My Identity, Values, and Strengths
Explain a situation where you have made an ethical decision. Discuss how you weighed up the values involved in that decision, the decision you made, and how you reflect on the decision now.
Five years ago, I worked as a cafe manager. The cafe operated on a self-service basis, where customers would take their own food from the cabinet. One day, while I was on duty, a mother brought her young children to the cafe. In the queue before paying, she allowed her kids to start eating the sandwiches. This was against the cafe's policy. Unfortunately, the mother realized that she had forgotten her wallet, creating an awkward situation. The family had already consumed the food, and there was a long queue of customers behind them.
One of my colleagues reported the situation to me. I knew that the store had a strict policy of not allowing customers to buy on credit. Since my boss was away, I had to make the decision myself. After a brief consideration, I chose to let the family go and decided to cover their bill. The mother appreciated my gesture and promised to return the next day to pay. However, at the end of the day, my boss criticized me for breaking the policy, as he believed it could have a negative impact on other customers who might want to pay on credit.
Fortunately, the mother returned and transferred the money to me later. I believed that my decision prevented the family from continuously feeling awkward in front of other customers, streamlined the workflow, and minimized my boss's loss. While I understood my boss's perspective, I felt that helping individuals in need was more important than rigidly adhering to the policy. If I were to encounter a similar situation again, I would make the same decision as I did five years ago, as I believe it was the best solution in that particular circumstance.
Describe how your culture and the people around you have influenced your values and identity.
When I was 16 years old, I relocated to New Zealand. Prior to that, I had a traditional Chinese mindset, which included values like respecting elders. However, after moving to New Zealand, I discovered that I truly enjoyed the freedom and the concept of equality that exists here. I even became friends with Mark, who used to be my English tutor. This experience had a profound impact on my personality, making me more open-minded, understanding and respecting the differences between individuals.
Identify your strengths and how they will support you during your learning journey.
I am a fast learner, and good at grasping challenging concepts and drawing connections to other cases based on a single instance. I think my strengths will support doing well in my learning journey.
Evaluate your limitations in terms of your learning and career development. How might these affect your learning journey?
I struggle with laziness and easily get distracted byvideo games. My time management skills also are poor. They can easily disrupt my study plan, so I have to devise strategies to overcome these challenges. Otherwise, I will struggle to complete my work on time.
Share an example of when you were trying to work productively with others, but there was resistance or tension. Discuss strategies you tried at the time, how effective they were, and your reflections on what other strategies you would try now and why.
When I was in university, one of our final group projects involved creating a 3D game. Our goal was to replicate the drifting capability found in Mario Kart. However, it proved to be much more challenging than we had anticipated, and we became stuck on this aspect for over two weeks. We attempted two strategies: searching for resources online and exploring existing packages in Unity. Unfortunately, we didn't find a significant amount of information specifically related to the drifting capability we desired. However, we were fortunate enough to discover a suitable package that allowed us to achieve our goal.
In the end, our game received positive feedback from both lecturers and fellow students. If I were to encounter a similar situation again, I believe I would seek help from the community of peers and facilitators at Dev Academy. I have come to realize that reaching out for assistance is more effective and contributes to my ability to listen to others and enhance my skills.
25 JUNE 2023
