@Roger-Heathcote

[Roger-Heathcote]

Roger (he/his/him)

How I get my best work done:

Turns out I really like pairing but I find it can be stressful in noisy environment. Consequently I find remote pairing is much more comfortable, assuming both people are in a quiet place with a strong internet connection. I also find a lot of time pressure negatively affects my work. When people are blocked til I've finished something, or if I feel like I need to stop and do some reading or testing but don't feel I have time too it's hard to relax enough to be properly productive. That said, some time pressure is useful to keep me on track, otherwise I would merrily go down every rabbit hole I find 🐰

The role I usually take in a team:

I have not worked in a team for nearly two decades so it's hard to say. I didn't much like having a boss when I had one but then again I didn't feel like I had much to learn from them either. I suspect I'll be happy to be led by people who are good at what they do.

LOL, turns out I'm bossy! Or at least my wife, who was working at home with me last week says I sounded bossy on our hangout 😳 Feedback from my team in the weekly SGCs paints a similar picture. We're not talking bossy in the "capable, organised, inspiring leader" sense either, Just the oldschool bigmouth kinda sense. Clearly work to do there! My plan is to TRY to take a breath before butting into any given discussion but I don't expect that to come easily, I've got a lot of opinions and I tend to feel them strongly.

My communication style:

Blunt, ideally. Voice rather than text wherever practical. Banter welcome if those around us are okay with that. Coarse language also fine, I have potty mouth by nature. I am very hard to offend so do not hold back - if I'm not making space for you PLEASE take it back from me! I love a good argument about technical/policy matters but I appreciate many people deeply dislike swearing, aggression and conflict. I will try to stifle these impulses unless I think you are okay with them so please let me know, ideally before the Friday S/G/C, if I get that wrong!

What I value:

In others: Frankness, enthusiasm, expertise, clarity of purpose and vision.
Physically: A quiet ergonomic workspace with three maybe screens and great Internet.
Personally: Time to think and take stock, to learn in depth, to reflect personally (and as a group), and to make detailed notes.

What people misunderstand about me:

I started off here thinking people may mistake my enthusiasm for bossiness. On reflection I think just as often it's me who mistakes my bossiness for enthusiasm!

Things to know about me

• I am a bit hard of hearing - please speak loud
• That's an important one so I'll say it again - PLEASE SPEAK LOUD!
• On remote presentations and, even more so in remote group discussions like the Friday S/G/C I can't hear a word many of you are saying. Part of that is where the mic is and I get that some of you are naturally quiet but it would be extremely helpful if everyone could speak as loud as they are comfortable doing 🙏
• I have a bad back, standing for more than half an hour is uncomfortable for me.
• I am married with kids so I have time commitments that might make after work / spontaneous stuff tricky.
• I talk to myself fairly constantly while I code, even if I'm alone.
• Likewise, while I am thinking I often drum with my fingers; sometimes I whistle and hum - just nudge me if I'm doing that and it's getting on your nerves!

How I like to get my feedback:

In one to one situations blunt is best, no point putting lipstick on a pig!
In a group sometimes I'd prefer a nice s*** sandwich 😋

Technical strengths & weaknesses:

I am relatively strong on Javascript, testing and CS. Weak on graphic design and CSS. I could stand to get better with some tooling stuff too, like Chrome's Dev Tools.

Interests (programming or otherwise!)

Music: Making, listening, gig going (rock, metal, psych, weird stuff)
Movies: Horror, trash, 70s and 80s in particular.
Karaoke: At every opportunity!

[jackherizsmith]

@Roger-Heathcote is great at sharing knowledge and offering alternative approaches to complex coding challenges, which was super helpful to me as it turns out I'm completely new to the internet. He was very good at staying positive and relaxed whilst being the only cohort member at the time working remotely, which must have been incredibly frustrating.

[hannahgooding]

Roger's deep knowledge of data structures and object-orientated programming makes him an asset to any team. I learn so much from working with Roger, and he's a pleasure to debug code with! One of Roger's strengths in a team is that he is accommodating of other people's learning objectives, and will encourage you to get out of your comfort zone! I appreciate Roger's love of karaoke ☺️🎤

[Chloeh24]

Roger is a great person to work with 😄 He likes to get to the root of the problem and approaches projects in a very structured manner. I learned so much working with Roger, he has so much experience and knowledge which he is very generous with and makes sure that everyone on the team is on the same page.