I wanted to put together a list of things that I find to be my strengths and weaknesses. I’m continually working to improve my strengths and minimize or compliment any weaknesses that I have. It’s never easy to reflect on these things and improve upon them, but I love to figure out how I can continually make myself better! Or surround myself with others who can help me be better!

I have a strong desire to be efficient and effective.

I prefer communication through written form. Short and long form asyncronous discussion via a system like Discourse or email.

I like the philosophy of stoicism. I do not like ego. I like doing the right thing. I like to see obstacles as ways to grow. I’m big on self reflection and ensuring that I adjust and change accordingly to adapt.

If I notice problems, inefficiencies, or ineffectiveness I try to find and propose solutions. This has a tendency to not work well in established environments and I have recognized that and have learned to manage it accordingly.

I am a proponent of transparency and collaboration. I do not like the idea that hiding knowledge gives me “power.” Or that the more meetings and information I have the more “valuable” I am. I much prefer to distribute knowledge and delegate and come to decisions through group collaboration.

I’m am a strong proponent of leveraging all technologies to solve problems. I understand the value in quick wins, but I also recognize when things are not going to be scalable and will end up costing more in the long run.

At my core, I’m a creative type.

I tend to be very pragmatic. I think logically through things and don’t like to get emotions involved.

I like to solve large problems by finding “building blocks” or “stepping stones” to get to the end goal.

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a team is important to me. Knowing how to work with people and how people want to be worked with.

I am an ambivert leaning more towards introvert. I understand the importance of communication and team building, but in order for me to recharge my batteries I tend to need quiet thoughtful time.

Communication and having a “voice” is important to me. I have no problem with my opinions or ideas being respectfully discussed or declined.

Weaknesses

I can sometimes become overly passionate about solutions. Sometimes that passion can come across as aggressiveness. I’m acutely aware of it though and I do my best to reign it in. It has gotten better as I have gotten older.

I can be overly organized at times. I like to have systems in place to support my natural tendencies to be disorganized and inefficient, but when I don’t have the ability to help supplant my weaknesses, I can become frustrated.

I tend to have fairly large ambitions when it comes to building software and solutions.

I don’t like to make too many trade offs for short-term wins vs long term maintainability of a product. I’ve seen it backfire all too often.

I can sometimes be naive when it comes to the complexity of certain things. I think this may be human nature, but I tend to always start off as “it shouldn’t be this hard” and then once I start digging in to the problem will quickly realize “oh, that’s why this is hard”

I can sometimes stretch myself too thin. I tend to get overly involved in ideas and they can often times quickly consume me. Having someone set priorities for me is extremely helpful to counteract this.