Jemma R. Dixon Codes

Learning Competencies

Describe your personal values and ethics

• Restoration, movement. Nietzsche said, "When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago."

Dr. Sue Johnson - How to Love Intelligently In the Age of Instant Gratification

"All the evidence says go to the gym, meditate. But learn to reach for the people you love. One secure connection: better immune system, recovery, etc. - Dr. Sue Johnson.

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pousch (2008): Last Lecture

• A speech you would give if you knew you would die tomorrow - what would you say?
• "It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, it is the things we do not."
• All the mistakes and dopey things, or times of embarrassment don't matter. When we have a chance to do something cool, grab for it.
• You will need to find your passion. Don't give up on finding it. Find your passion and follow it. You will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, you will always look around and use this for the metric, and there will always be someone with more.
• Passion - comes from what fuels you from the inside.
• Passion will be grounded in people.

Randy Pausch Inspires Graduates

"What can you do now in your life so that one year or five years from now, you won't look back and have... dismay about the new regrets you've accumulated? In other words, can you find a way to live without continuing to accumulate regrets"? (Yalom, 2008).

Describe Your Strengths

Gather evidence & publish it as a blog post

• Gather evidence to identify what your personal values are.
• Myers Briggs results: My personality type is: Advocate INFJ-T. Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging.

• INFJs can be both creative and rational, artistic and logical, writers and scientists.

  “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” — JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE.

Advocate Information

• They have a deep sense of idealism and integrity, but they aren’t idle dreamers – they take concrete steps to realize their goals and make a lasting impact.
• Advocates’ unique combination of personality traits makes them complex and quite versatile. For example, Advocates can speak with great passion and conviction, especially when standing up for their ideals. At other times, however, they may choose to be soft-spoken and understated, preferring to keep the peace rather than challenge others.
• Advocates generally strive to do what’s right – and they want to help create a world where others do the right thing as well. People with this personality type may feel called to use their strengths – including creativity, imagination, and sensitivity – to uplift others and spread compassion. Concepts like egalitarianism and karma can mean a great deal to Advocates.

• Advocates may see helping others as their purpose in life. They are troubled by injustice, and they typically care more about altruism than personal gain. As a result, Advocates tend to step in when they see someone facing unfairness or hardship. Many people with this personality type also aspire to fix society’s deeper problems, in the hope that unfairness and hardship can become things of the past.

  Nothing lights up Advocates like creating a solution that changes people’s lives.

  Strengths

• Creative – Advocate personalities enjoy finding the perfect solution for the people they care about. To do this, they draw on their vivid imagination and their strong sense of compassion. This can make them excellent counselors and advisors.
• Insightful – Advocates typically strive to move past appearances and get to the heart of things. This can give them an almost uncanny ability to understand people’s true motivations, feelings, and needs.
• Principled – People with the Advocate personality type tend to have deeply held beliefs, and their conviction often shines through when they speak or write about subjects that matter to them. Advocates can be compelling and inspiring communicators, with their idealism persuading even the hardest of skeptics.
• Passionate – Advocates can pursue their ideals with a single-mindedness that may catch others off guard. These personalities rarely settle for “good enough,” and their willingness to disrupt the status quo may not please everyone. That said, Advocates’ passion for their chosen cause is a key aspect of their personality.

• Altruistic – Advocates generally aim to use their strengths for the greater good – they rarely enjoy succeeding at other people’s expense. They tend to think about how their actions affect others, and their goal is to behave in a way that will help the people around them and make the world a better place.

  Weaknesses:

• Sensitive to Criticism – When someone challenges their principles or values, Advocates may react strongly. People with this personality type can become defensive in the face of criticism and conflict, particularly when it comes to issues that are near to their hearts.
• Reluctant to Open Up – Advocates value honesty, but they’re also private. They may find it difficult to open up and be vulnerable about their struggles. This might also be because they think they need to solve their problems on their own or don’t want to burden other people with their issues. When Advocates don’t ask for help, they may inadvertently hold themselves back or create distance in their relationships.
• Perfectionistic – The Advocate personality type is all but defined by idealism. While this is a wonderful quality in many ways, an ideal situation is not always possible. Advocates might find it difficult to appreciate their jobs, living situations, or relationships if they’re continually fixating on imperfections and wondering whether they should be looking for something better.
• Avoiding the Ordinary – Advocate personalities tend to be motivated by a sense of having a greater purpose in life. They might consider it tedious or unnecessary to break their big visions into small, manageable steps. But they may be setting themselves up for frustration if they don’t turn their dreams into everyday routines and to-do lists. Without these specifics, their goals may never materialize.

• Prone to Burnout – Advocates’ perfectionism and reserve may leave them with few options for letting off steam. People with this personality type can exhaust themselves if they don’t find a way to balance their drive to help others with necessary self-care and rest.

  One of the things Advocates find most important is establishing genuine, deep connections with the people they care about.

• Just as Advocates have high standards for themselves, they also have high standards for their friendships. They want to feel compatible with their friends on a deep level. In addition, Advocate personalities generally want to surround themselves with people who will inspire them to grow and improve. Most Advocates don’t just want to have fun with their friends – they also want to learn new things, make new discoveries, and deepen their bonds.
• In their quiet, understated way, Advocate personality types have a knack for seeing beyond appearances and understanding people’s deeper natures. They can use this ability to move past first impressions and figure out whether someone’s interests, values, and attitudes might be compatible with their own. By doing this, Advocates can befriend people who might seem totally different from them but who are compatible on a deeper level.

• Advocates may sometimes find themselves surrounded by people who want to impress them. Paradoxically, this can make it more difficult for people with this personality type to find friends with whom they feel a connection. After all, the only way to be counted among Advocates’ true friends is to be authentic, honest, and real.

  “It’s better to fail while striving for something wonderful, challenging, adventurous, and uncertain, than to say, ’I don’t want to try because I may not succeed completely.’”— JIMMY CARTER

  For Advocates, money and Employee of the Month simply won’t cut it. These personalities want a career that fits their values and principles.

Using the evidence gathered, describe your core personal values

Explain a situation where you have had an ethical decision to make. Discuss how you weighed up the values involved in that decision, the decision you made, and the consequences of the action you took.

About three years ago, I was walking outside of a supermarket and a homeless man was sitting on the pavement in the rain. I offered him a banana. He told me he didn't want a banana; he needed a blanket and a raincoat. I told him I was sorry, and I wish I could help. I drove back to my accommodation in the city; I remembered that an international student had just left about a week ago, and she had left her duvet, pillows, and sheets. I drove back to the supermarket and thankfully he was still there. I feel guilty whenever I pass someone in the street and don't help them, especially when I don't think twice about how we use and discard valuable resources. He thanked me for the pillows, the duvet, and the plastic bag. I sat in my car and cried as I drove home. I think about how "social justice is love applied to systems, policies, and cultures," and how the consequences of my actions might not have been enough, but at least it was something. Dr. Sue Johnson writes "Nothing grows people like love. When we are loved, we blossom. The message of evolution is not the survival of the fittest. The message of evolution is the survival of the most nurtured."

Describe how your culture has influenced your values and identity.

This answer merits more than what I write here. Since culture is complex and because I have visited and lived in different places and cultures at different times of my life, and because reading material or watching films or listening to music and engaging with people is a facet of interacting with culture, and because we are embedded within a culture that is sometimes hard to 'see through,' an answer giving real justice to this question would be too long, and perhaps impossible to produce.

A list of my values:

• Adventure
• Authenticity
• Compassion
• Integrity
• Justice
• Kindness
• Open-mindedness
• Autonomy
• Contribution
• Knowledge/ Learning/ Wisdom

My identity

• I'm not entirely sure how to relate to this question - I'm not trying to be contentious.

• Using the evidence gathered, describe your strengths and limitations.

  Strengths: According to the INFJ Rubric

  1. Creative
  2. Insightful
  3. Principled
  4. Passionate

  5. Altruistic

     Weaknesses:

  1. Sensitive to Criticism
  2. Reluctant to Open Up
  3. Perfectionistic
  4. Avoiding the Ordinary

  5. Prone to Burnout

  • Evaluate your strengths and limitations in terms of your learning and career development

    Career Development: Truth, Beauty, Purpose

  • Advocates want to find meaning in their work and to know that they are helping and connecting with people.

  • I have systems in place to manage my perfectionistic tendencies and to avoid burnout. I like the idea of being able to merge creativity and passion with technology in order to make something practical and impactful.
  • Identify which of your strengths might help you in your learning journey and how they might intersect with learning obstacles.
  • I am focusing on cultivating a growth mindset to counter perfectionism and a fear of failure.
  • Need to stick to the time criteria so as not to get lost in the detail.
  • Setting realistic expectations in relation to improvement and learning.
  • Staying focused on the material and not getting side-tracked by something interesting though potentially irrelevant to the task at hand.
  • Share an example from your experience of where you were trying to work productively with others, but there was resistance or tension. Discuss the strategies you used at that time, how effective they were, and your reflections on what other strategies you would try now, and why.

Working collaboratively and cooperatively with others; building relatiionships; working effectively with a team or work group to accomplish organisational goals; taking actions that respect the needs and contributions of others; contributing to and accepting the consensus; or subordinating one's own objectives to the objectives of the organisation or team can be a complicated process and balance.
Valuing diversity and all voices are important.
In my own experience, I recall suggesting an idea to a group at uni. Another person then repeated the exact idea for which they took credit. Which isn't - in terms of work goals and outcomes - a huge deal, but it is frustrating and unethical, regardless of gender. In the context of this situation, where it was problematically gendered, it's termed "hepeating."

A Few Strategies: Excerpts from Masha - Stereotype Breakers

"I know many awesome men who want to support diversity and in particular women in tech. But some don’t know where to start. Some say they don’t know how to approach it or they’re afraid to do or say the wrong thing. It can be hard to navigate being an advocate or an ally. So, I’ve decided to create this post specifically for those men. Diversity in tech is everyone’s issue – because without it we cannot create truly innovative technology that solves problems. We know that diversity brings countless benefits to organisations improving. For example, it helps with financial growth, company performance, company culture, creativity, the product itself, customer satisfaction and so on. I’ll link some articles at the bottom of this post if you want to learn more about it!"

We all know that there are a ton of super talented and skilled women in tech out there. And this isn’t a competition, we are all on the same side. We all want to thrive at work and make a difference and the most effective way to achieve that is by doing it all together. However, there are systemic issues and biases that create barriers for women when entering the industry and growing within it. These systems developed over time representing the needs of the majority group (white men). They are now disadvantaging employees for whom this environment wasn’t designed for. Change requires everyone’s input. In fact, men in tech are often in a better position to influence these dynamics compared to most women because they’re the majority demographic. It’s mens’ responsibility to help support women. Now that we know why men should be allies, let’s talk about how they can do that.

1. Listen to women Listen to women’s stories and try to understand their experiences. Don’t try to “fix” individual women, but understand what barriers they’re facing in their environment. Practice your active listening skills and be open-minded. To make sure we’re on the same page, active listening isn’t waiting for your turn to express your opinion. Active listening involves hearing and properly processing the information you hear. National Center for Women and Information Technology has created a very helpful Critical Listening Guide. It warns of certain traps and helps with finding language that will enable you to have a very meaningful conversation. Some of the things that will be helpful to understand as a result of such conversations are: What privilege is and think of examples of how you may have benefited from it in your career. Understanding it is an important step to becoming an ally! That gender inequality comes in different shapes and forms. How the environment is still biased and what barriers women face when advancing their careers in technology.

Click here for the full article: 'How Can Men Support Women in Tech.'
There's a list of resources at the end of Masha's blog, too.