Hi Friend,
Greetings from Newark.!
This weekend my friends and I hit the slopes at White Tail ski resort. On my previous snowboarding days, I would spend majority of my day on the bunny hills, building up my confidence before venturing onto the green slopes that are slightly steeper and longer. But this weekend was different. I felt like a pro on the bunny hill from the get go and they were no longer a challenge for me.
I was gliding down the bunny hill with ease, carving my way through S-shaped turns with confidence and without a single stumble. It was a thrilling feeling to have graduated from the bunny hills and achieve my first milestone in my snowboarding journey.
So this weekend, I hit the greens all day and even ventured onto the blue slopes a few times at the end of the day. The blues are steeper than the greens and it's my next milestone to get confident on these blue slopes.
Later in the day, I had a close call with an old lady on the slopes. I was cruising down the longer green run, feeling the rush of the cold air on my face as I made my S-shaped turns. Everything was going smoothly until I hit an icy patch, causing me to lose control and fall. The momentum carried me down the slope, and I saw an old lady standing and chilling right in the center of the freaking trail. I panicked thinking I was going to hit her.
The moment seemed to stretch on forever as I hurtled towards her, my mind racing with worst-case scenarios. I imagined my snowboard taking her out and the impact snapping her like a twig. I heard her screaming as she saw me torpedoing towards her.
But luckily, the icy patch ended and the powdery snow stopped me right before collision.
"Are you okay?" I asked, my heart racing and still figuring out if I hit her or not. She nodded, “Yeah” and scowled at me as if I purposely fell down in the center of the trail.
Before I could stand back up on my board, I saw her zooming down the slope like nothing happened. It took me a moment to recover from that.
Overall, it was a great weekend on the slopes. I hit my first milestone and am well on my way to hitting my next one with the blues. I may have had a close call, but it just made me more determined to improve and reach my snowboarding goals for the season.
🦾 On Becoming a Bomb Engineer.
This Week: The STAR method for answering interview questions
A few years ago, when I was an intern at a refrigerator manufacturing plant. On one of the projects, I was doing the mundane task of collecting data. Whenever a refrigerator had a defect in it, I had to make a note of the location of the defect. So my whole day would be spent on the assembly line, just writing down “top left”, “bottom right” etc. in a spreadsheet and tallying them at the end of the day. It felt like I was wasting my time at my internship.
When I brought it up to one of my mentors, he asked what I would tell about this project during a job interview. Since I felt it was waste of my time I said, “Collected data on the line.” and he snorted.
Then he went on to explain the STAR approach.
Situation: Describe a specific situation or challenge you faced in the past.
Task: Explain the task or goal you were trying to accomplish in that situation.
Action: Detail the specific actions you took to address the situation and accomplish the task.
Result: Share the outcome or result of your actions and how they positively impacted the situation.
So going back to my situation, collecting data was only the Task.
He later explained the bigger project that this data was needed for and guided me to drill down on the root cause and come up with a solution for the defect. Using this method, I was able to take a closer look at my task of collecting data and see how it fit into the bigger picture of the project. I pass on this piece of advice even today to my interns.
By using the STAR approach, you can give clear and concrete examples of your abilities and help the interviewer understand how you have handled similar situations in the past and how you may handle them in the future.
⛺️ Content I’m Digging
📑 Peeling the Onion
by Salman Ansari
Salman explains that writing through introspection is like peeling layers of your mind. Writing personal experiences and reflecting upon them makes you learn more about yourself. Because it is the lens that matters, not what the lens is looking at. Also, writing also makes space in the mind by unloading the stuff that is bothering you. It is the ultimate mental spring cleaning.
Quote of the week
Liz and Mollie on progress
Thank you for reading.
I really appreciate your attention.
Your Friend,
Shubham