Personal Development Plan Homework ESSAY

Personal Development Plan Homework

Contents Self awareness 2 Self analysis 2 Cognitive biases 2 Capacity 3 Strengths and weaknesses 3 Personal branding and online presence 3 Contingency planning 4 Goal setting 4 Skills audit 4 Skills assessment 5 Gap analysis 6 Skills matrix 6 Priority setting 6 Values and ethics 6 Smart objective 7 Monitoring progress 7 Metrics for progress 7 Schedules and time management 8 Mentoring and coaching objectives 8 Finding balance 9 Dealing with conflicts 9 Stress management 9 Work life balance 9 Bibliography 10

Self awareness
Self analysis
Prior to starting my PDP, I how to take an inventory of my personality, intelligences, learning preferences, work styles, weaknesses, strengths, biases, and my capacity for perceiving these. I start this report in the easiest way possible, by doing assessments of myself. Prior to doing this though I have to be aware that I can not just use any ideas, but will be following the four criteria set out by Tasha Eurich’s Tedx talk (Eurich, 2017). In this talk Ms. Eurich mentions that self analysis is difficult (only 15% of participants did it well), unless they utilize the four-principle system of analysis

a) You have to agree with the analysis yourself

b) It is externally verified by an independent source

c) It is empirical (meaning it is measured)

d) It is something that is improved upon

For the purposes of this report I used the following assessments

· VARK test (learn, 2020)

The result of which was mainly reading and writing. This suggests that I would be best suited for a PDP that was heavier in self – study, which included text materials. It should be noted that this is only a preference in a learning style and does not mean that I can not learn by other methods.

· Myers Briggs Type Indicators (Briggs, 2011)

The result of which was ISTP, The Virtuoso. This suggests that I would be best suited for professions police officers, detectives, engineers, mechanics, forensic lab workers or computer programmers. It should be noted that the inherent weakness of this analysis is that it might be influenced by mood swings. At the time of this assessment, I appeared to be in a fairly regular state of mind without undo influences, so assume that this assessment is accurate.

· Multiple intelligence test (Gardner, 2020)

The results of which was analytical / math / logic solving / languages. This would suggest that my targets for future career advancement should be in these areas. Although MI may be mistaken for acquired skills, I do not believe this to be the case in these situations, because I not only strong in these, but enjoy them as well. From our definition of MI, the ability to create cognitive solutions to these intellectual problems, I think they qualify as my multiple intelligence.

· I also took a work styles preference test, but have not included this, because the results were inconclusive.

Cognitive biases
At this point of the project I have to acknowledge the reasons for my methods and the practical application of them. The Dunning Kruger effect suggest that most people do not know what they don’t know, and because of this, they either over estimate or under estimate their abilities and strengths and weaknesses. I am sure that there will be cultural biases that will also affect the outcome of my PDP, but being aware of these biases will at least make me aware of the possibilities, and thus I will be utilizing a mentoring and coaching aspect later in my monitoring progress section.

Capacity
I am only adding this section in my report, as I have to acknowledge the capacity to which I am able to assess my environment and thus my self. To say that I am influenced by my personal development, maturity, moral development and social awareness is an understatement. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, suggests this. Being aware of this does not change these tendencies to be influenced by them, but knowing them precludes me from dismissing their influence. My age, social setting will influence my ability to make a PDP, but this does not mean that they will be in error; only that they will most likely change as my circumstances change.

Strengths and weaknesses
· SWOT analysis:

S

Computers,

video games,

logic puzzles

W

English,

qualifications,

patience,

procrastination,

physical exercise,

poor time management

O

in Canada,

lots of time,

good internet,

rich parents

T

COVID 19,

Culture Shock,

visa

From our lectures in PDEV, we have learned to utilize our strengths and thus put them as the main points of our PDP objectives. The reason that these sections are considered strengths are because I enjoy these activities and of course I am also good at the. In this case, I should be looking at some job that utilizes computers, video games or logic puzzles on a daily basis.

However, one can not just ignore one’s weaknesses. In my PDP I will also have to take into consideration my weaknesses and how to address them. We have several strategies for dealing with weaknesses such as the temporal motivation theory (TMT) for procrastination. In my case, it appears to be poor time management skills and this will directly affect the delay in this equation. If I can use some of the strategies to get around the delay aspect of the TMT, then I should be able to address two of my weaknesses. Maybe the Pomodoro technique as described on line (Cirillo, n.d.). They have paid services, but I just used the information for free. I am not sure what I will do about my patience, as we never studied this in the course. Physical exercise is a scheduling problem which I will address in the finding balance section.

In the sections for opportunities and threats, we have many things we can deal with. Suffice to say, being in Canada, I have some opportunities that I might not have if I were not here. On the other hand, I also have to deal with the limitations of my visa and culture shock.

Personal branding and online presence
Being in Canada is not at all like it was back home, so I have to be aware of the hidden job market aspect finding work here. To increase my chances of networking and building my rapport with prospective employers, I am employing the idea of Dunbar’s Number, and only concentrating on 50 potential contacts. I will build a LinkedIn profile, clean up my online presence, and even submit blogs to promote my potential to said contacts. I think building an online portfolio will help disseminate my work product easier. I still have my blog that I started in class, and will link this with my LinkedIn profile. Of course, I have standardized my personal brand, by similar email signatures, business cards, thank you letters and letter head.

All of these self awareness concepts leads me to believe that I will be looking at a PDP that involves computer programming.

Contingency planning
If my plans to be a computer programmer do not come to fruition, because of unforeseen circumstances, I will make the following plan based on the five-step method learned in class. This is based on the worst-case scenario that the Pandemic will not get better and we all have to stay in our homes and never go out side again.

The situation – in this idea, everyone has no relief from the pandemic, and there is no end in sight. This means that the vaccines are not successful, or they are not distributed well. Commers is much lower, and we all have to stay in our homes to do work.

The mission – from what I can see, my chosen profession of computer programmer is actually well suited for this situation. However, my other aspects of my PDP will be in jeopardy. There will be little work-life balance, because that aspect will be supressed with the pandemic.

The execution – the action plan for this will be to try and be sustainable while dealing with the external forces just mentioned. This will probably involve further online classes, getting a job online and ordering everything online. This will involve a much more extensive use of online tools, which a computer programmer should be well suited for. The relationship will be harder, as these don’t work very well online.

Sustainment – the actual implementation will involve a much more robust internet connection, Canadian bank accounts and a better visa.

Command and control – once the crisis is over, hopefully the skills learned and the experience gained will further my PDP that I am developing now. If they don’t then I have to see how they might.

Goal setting
Skills audit
In this section we look at the practical outcomes of our self analysis from the first section. The results of which are a computer programmer. In this section we will look at the process to become one based on the skills that I possess that are directly related to this profession, and those yet to come. This will involve an assessment of directly acquired and transferable skills based on industry standards through job postings and networking information.

We begin with a search on Indeed.ca, search words, “computer programmer.” This search resulted in 406 jobs posted in the last 15 days. Of these, filters for part-time, and 15 km distance resulted in a list of 284 jobs. This is a general list of the skills posted on these postings. The top six skills called for in these posting are as follows:

1.

1 | Page

2. Java Script (112)

3. SQL (76)

4. HTML5 (72)

5. Java (70)

6. Cascading Style Sheets – CSS (67)

7. Python (60)

We can surmise that #1 and #4 are probably the same skill. At present I have experience in Java Script, Java Beans, SQL and HTML5 to limiting degrees of proficiency. To be sure there are also some soft skills that are required in these jobs, but they were not explicit. I have done some casual CSS work when developing web pages, but that was self-taught. I am also aware of Python, but have never studied this topic.

Skills assessment
In this section we look at the method of assessing the previously mentioned skills and to what extent they have been mastered. To do this we look at Bloom’s taxonomy (BM) (Bloom, 1956), or at least a variation of this classification section. The hard skills suggested in the previous section all appear to fall under the cognitive domain which has six distinct levels; ranging from general knowledge (level 1), to evaluation capabilities of the subject (level 6). The method for evaluation of the levels (1 -6) can obtained using the Kirkpatrick method (KM) (Kirpatrick, 1994) as per the four levels of assessment; reaction, learning, practical application, and results. There was later a fifth section based on ROI, but we will stick with the basic concept for this evaluation. In this way, we will have a better estimation of my skill level based on the higher the KM to better justify the BM. In other words, I will eliminate the cognitive bias inherent in evaluating my own abilities this way.

Java script / Java – in my previous job with Brand X, I was given the task of producing short scripts to add to the Thanos project. This was a three-month project immediately following my Comptia, online, qualification, which took two months to finish. I have done my own work since then, comprising of about three more months. Thus, I have level one, two and three of KM at about three months. The projects that involved results acceptable to industry standards, is still only three months. This means that I can show KM at all four levels, with most at level three. Thus, I can safely conclude using the Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy (Anderson, 2001) that I meet the four criteria of the apply section (level 3) of the cognitive domain for this skill.

SQL – working with the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch, as the member’s coordinator, I utilized MS Excel spread sheets, using Crystal Reports and MY SQL. This was a six-month project, and was supplemented by Oracle SQL training at a post-graduate level. This again, involved all four assessment criteria of the KM. As there was a greater need to understand and analyse the materials in order to call up bespoke queries that superseded the level of expertise needed to produce the Java script just previously mentioned, I have to conclude this to be BT analyze level (level 4).

HTML5 – I have education in HTML4 and have since used the revised HTML5 tags. Although similar, I have not actually had any formal training in the latter version. I have produced three web sites and regularly maintain one that I previously produced. I have been working with HTML for about ten years now, and find my skills comparable to most seasoned practitioners. For this reason, I would rate all criteria of KM met to industry standards and my BT level at the evaluate level (level five).

CSS – my only exposure to this is using pre-written scripts from a library on the internet. I have some practice, and practical use, but this was highly supervised without actual responsibility to the project. For this reason, the KM criteria for only the first two levels can be met. It would be hubris of me to believe that I possess anything more than remember level of BT, which is the first level of competence.

Python – in this case, I can not actually rate my KM, because I have never used it. Thus, I can not receive a BT score either. This might be better explained as a level 0.

Gap analysis
Because Indeed does not classify the skills levels on the BT scale, one has to interpret what they ask for. With a vast majority of the positions, there is a call for two to five year’s experience in both Java and SQL. This can best be explained as being a level four or above. This is further verified if one looks at the daily requirements of producing work product with little supervision. This complicates the gap analysis in that we have to standardize the assessment methods to compare and then set the needs analysis. The following is an example of the standardization for comparison and to complete the gap analysis.

Skills matrix
Skill

Asked for

BT equivalent

BT achieved

Difference

Barriers

Java Script

2 – 5 yrs.

Analyse (L4)

Apply (L3)

One

Experience

SQL

2 – 5 yrs.

Analyse (L4)

Analyse (L4)

Same

None

HTML5

2 years

Apply (L3)

Evaluate (L5)

Over

None

CSS

1 year

Understand (L2)

Remember L1

One

Experience

Python

1 year

Understand (L2)

Level 0

Two

Education, experience

From the skills matrix, we can see that there are only three skills that need to be increased. In all three cases where the basic minimal standard is not met, as set by the job postings, experience is needed to increase the skill. In only one, Python there is a need for education. This is not to say that the others would not benefit from further education in the skill, but that only one is essentially needed prior to attaining a higher score.

Priority setting
There are three specific skills that will have to be acquired prior to getting this great job. They are Java Script, CSS and Python. However, with the latter two, more work needs to be done, because there is not much experience to go on. Thus, based on urgency and importance, the following priority should be observed.

Values and ethics
There are four distinct values, in which I have to take into consideration while looking for the perfect job, and they are

· Instrumental – this is the way that I will deal with achieving my goal. It is essential that I am perceived as an ethical and honest person, so cheating is not in my agenda for acquiring these three skills. I will go to a reputable establishment that is well respected and is well known in the industry.

· Terminal – This is the end game of my goal. I am looking for a respectable job that everyone will respect and I will be able to say with pride that I help establish. Because of this, I am going stay away from larger organization such as Disney, Microsoft, and Electronic Arts, which all have issues with not only their products, but also their work environments.

· Tangible – Realistically speaking, I still need to make a standard of living that is fairly easy as a computer programmer. With the exception of open source or volunteer work, I am most likely going to reach the goals of my tangible values.

· Intangible – This is probably the hardest area to look at, because what product (computer program) can be said to be extremely beneficial to society? Because of this, I might look into the ethical standards of the organization and its cooperate responsibility.

Smart objective
The goal statement for this objective is as follows: I am looking to basically acquire more experience in three separate skills directly related to my progression of my career as a computer programmer. Along with this, I will also be acquiring education in one of these skills. With respect to Java Script and CSS, I will be looking in doing some voluntary work at the First Nations Technology Council, which I have had experience with in the past. Although not a paid position, it will be very beneficial developing some of my skills. I have been accepted to do two nights a week at FNTC, Mondays and Wednesdays. I will be looking at my old school to do some work with Python. I will still need some more practice work in Python, but at least this is doable. I will look for opportunities during my course for further experience.

Specifically – I am looking for the development of three skills while still maintaining my existing skills. This means that I will have to acquire education in Python, and maybe CSS. To do this, I am looking at courses through my previous awarding body, Comptia.

Measurable – there are six modules with approximately five assignments each. This equates to 30 separate assignments in the Python course at Comptia. It is expected to take about a month a course, or an assignment every four days, with a final exam at the end. Thus, the several assignments and completion of courses can be a measure of progress.

Attainable – If we look at any action plan, we notice the resources to be utilized in order to implement. There is the price of the course ($450), a work station (already in my bedroom), a computer with six-month free Python version provided by the course (also have), and the time needed to take the course. This is mostly the time that it takes to do the course. It is estimated to take six months at about 20 hours of work per week. As I am only allowed to work 20 hours a week now, this should be okay. Although after my education, I will be allowed to work 40 hours in a week, so that might get a bit more hectic. My action plan is to allot the two days on the weekend and Tuesday and Thursday for studying the course at 5 hours each session.

Realistic and relevance – This will be a bit of work on the Tuesday and Thursday, but not something that I have not done before.

Time bound – having the course finished in six months is fairly realistic, especially with a good time maintenance understanding. As long as I schedule one month per course in the program I should be able to finish on time.

Of course, I will be re-evaluating after each section and will be able to revise the plan.

Monitoring progress
Metrics for progress
I now how to plan my SMART in order to develop a better outcome of my goal and objectives. There are many methods for doing this, but I will employ a few different techniques. I will also be employing a study partner and mentor in my monitoring my progress.

Schedules and time management
First strategy

A six-month calendar – This is a large visual representation of my schedule at one glance. In the case of a one-month calendar, I would have to flip through six pages to see everything. With the larger format I will record each of the assignments and the time that I have allotted for each of the activities. Utilizing the Don’t Break the Chain (unknown, 2000) video that we saw, I will also use the visual representation of big red Xs to show progress, and this should also help because of loss aversion (Kaheman, 1992).

Second strategy

For effective time management is to look at my time zones. In the PDEV course we looked at the idea that we have a

Reactive zone – although the most productive for growth as shown in the four growth rings video from the last class in this course, I also have to look at the idea of reducing this more stressful option. This means that I am not ready for these activities, and for the most of my day, this should not be the case. I have to take a diary to look at what time is needed for each of the activities that I do, and schedule them as needed.

Proactive zone – obviously for the highest efficiency, I will look to move most of my activities into this zone. This may not be the easiest thing to do, but it is a possibility to transfer some. To do this I will have to adhere to a stricter schedule than before, and have most of my day scheduled as just mentioned.

Distractive zone – even though I think I am a productive person, taking a log of all of my activities should show some patterns in developing an idea of what I get distracted by. I will probably employ methods of the temporal motivational theory (Steel, 2006) in order to deal with distraction and poor time management.

Time waste zone – I am going to have some, but will be using these as rewards for completion of other activities on the schedule. What is life if you can not indulge a bit. However, it has to be after all of my work is done.

Third strategy

In conjunction with the two previous methods, I will also employ a daily log. This is shown to be a highly affective method as we discussed in class. I can keep these and use them for reference as I go through my plan.

Mentoring and coaching objectives
I think that as soon as I get into the Python course, I will be looking for a study partner, as this will be an effective way of reciprocal co-mentoring. Granted this person will not have as much occupational competence as an expert, but we will both get this for free.

I will be looking to contact with prospective companies long before I graduate, because I realize that in Canada, networking is essential. If I concentrate on only 15 to 20 people in companies that I would like to work for, I may get a few the reply. To start with I will join their network on LinkedIn, and then start commenting on posts that they have made. This will either show them I understand them, and have similar ideas, or I just have a really bad lexicon, hopefully the former. If I get a bit more information on the subject they mentioned I will then add a post to my blog, and then link it to their post as a comment. I will then follow up with speculative letters that will mention that I am interested in their area of expertise, and ask questions to further my understanding of the industry in which I am trying to enter.

Finding balance
In this section we look at the other areas affecting the efforts of a PDP, and how to work around our problems that might hamper the project. We look at three distinct areas in order to develop this idea.

Dealing with conflicts
With respect to conflict, we first look at the problem with communication. There are three areas that communication can be misunderstood with the spoken word.

There can be misunderstanding with the sender, the receiver and the method of transmission. The first two deal directly with the language abilities of the two interloculars. This may also involve non-verbal communication that is the reason for misunderstanding. Because of this first type of misunderstanding, it is best to communicate in the Collective Common form of communication. This is not partaking in colloquial or vernacular language, the lack of humour and sarcasm in communication.

We also have to deal with a continued development of EI through the four aspects of this field. As you are aware, there are four separate factors in EI; self awareness, self management, social awareness, and social skills. If you are in a new country like myself, this will take some time to learn the customs a bit better. To do this I will be looking to incorporate more of these activities into my daily routine.

Stress management
The biggest problem that anyone have a PDP will have is how to manage their stress. Certainly, as we mentioned before, there is an amount that is required in order to succeed in life, which follows the four growth ring model. No stress being stagnation, where nothing grows. Complacency where it is easy to exist, but little growth occurs. Complexity where maximum growth exists. And Chaos, where things are too hectic to be productive.

Both Eustress and Distress are part of life. Using the General Adaptative Syndrome model, I can monitor when there is too much stress in life and then deal with it. Of course, this is dependant on my tolerance, and the duration of the stress. I find that exercise, a form of eustress is the most affective way that I have found to deal with this in my daily schedule. I try and run four days a week prior to starting the day for the best results. I tried doing other activities with the family, and this is good to a certain extent, but I can not be sure of their consistency, and as I am regulating my schedule, I need to know that this is part of the schedule. I am not looking to lose weight, although this is not a bad idea, but instead to maintain health and destress from the rest of the schedule.

Work life balance
In this the last section of my PDP, I am looking to work smarter, not longer. Because of this, I am not looking to work more than twenty hours a week, with twenty hours of study. I have scheduled for an eight hour sleep consistent at 10:00 pm daily. I eat with my children at their regular time of five o’clock. I find if I have this modest life balance, I will not be rich, but I will have a fulfilled life. I am not too concerned about making lots of money at this time, because I am in a training schedule, which means that I can add another twenty hours of work after I am qualified. Although some may find this difficult to understand, it is not supposed to be a strain in my life.

Bibliography Anderson, K. A. (2001). A Taxonomy of learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s Taoonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman. Bloom, E. F. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. In The classification of educational goals. Handbook1: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay Company. Briggs, M. a. (2011). Take the Test. Retrieved from 16 Personalities: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test Cirillo, F. (n.d.). Work smarter not harder. Retrieved from Pomodoro: https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique Eurich, T. (Performer). (2017, November 11). Increase your self awareness with one simple fix. Tedx MileHigh confrence, Denver , Colorado, United States of America. Gardner, H. (2020). Multiple intelligence test. Retrieved from Personality Max: https://personalitymax.com/multiple-intelligences-test/ Kirpatrick. (1994). Kirkpatrick Model: Four Levels of Learning Evaluation. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. learn, V. (2020). The VARK questionaire. Retrieved from VARK a guide to learning preferences: https://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/

Personal Development Plan Homework ESSAY

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