Several weeks ago, as part of our Dev Bootcamp prep phase, we had to take a quiz that would help determine our Gregorc Thinking Style so we could be more aware of how we think and learn. With this knowledge we could adjust our training so we could be more successful, hopefully. There are 4 types of mind styles and we could have some atributes of each, although most likely one or two would be dominant. The mind styles are described here. There is the Concrete Sequential mind style where the people like structure and predictable situations. There is the Abstract Sequential mind style where they like access to experts or references and can work alone. People with the Concrete Random mind style like experimenting to find answers and are able to use trial-and-error approaches to learn. And then there are Abstract Random mind style of those that like establishing healthy relationships with others and given broad or general guidelines. These mind sets have other likes and dislikes, that I have not mentioned as well.

I first took the quiz many months ago and determined that I was multi-modal being both Abstract Sequential and Concrete Sequential. Several weeks after that, I took the quiz again and got pretty much the same results. I think that described my leaning and working conditions that I had been developing for the past several years. I worked in a space where I was alone most of the day and my training consisted of online video training, reading, and lectures at meetup and conferences. For the past 8 weeks in phase 0 at Dev Bootcamp, this has changed for me. I am now learning by doing exercises and I only research the knowledge I need to complete the solution if I do not know what to do. I also must pair several times a week, and so I am no longer working in a solitary environment. So now after 8 weeks of this new way of learning, I took the quiz again, expecting the same results, but they were different. I am now Concrete Random and then Abstract Random. I am not afraid to experiment with the code and see what happens, instead of researching for a best solution. And I am becoming more people oriented and need less structured guidlines as to what is to be done.

I do not think that changing our mind style was the goal of Dev Bootcamp. But for many of us, I can see that our mind style and learning style will change to fit our environment. Going forward, I will be looking to do more hands on coding and experimenting to learn and pairing with others to continue my new mind style. And I will also still look to learn from videos, books and lectures that were part of my past mind style.