and setting up a second +interview wih Jeremy, although the second interview did still take a +significant amount of back-and-forth over email to set up (the schedules +misaligned, and the time didn't get fully communicated to Jeremy, me, +and Ms.~Hall at the same time). +The basic information covered in my intervew was about how long the +interview would be (until the end of the school year) and other +questions. +He also told me that I'd be working on the WellEntry project with people +who work at 7Factor and repeated some of the marketing pitch of the +company. +7Factor is a company that's focused on modern development practices and +creating good products. + +One of the questions I asked Jeremy was ``what development process does +7Factor use?/What is kanban?'' (I only learned these two questions had +the same answer after I had asked them both). +Kanban is a method of software development where the sales team or other +programmers will find work that needs to be done (like refactoring a +program to be easier to work on, or creating a new feature for a +client), and post it on a public ``billboard'' or ``signboard'' like +Trello (7Factor uses Clubhouse) where anybody can start working on a +``story.'' +A story is the name for a small, well-divided task that a team member +can start working on, mostly independently from other developers until +the time for revisions or code reviews come. + +Code review is part of the 7Factor process in order to ensure +good-quality code across the board. +One of the guiding principles of the company is ``kaizen,'' or +continuous improvement. +I got a chance to ask Jeremy about this principle, and constructive +(keyword) criticism's one of the guiding principles. +So that 7Factor can build good code, people need to understand where +they're able to improve, and where projects are able to get better, +candidly, but very much still kindly. + +Another question I asked Jeremy about was the typical tech stack on a +project and what I'd be working on. +WellEntry is all-JavaScript, which is becoming more and more common, so +it's an interesting set of tools to work with. +The front-end is written in Vue, one of the older frameworks with +full support for reactivity and a lot of helpful tooling above the bare +metal. +The back-end is written with ActionHero to manage requests from users as +independently threaded programs, and Sequelize to interface with the +database backend for storing data (users, users' roles, vaccination +records, surveys or COVID tests, etc). +This means that a lot of the skills from this project will be +transferable in the future. +More generally, 7Factor deals with a lot of different tech stacks and +languages, often working with companies to upgrade old stacks to more +modern ones that are easier to work on. +This means that you'd probably see JS a lot, but also Python, Java, C\#, +and others. +And, since 7Factor uses Infrastructure-as-Code techniques with putting +nearly every project on a repeatable CI/CD pipeline and cloud +deployment, the Terraform-specific configuration files near every +project. + +\bye diff --git a/hireme/journal3.tex b/hireme/journal3.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..256cd5a --- /dev/null +++ b/hireme/journal3.tex @@ -0,0 +1,99 @@ +\font\twelverm=ptmr7t at 12pt +\twelverm +\baselineskip=24pt +\nopagenumbers +\headline={\hfil Rohrer \number\pageno} +{\obeylines +Holden Rohrer +Ms Rosner +Hire Me +2 Apr 2021} + +% The top three descriptors site supervisors use to describe good +% interns include: enthusiastic, confident, and respectful. Describe how +% you are embodying these descriptors presently at your internship site +% and how you hope to embody them in your future career pursuits. + +% Also, entering a work environment can easily be compared to entering a +% foreign county. The people around you speak a different language, have +% spoken and unspoken politics, and cultural norms. How have you +% navigated your internship culture? + +\centerline{Journal Prompt \#3: Work Environment} + +The Euroamerican work environment is designed to be consistent and +polite. +The American variant of ``professionalism'' is inherited from American +sales culture. +Sales is about communicating three main themes to your customer: +dependability, courtesy, and sincerity, often without particular regard +to the specific nature of the object of the sale. +Interviews, meetings, and nearly any form of non-casual discussion +become wrapped up in the language and structure of a sales pitch. +Because sales is rarely concerned with objective or even clear +communication of its object, neither are meetings, interviews, or work +communication. +Much discussion functions as virtue signalling, so buzzwords and +monstrously opaque conglomerations like ``multifaceted, comprehensive +solution'' abound. +Real communication ends up hidden in coded phrases, and distinct from +foreign languages, obfuscated by words or entire sentences that serve no +substantive purpose. + +Fortunately, this trend is not universal or absolute. +I'm enthusiastic about the work I'm doing, and in order to effectively +produce software, I need to communicate substantively. +While often run through a politeness filter, I'm discussing the features +and functionality and issues of the program I'm working on, WellEntry, +with other people on the team. +I generally try to write concisely, which unfortunately contradicts with +``work language,'' meaning I spend much longer writing a response than I +would otherwise need to casually, especially because this writing also +needs to communicate virtues like openness to critique and humility. + +This translation impedes oral communication less than writing because +mistakes are more readily forgotten, but it isn't free of professional +euphemism. +Non-committal phrases like ``if it is necessary, which it could be not'' +occupy some of the space. +Interestingly, the mental costs of switching language are nearly +immaterial: the process of code-switching is practically automatic, so +staying to this subset of English naturally communicates and forces one +to only consider ideas which embody ``enthusiastic, confident, and +respectful.'' +I will, necessarily, continue to use this style of language in my future +career, and depending on the available content (or lack thereof) to +discuss, embellish with empty words. +Works like Strategic Vision Plans are especially vulnerable to such +empty language, but I fortunately am not party to any such document, and +7Factor's particular culture seems to be less affected by those styles +(but not entitrely free of it). + +Non-verbal norms are also important. +The language of body and attire were irrelevant during this internship +due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a unique part of this work is code +reviews. +7Factor does theirs through GitHub mostly, but extra comments also end +up on Clubhouse, and a lot of communication happens in the mechanical +interactions with these systems. +Processes like ``requesting'' or ``re-requesting'' a review, or marking +a project as ``In Development'' or ``Ready for Production'' are +seemingly trivial processes which are actually moderately nuanced. +One possible concern is the time that other people can allocate to +looking at the code I've written: before I mark a piece of code as +``completed'' or even mention it to my supervisor or other developers +working on the same project, I need to be confident that it's functional +and finished before marking it as such, in order to demonstrate respect +for their time. + +\iffalse +- Why are work environments' language so opaque? +- Politeness as an ideal +- I'm enthusiastic +- I focus on quality of work and participating in the team +- Return to code-switching (general) and professional euphemisms +- Non-linguistic norms +- Software teams existing before the proliferation of %bull$#*! +\fi + +\bye -- cgit