Stop letting isolation hold back your personal and professional growth
You are a social being; use this in your favor.
When I received the news that I had been approved in the Apple Developer Academy (ADA) | UFPE selection process, I had a mix of feelings that ranged from pure excitement and happiness to fearing the future in a new work/learning environment. Among the pillars promoted by the ADA, collaboration between members and the creation of innovative ideas are very present.
Contradictorily, being in a place surrounded by creative and talented people gave me the mistaken feeling of asking myself “am I, in fact, in the right place?”. This resulted in a series of questions and doubts about my own abilities, but think about it: if I was selected along with the others, what’s the point of not belonging to that environment, right? And while talking to the members, I realized it wasn’t an individual feeling; insecurity was present in others too.
To encourage people who are going through the same situation, I want to share my experience of how being part of a community helped with my personal development and motivation to learn something new. :)
During some iOS development classes, I had an intense first contact with a lot of information. Although I already had a brief experience with Swift, it caused me some anxiety when delving deeper into the language; there were a lot of new things happening at the same time. When I saw my colleagues working, a feeling of lack of belonging was generated because I thought I was behind others. Soon, demotivation for learning and socialization emerged. For a moment, what was supposed to be fruitful and aggregating became a difficult challenge to face (but not impossible).
One point to keep in mind when joining a new community is that, although the members probably have common goals or influences, each person has their own background; in other words, even with the similarity responsible for uniting us, the varied experiences make us different. And what can you conclude from this? Many of the people who were more advanced in Swift activities already dealt with code on a daily basis, so it was easier for them.
Comparing myself with the others is an unfounded action, since I am used to routinely deal with Design, and not with programming. So, having difficulty with something does not make you inferior to others; you just have an easier time at other points.
This is precisely where joining a community will make us grow. If everyone has something different to offer, imagine how many ideas and potential projects can be born? Just as Steve Jobs said:
“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: Great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”
The combination of the skills of each person on the team results in the final work; it wouldn’t be the same if designed by just one person. In a Harvard Business Review publication called “How Apple Is Organized for Innovation”, the authors Joel Podolny (Former Dean of Apple University) and Morten Hansen (Faculty, Apple University) highlight that at Apple, while researching aggregating solutions for the users, there are heated debates, disagreements and defenses of different points of view. Although each mind thinks in a different way, everyone collaborates towards a common goal: improving people’s lives with intuitive products that understand their needs.
In my work and study routine at ADA, I was able to experience this insight on one of the last days of basic programming classes. As I mentioned at the beginning of the text, I had brief experience with Swift in a class I took at college called Apple Foundations, focusing on the SwiftUI framework. Therefore, I arrived at the laboratory with prior knowledge at this point, which helped me carry out the day’s activity more quickly and easily.
When I finished it, I realized that I could help other colleagues who were still in the process by answering questions and helping them with the code. I consider this moment as a mutual exchange, since I observed different ways of programming and managed to capture new views on the same subject.
It was at that moment that the insecurity I felt previously was reframed, and I was motivated to continue exploring new knowledge, not only for my own growth, but also to be able to continue contributing to this environment of innovation in which I am part. Now I have more confidence and the conviction that I will be able to grow in different aspects.
The future solutions that will come out of here are in great hands. Since we are humans focusing on humans, the users who come to use them will have a favorable experience. :)
I hope this publication has brought you some insights or reflections. For more conversations and exchange of ideas, my LinkedIn is available! See you next time. ☻
