There are good days and there are bad days. And more often than not, it is not completely within our control to decide which it might be. However, if you can isolate a few commonalities between the good and the bad, you will be able to prepare and set yourself up for the best chance on a good day.

When it comes to pairing, setting yourself up to be the best partner is crucial. For the most part, all of my pairing sessions have been successful, but there are definitely sessions I wish I could have been better. I really like working on a team, I have always been that way. However, I do find it tough sometimes to work on a team if we are all working on one thing together. I often like it better if we are tasked to complete separate tasks that fit in the same larger picture. So pairing on coding challenges throws me a bit off of my element. However, I find it very rewarding to solve a problem with someone else, and I find it extremely beneficial to see how someone else approaches a problem. I sometimes have a hard time approaching a problem in a different way once I have found one way to solve it.

Pairing can definitely be frustrating for me. The most frustrating is if I am not prepared. I for the most part, need time alone to think about an issue and the best way to approach it. If I do allot myself that time or tell my partner to hang on for a couple minutes, I end up coding from behind and playing catch up. This is frustrating because then I am not quite able to grasp the challenge with my partner. However, with practice and proper preparation like reading through the challenge before and taking a stab once on a piece of pen and paper has solved this issue.

The feedback I have received have been predictable. For one of the pairing sessions I wasn’t able to contribute my best to, I received nice words, but weaker scores and a nod to the fact that I should have prepared better. Feedback for the most part is only helpful when you do something wrong. When you are having a good day, you are most likely a good pair. Its when you pair poorly and receive not as good feedback, you can really look back and see how you can improve. Writing feedback has been fine. I have had good pairs thus far. There isn’t really a hard part for me other than really trying to find something to point out that can help them in the future.

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