My Values

Accomplishment, accountability, compassion, creativity, efficiency, family, friendships, and integrity area few values which come to mind when I recall the times in my life when I've felt most satisfied.

Friendships

From the chosen values I believe friendships is most important to me. As humans we are a very social beings, some of us more than others, but we crave it and need it. Don't believe me? There are reasons why timeouts (which I never had because I come from a family which received "knockouts") given to you while you were young and solitary confinement in prisons are effective. We need to interact with other people because it keeps us healthy and sane. The iconic film starring Tom Hanks, "Cast Away", illustrates a man who is alone on an island and befriends Wilson the volleyball. He socializes and even tries to save him in a storm because Wilson had become his inanimate friend.

Good friendships help you grow in life, is a network of friendships. Everyone has a family, be it genetically related or emotionally related. They provide that emotional crutch when you need one. Sometimes your family is there even when you don't want them to. Most importantly, your family is who you feel most comfortable being surrounded by. I am a native Houstonian so leaving my family back at home to stay in Chicago by myself is overwhelming and a little frightening. I'm hoping the family I make there in Chicago will be close to what I have at home.

If I were to rate my values on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being what I agree most with, I would give them a 3 or higher for each value. Accomplishment would be a 5 because I do like feeling accomplishing things as opposed to not finishing what I started. Friendships, family, and integrity all receive highest marks as well. Accountability, creativity, and efficiency receive 4's because sometimes it's difficult to be efficient without being creative. I like to believe I am creative with my ideas but maybe not critically thinking creative. I give compassion a rating of 3 not because I lack compassion, but because there are so many people out there in the world who use every opportunity to take advantage of you. That being said, it is really difficult being compassionate to the less fortunate when they could easily be that person who is taking advantage of your help.

The last piece of advice I gave is unrelated to coding but more on a mechanical subject. I was asked by my dad, yes sometimes he asks me for car advice, about why his coworker's car would not start. The circumstances were that the coworker was able to drive to work fine but could not start the car after work even though the battery was changed. The lights in the gauge cluster and dashboard light up but no clicking or cranking sounds. My immediate reply was if the battery had enough cold cranking amps. If the battery isn't the problem than it may be a starter relay fuse that may need to be replaced or the starter itself needed replacement.

I feel good about the values I chose. I wholeheartedly stand by their importance even if I don't exactly live by them all the time. Compassion and friendship would definitely be the values to mediate stereotype threat. Everyone could use a friend or helping hand especially if they are being put down because of stereotypes that may or may not be true for the individual. If I ever felt bad at DBC I would just remember my goal for attending DBC and why I was there. I am not learning to be a developer because I have an unconditional love or an unfulfilled desire to be the best coder in the world but I am doing this for family and friendships. People believe I have the brains to do anything I want and I tend to agree with them but I'm doing this so that I can have a career and not a job. A career that would allow me to retire my parents comfortably and for me to live comfortably without worrying about what order I should pay my utility bills.