Identity, Values and Strengths

Describe your personal values and ethics

Never really given it much thought to be honest, I usually just go with the flow. Adaptability or flexibility is probably my core value. Evolve or die right? A couple years back I had a few health issues and ended up in hospital for surgery. That’s where this value comes from, considering at the time I was a beekeeping assistant, I couldn’t continue my work. So I switched to IT. My identity is that of a NZ Maori European. My mum is Pakeha, my dad Maori, I’m somewhere in the middle. Learning at Dev Academy is another step in this direction. Figuring out solutions to problems is rewarding on its own and coding brings its own unique problems.

• Be Professional
• Kindness
• Adapt
• Perseverance
• Honesty

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.

When I was in high school, I once witnessed a friend of mine break a window. Don’t worry, it was on accident, but the school seemed to want to charge the student responsible. The principal called me and my friends in one at a time, trying to find who did, and I can say I was honestly surprised not one of us snitched. I didn’t feel it was right to give up my friend. After all Mark Twain said it best "The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right."

Unfortunately, the consequences were that we had to pick up rubbish around the school during the first half of our lunch break for the rest of the term. A letter was sent out to all our parents of what we’d done. My mum was okay with it.

Describe how your culture has influenced your values and identity

My cultural identity is that of a NZ Maori European. My mum is Pakeha, my dad Maori, I’m somewhere in the middle. I've spent some time during a family reunion on a marae but other than that I don't really have a lot to do with my dad's family. I suppose gaming culture applies here too.

Using the evidence gathered, describe your strengths and limitations. Evaluate your strengths and limitations in terms of your learning and career development. Identify which of your strengths might help you in your learning journey and how they might intersect with learning obstacles.

My strengths come down to perseverance and adaptability. Just keep on going and be willing to change what needs to be changed. My passion for learning in IT has remained the same since I’ve started. A limitation I have is my attention for details. Sometimes I miss necessary information or resources that I should have investigated further.

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.

When I was doing my bachelor’s degree, I ran into what I thought was a very lazy individual. During our team project, he wasn’t pulling his weight. Eventually he stopped doing the work at all, leaving the rest of us to do his part.

We decided as team, to go to the teacher and have him removed from our project. The teacher complied and informed that student. Turns out he was going to pull out anyway. He had gotten his girlfriend pregnant and was moving back home with her.

I kind of wish I had just talked to him first before going to the teacher.