To be honest, I really hated working in a group. This was not simply limited to programming projects. I preferred working alone. I always tried to stay away from any kinds of group work activities when I first got here. Perhaps it's because for most of my life, I was educated in a country where group work happens very rarely at schools and individual achievement is considered way much more important than group wise achievements. Now I am in the states and it seems like almost every single class I took had some sort of group projects. At first it was tough to dedicate myself to a group work. I definitely learned many benefits of group work but I still think there are many challenges. So here on my second blog I would like to discuss the challenges of group working.
First challenge is rather physical. I am a shy person and I don't feel comfortable talking with new people whom I don't really know well. And it takes time to know each other and that can be a big time waste and sometimes it is very frustrating. When I work alone I only need to struggle with a machine. When I am working with partners there will be many more things added beside my buggy codes. I will have to arrange a new time to meet the partner if he or she does not show up. I will have to get angry if my partner has a big exam coming and he can't do anything until he's done with exam. Many social and physical problems can occur when working in a group.
In one class I had two partners one from India and one from Somalia, before the group meeting I was starving so I ordered a pizza. When they came I offered the pizza and they all got offended by my kind offer. Both of them could not eat certain meat(can't remember the exact topping). I couldn't understand their response because first I was ignorant of other cultures and second I am Korean who can eat anything, even dog meats (don't get offended if you are a pet lover, we don't eat pets neither and I have a cute pet as well and I or my family didn't eat her for 12years). Again these kind of issues would have never occurred if I was working alone.
Second challenge comes if two partners have different programming background or different level of experience. I once had a partner who had a great programming background. He seemed to know everything about the labs and projects and I just felt so useless sitting next to him watching him typing codes that I can't really understand. All I did for the group work was to write some comments or to edit the code so it looks pretty with proper line breaks and indentations. Oh and I also had a great chance to tar and submit the project. This was a big challenge for me. On one side I was happy that I didn't have to worry about getting good grades on labs and projects but on the other hand I was unhappy because I didn't learn.
There are many challenges when working in a group. However I think if partners have similar skill levels, group work will give great benefits. Our first iteration was kind of small to bring out the benefits of group working. I look forward as projects get longer and harder. Our group will overcome the challenges and use the benefits of group working as much as possible.
I agree that working in a group can be an awful experience. I have had my share of bad experiences in groups but I have also had great partnerships. Out of one of those group settings I met my best friend. She and I are from different countries and different religious backgrounds. I hope that working with your current group will prove to be a enjoyable learning experience. Good luck on Iteration 2!
~ Cindy Khan
I'm sorry to hear your experiences have been less than positive for group work. I have troubles working in groups, too, but for a different reason. For programming group work, I struggle in that I have a need to know what each piece of the code is doing and thoroughly understand the algorithm behind it. When working with a partner, that need slows development as I go line by line through my partner's code, no matter how small. But after making it this far into the CSci curriculum, I've begun to trust my partner's code and only scrutinize it when the code doesn't work or time permit.
There is certainly a point at which differences in programming background can be harmful, but until that point, I see it as a powerful tool. For my case, I had more experience with large-scale code and my partner had more experience with C++. With our knowledge combined, we felt like we had laid solid groundwork for the rest of the project. Of course, as you mention, when the differences are too much, the partnership can almost be harmful.
My suggestion to you is to join IEEE or ACM. I have a friend that was shy coming into the U who made many new friends after she joined these groups. If I remember correctly, some of those friends turned out to be in her classes. But, of course, your decision.
Best of luck for future projects.
-Steven Vukelich
I completely understand your feelings for this. However, I am always disappointed when people have a bad experience, so I feel bad. I know that I have had a very positive experience working in a group every time. I also used to be shy in high school and that started changing in college and the people I work with were people I met freshman year and they are all at this point old friends. Because for me working in a group has always been a positive experience, I wish that others would feel the same way. I feel like the biggest problem is when you want something done your way, and your opinions clash. I used to always want my way when I was younger and working in groups in high school was never a good thing.
I have a couple of friends from an Asian background and have been very interested in Asian culture since very young. Even though I myself am from eastern Europe, I feel like I understand at least a tiny bit of what you are experiencing. My best advice would be to try to be as social as possible. I'd personally prefer to work with someone that understands more than me because I wouldn't be shy to just ask him what he's doing. I feel I'd understand just as well if I bombard the partner with questions as I'd do if I was doing everything myself. The problem about time phases that are open is always there. It depends on a lot of things like how well you know your partners, and if you commute or not, and when you work, and other things. I don't have any advice for that because I would agree that it's always a problem.
I completely understand your feelings for this. However, I am always disappointed when people have a bad experience, so I feel bad. I know that I have had a very positive experience working in a group every time. I also used to be shy in high school and that started changing in college and the people I work with were people I met freshman year and they are all at this point old friends. Because for me working in a group has always been a positive experience, I wish that others would feel the same way. I feel like the biggest problem is when you want something done your way, and your opinions clash. I used to always want my way when I was younger and working in groups in high school was never a good thing.
I have a couple of friends from an Asian background and have been very interested in Asian culture since very young. Even though I myself am from eastern Europe, I feel like I understand at least a tiny bit of what you are experiencing. My best advice would be to try to be as social as possible. I'd personally prefer to work with someone that understands more than me because I wouldn't be shy to just ask him what he's doing. I feel I'd understand just as well if I bombard the partner with questions as I'd do if I was doing everything myself. The problem about time phases that are open is always there. It depends on a lot of things like how well you know your partners, and if you commute or not, and when you work, and other things. I don't have any advice for that because I would agree that it's always a problem.
I completely understand your feelings for this. However, I am always disappointed when people have a bad experience, so I feel bad. I know that I have had a very positive experience working in a group every time. I also used to be shy in high school and that started changing in college and the people I work with were people I met freshman year and they are all at this point old friends. Because for me working in a group has always been a positive experience, I wish that others would feel the same way. I feel like the biggest problem is when you want something done your way, and your opinions clash. I used to always want my way when I was younger and working in groups in high school was never a good thing.
I have a couple of friends from an Asian background and have been very interested in Asian culture since very young. Even though I myself am from eastern Europe, I feel like I understand at least a tiny bit of what you are experiencing. My best advice would be to try to be as social as possible. I'd personally prefer to work with someone that understands more than me because I wouldn't be shy to just ask him what he's doing. I feel I'd understand just as well if I bombard the partner with questions as I'd do if I was doing everything myself. The problem about time phases that are open is always there. It depends on a lot of things like how well you know your partners, and if you commute or not, and when you work, and other things. I don't have any advice for that because I would agree that it's always a problem.
I completely understand your feelings for this. However, I am always disappointed when people have a bad experience, so I feel bad. I know that I have had a very positive experience working in a group every time. I also used to be shy in high school and that started changing in college and the people I work with were people I met freshman year and they are all at this point old friends. Because for me working in a group has always been a positive experience, I wish that others would feel the same way. I feel like the biggest problem is when you want something done your way, and your opinions clash. I used to always want my way when I was younger and working in groups in high school was never a good thing.
I have a couple of friends from an Asian background and have been very interested in Asian culture since very young. Even though I myself am from eastern Europe, I feel like I understand at least a tiny bit of what you are experiencing. My best advice would be to try to be as social as possible. I'd personally prefer to work with someone that understands more than me because I wouldn't be shy to just ask him what he's doing. I feel I'd understand just as well if I bombard the partner with questions as I'd do if I was doing everything myself. The problem about time phases that are open is always there. It depends on a lot of things like how well you know your partners, and if you commute or not, and when you work, and other things. I don't have any advice for that because I would agree that it's always a problem.
Stefan Platikanov
I completely understand your feelings for this. However, I am always disappointed when people have a bad experience, so I feel bad. I know that I have had a very positive experience working in a group every time. I also used to be shy in high school and that started changing in college and the people I work with were people I met freshman year and they are all at this point old friends. Because for me working in a group has always been a positive experience, I wish that others would feel the same way. I feel like the biggest problem is when you want something done your way, and your opinions clash. I used to always want my way when I was younger and working in groups in high school was never a good thing.
I have a couple of friends from an Asian background and have been very interested in Asian culture since very young. Even though I myself am from eastern Europe, I feel like I understand at least a tiny bit of what you are experiencing. My best advice would be to try to be as social as possible. I'd personally prefer to work with someone that understands more than me because I wouldn't be shy to just ask him what he's doing. I feel I'd understand just as well if I bombard the partner with questions as I'd do if I was doing everything myself. The problem about time phases that are open is always there. It depends on a lot of things like how well you know your partners, and if you commute or not, and when you work, and other things. I don't have any advice for that because I would agree that it's always a problem.
Stefan Platikanov
I am from Asian. I was also educated in a country where few group work happens at schools. So I understand you that it's hard to get started working in group.
If you had great programming background, I think there would be many people like to work with you. So it's very important to improve yourself. Good luck!
Fangzhou Xu
Programming seems like it can come in a variety of flavors interms of the size of a group. Some projects require to break it down for individuals working on their own tasks. Like you stated, breaking the project down and assigning tasks for yourself sometimes seems like a better way for shyer students, say you and me. In other scenarios, it is nice to create these groups to strategize on how to attack a problem. But partners are all different and think differently, which creates a lot of learning in the process. I think that is why it is nice for us to be placed into groups.
Although often in programming classes, the students are allowed to pick their partners. That sometimes makes it so one doesn't get the variety in taste for programming in terms of knowledge nad skill-bases. Programmers often grab their friend's programming traits, since they work with them so much. I sometimes wish the groups were created by the professor or the TA for these reasons.
Tom Manion
If I can be a bit philosophical for a moment, I think that one ought to both work as a team for the good of the goal and take personal responsibility for the success of the project. A lot of great results have been achieved by exceptional individuals, but far more often great things are the result of dedicated non-individualistic work by a well-organized team. That's why this class is an important part of computer science. But I completely agree that it's hard.
Wow, I feel like you too sometimes when my partner seems so quick to code and it usually takes me a little longer to understand what it is that he is trying to do. It does make me feel bad when I feel like I can't contribute to the group. But when I don't understand something, I will go back and re-read the code to get an idea of what is going on. It does get hard working with others if they don't show each other a little respect and understanding, hopefully this semester is different.
Keng Kue Lor