Notes on “Pragmatic Thinking & Learning” - Refactor Your Wetware by Andy Hunt.
Post includes results of Jungs personality tests amongst others.
So I’ve decided my to kickstart my learning by learning how to learn. My starting point is this Refactor Your Wetware book by Andy Hunt.
It has taken what could potentially be a very dry topic and really made it appealing to me. The book flows really well, and gets the point across clearly & concisely.
I really like the fact it has put the topic into the context of software develop - this has helped me to grasp some of the more complex ideas.
In this post, I’m going to make observations to apply what I have learnt in the book to my past experiences.
Brain Type
http://www.testcafe.com/lbrb/lbrb.html
I took the test to determine whether I am more right or left brained - Turns out i’m more right brained by 54% to 46%.
The results sound about right - I largely prefer to try things first, and then resort to instructions when my attempts fail.
I do feel I am more creative rather than logical, but i’m working on that at that moment!
Generational Affinity
Different generations inherently have different values. I fall into Generation X : “These are free agents, with an inherent distrust of institutions.” (p.128)
This really helps me to understand why, amongst other reasons, why I feel more comfortable as a contractor than I do as permie. I could never put my finger on why as a permie I was always looking for an excuse to find a new job - “They” are not giving me enough training, I’m not progressing fast enough, “They” don’t have enough parking spaces…
I like the idea that after my contract is up, I potentially have the freedom to do what I like. This usually isn’t the case as with a family in tow, I have far more pressing commitments than disappearing off travelling for 6 months!
Jung Test Results
Jung Test available on http://introspectives.org
I have taken the same test twice now, a week or so apart, and both times I have come up as type ENTP :
ENTP - “Inventor”. Enthusiastic interest in everything and always sensitive to possibilities. Non-conformist and innovative. 3.2% of the total population.
Extroverted (E) 65.79% Introverted (I) 34.21%
Intuitive (N) 53.85% Sensing (S) 46.15%
Thinking (T) 51.52% Feeling (F) 48.48%
Perceiving (P) 58.62% Judging (J) 41.38%
Some more info on ENTP here. I love the fact that my favoured careers include “IT Consultant” & “Web Developer”. The list of personality items is pretty spot on as well.
Learning Style
http://www.learning-styles-online.com
turns out I prefer the auditory / Aural style of learning :
“If you use the aural style, you like to work with sound and music. You have a good sense of pitch and rhythm. You typically can sing, play a musical instrument, or identify the sounds of different instruments. Certain music invokes strong emotions. You notice the music playing in the background of movies, TV shows and other media. You often find yourself humming or tapping a song or jingle, or a theme or jingle pops into your head without prompting.”