The pattern I chose for this week’s blog post is falls along of “Be the worst”. Now it doesn’t quite literally mean become the worst at what you are doing specially in the software field but rather surround yourself with better or stronger developers. From this you can be the worst or weakest member of the group and only have room to grow. If you settle for being mediocre or unaware of others strengths you will not learn or grow. The example they use is becoming a big fish in a small pond, it is critical for the big fish to be aware of other ponds within the vast global network of said ponds and realize that there are even bigger fish than that of your little pond. Going back to surrounding yourself with a team of better individuals you will then only grow due to you not wanting to be the bottom or smaller fish. From this you will work harder than you would normally if you settled for a buck average understanding. You will learn new ways to tackle obstacles in front of you almost mimicking the stronger developers’ habits until you reach their level. The others will also help you in the long run, preventing you from making mistakes how to recover and more. Some downsides of this is of course there is a risk you could drag the team down and a good team will not appreciate a free boater. Another downside is that you could end up feeling bad about yourself and your own skill levels as you being the worst in the group. This is after a sink or swim strategy so sinking will of course feel like drowning. In short being the worst pattern will allow you to increase your learning and growth levels to rival that of the stronger members of your team. I find this pattern to be very interesting because not often do you hear “go be the worst in the group” or something along the lines due to the potential of you perhaps causing a big problem for it. But it makes sense for those who want to learn and become better than their previous self’s and also see where they stand in the field compared to others. I can myself honestly trying this in the future if need be. In all honestly there have been groups I’ve been in where I could be considered the worst, whether that be in software or any group/based activity or environment. In these situations you can feel yourself wanting to be better and not be dead weight and after it I feel like I learned more on the subject, grew in it and overall bettered myself. Wherever I end up in the future and I find myself as a “big fish” in a small pond unaware of the other bigger fish out there I will use this pattern to grow and better myself.