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Lightning Talk: Refactoring of Self
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Lightning Talk: Refactoring of Self

Vaidehi Joshi • June 04, 2015 • Singapore • Lightning Talk

In her lightning talk at the Red Dot Ruby Conference 2015, Vaidehi Joshi explores the duality of refactoring in programming and personal development. She begins by acknowledging that as new programmers, many of us produce code that is not as elegant as we would like it to be. This leads to a sense of self-doubt when seeing others transform our imperfect code into something beautiful.

Joshi emphasizes that there are various forms of refactoring, but one consistent theme is the importance of 'self.' Refactoring self refers to the continuous process of personal and professional development that developers undergo. She details several key points about this concept:

  • Learning and Growth: Just as developers strive to improve their code, they should also focus on their personal growth. Continuous learning is a fundamental part of this journey.
  • Acceptance of Imperfection: Developers often ship imperfect code, and similarly, individuals must accept their own imperfections while working towards self-improvement.
  • Iterative Process: Both refactoring code and oneself is an iterative process. Developers are encouraged to embrace the journey of constant iteration rather than seeking perfection.
  • Motivation from Others: Joshi describes how seeing her code refactored by others inspires her to improve, reinforcing the idea that learning is a community-oriented journey.
  • Deployment of Imperfect Self: Just as developers deploy code that isn’t perfect, they must also show up as their imperfect selves as they continue to learn and iterate.

In conclusion, Joshi emphasizes that the journey of becoming a better developer mirrors the journey of improving oneself. She concludes by stating that the 'refactoring of self' might be the most significant form of refactoring that any of us can undertake, emphasizing the importance of perseverance in the face of imperfection. The talk encourages developers to keep iterating on their skills and selves, accepting that improvement is a continuous process rather than a finite goal.

Lightning Talk: Refactoring of Self
Vaidehi Joshi • June 04, 2015 • Singapore • Lightning Talk

Lightning Talk: Refactoring of Self by Vaidehi Joshi

As new programmers, we don't always write beautiful code. In fact, most of our early code is quite bad. So we try to refactor it.

But refactoring also plays a significant role in our personal lives. As programmers, we 'refactor' ourselves on a daily basis. We implement different technologies, learn new skills, and confront our own mistakes every day -- all in an effort to become better at what we do. And in the process, we become better iterations of ourselves.

This talk will explore how programming challenges us to not only refactor our own code, but also our very own sense of self.

Red Dot Ruby Conference 2015

00:00:18.860 okay so my name is Ida hee and I want to
00:00:22.320 talk to you today a little bit about
00:00:24.800 refactoring yeah right that's that's
00:00:31.770 kind of kind of how I feel about it too
00:00:35.520 so I feel like when it comes to
00:00:38.940 refactoring there's two camps you either
00:00:41.790 love it or you hate it or you might be a
00:00:44.879 little bit like me and fall somewhere in
00:00:46.589 between so I've only been programming
00:00:50.519 for about a year and I've been working
00:00:52.350 with Ruby and I love it but when it
00:00:54.809 comes to refactoring I have mixed
00:00:56.729 emotions so usually for me I'm not as
00:01:00.659 good of a developer as I want to be that
00:01:03.210 I can refactor my own code usually what
00:01:05.309 happens is I show my code to someone yes
00:01:09.210 and then they turn it into something way
00:01:13.440 more concise and clearer and sometimes
00:01:18.990 sometimes even elegant and on the one
00:01:24.060 hand this is really really magical to
00:01:28.380 see that transform and see your code get
00:01:31.440 turned into something so beautiful well
00:01:34.070 so magical but we're developers which
00:01:38.400 means that there's an inherent element
00:01:40.350 of self-loathing and self-deprecation
00:01:43.040 right when someone else can turn your
00:01:46.200 code into something so beautiful I don't
00:01:48.360 know about you but for me I just can't
00:01:51.270 help thinking oh my god why did my code
00:01:53.790 not look like that to begin with so I
00:01:57.060 just I want my code to be that elegant
00:02:00.240 to start with and it's really hard for
00:02:02.970 me to accept that that's just not how
00:02:05.130 refactoring works and I've come to
00:02:08.700 realize that there are lots of different
00:02:11.370 types of refactoring and there's one
00:02:13.200 type of refactoring that all of us do in
00:02:14.909 this room despite whatever our skill
00:02:17.640 level might be and this is a ruby
00:02:19.800 conference so you know probably where
00:02:21.749 I'm going with this yes I'm talking
00:02:23.790 about self
00:02:26.800 self-right the context that you're in
00:02:30.110 the receiver of whatever message you're
00:02:33.560 sending it and the really amazing thing
00:02:36.860 about self and the amazing thing about
00:02:38.720 ruby is that you can't always see it
00:02:42.230 it's implicit but it's always around so
00:02:47.690 when we're refactoring our code it's our
00:02:50.629 code that's the receiver of our
00:02:52.190 refactoring it's our code that's
00:02:53.599 transforming but what about when we're
00:02:56.510 refactoring self what is self I know I
00:03:00.049 love that question I ask myself that all
00:03:01.819 the time
00:03:02.269 so what is self when we're factoring
00:03:05.660 self well in our quest to be better
00:03:09.230 developers there's one thing we all do
00:03:11.959 right
00:03:12.500 we keep on learning in fact that's
00:03:15.349 probably what brought most of us here
00:03:17.239 today we thought we'll learn new tips
00:03:19.970 and tricks and skills and technologies
00:03:22.430 and we'll add them to our tool belt of
00:03:24.379 knowledge and then we'll go back and
00:03:26.660 we'll look at our code and it'll be
00:03:27.950 magical and it'll just look so great
00:03:29.900 because we'll take all those new things
00:03:31.609 we learn and implement them we're always
00:03:34.190 striving to improve self we're iterating
00:03:36.470 on self we want to be better we want to
00:03:41.690 strive towards our perfect iteration of
00:03:44.690 self but here's the thing
00:03:47.060 just like with code you're never really
00:03:50.000 gonna be satisfied right you're gonna
00:03:52.790 keep going towards your perfect
00:03:54.500 iteration of self but you're never
00:03:55.970 really gonna get there but what do we do
00:03:58.790 with code we ship imperfect code all the
00:04:01.849 time all the time and we do the same
00:04:07.519 thing as developers right we show up
00:04:09.530 with our imperfect selves and our
00:04:12.079 imperfect code and we keep trying to be
00:04:15.019 better so one of the things that I've
00:04:19.459 realized is that the way that we
00:04:21.889 approach code is the same way that we
00:04:23.539 should approach ourselves as developers
00:04:26.380 we have to keep striving to be better
00:04:28.669 and keep iterating and deploy fast
00:04:31.880 deploy quickly make tweaks but then
00:04:35.479 accept the fact that you're never gonna
00:04:37.849 really get where you want to be but that
00:04:39.910 shouldn't stop you so now when I do
00:04:42.850 something like right the entire group by
00:04:45.310 method without knowing that the group by
00:04:46.840 method exists I actually get motivated
00:04:50.170 because then I see somebody refactor my
00:04:52.180 code and then I remember that
00:04:53.970 I'm just iterating I'm learning and I'm
00:04:57.340 getting to the point where one day I'll
00:04:59.140 also be as good of a developer as they
00:05:01.060 are and even though I might not be
00:05:04.060 refactoring my code as well as I want to
00:05:06.340 there is one thing that I'm refectory
00:05:09.420 myself and honestly refactoring of self
00:05:13.870 is probably the most important type of
00:05:15.520 refactoring that any of us can do thank
00:05:18.250 you
Vaidehi Joshi
@vaidehijoshi
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