To me personally, the pairing experiences have been rewarding in a sense that they were good practice of how to work with different people to solve a problem collaboratively. This skill may not feel necessary in the beginning of our independent studying phase, however I can imagine it’s extremely important in a team project, especially on the job in real-world working environments.

Paring experiences can vary drastically depends on the partner’s personalities and interpersonal skills.I believe the key to successful and pleasant pairing sessions is less about technical knowledge, but more about the abilities to communicate effectively and having a humble attitude toward the partner. Again, I believe pairing is mostly about “how to work efficiently with another human being”, which is essential for any line of job and any organizations. Whether it’s learning, teaching or problem solving; if the pair is a poor communicator or has uncomfortable attitudes, pairing can be very frustrating even if both sides have adequate technical knowledge. However, if both sides communicates effectively and shown enough respect and honesty for each other, it turns into a positive feedback loop and pairing can be very pleasant and enjoyable.

Reading feedbacks is a great way for me to know myself from other people’s perspective. It is usually difficult to evaluate myself with subjective views. I feel that people generally tried to be positive and polite in their feedbacks, but I believe it is also important to be frank and honest in giving feedback, because this is the only way for the receiver to extract the real value of the feedback.

Overall, I think the process of paring and feedback have been helpful for me to learn how to work collaboratively with others and discover my own strength and weaknesses from a different perspective.

Questions? Email me at stephensxub@gmail.com

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