When I first walked into Flatiron School campus, I noticed a lot of whiteboards throughout campus. These whiteboards varied in sizes and even the desk was of the same material that allows us to write on, with the exception of using anything permanent. As my hours turned into days, I noticed that I am constantly in the use of two things, my computer and a whiteboard. Being able to work on a problem away from your computer, can make a big difference in how we look at a problem. I’ve used a whiteboard for notes or also my MVP diagrams during labs and projects. During a code challenge, I forgot to grab a board but my coach was able to assist in providing me one.
Whiteboards are also another tool we can use to help our classmates by explaining a concept or walking through a problem. This is very similar during my time in undergrad. I found it very helpful writing problems on the board and working it through rather than the usual notebook and pencil. Being able to have this resource made a huge difference in helping me understand the concepts and ways of breaking down a solution.
One of the first Meetups I attended was on the topic of interviewing process. This was held remotely on zoom and the speaker utilized the whiteboard tool. He gave us a question of sorting through an array to find duplicates in a giving set. By using a whiteboard, he was able to draw four quadrants and explained how he would use each quadrant during a whiteboard question for an interview. He goes on to break down that the 1st quadrant should be where you ask the team interviewing you any questions or clarification, the 2nd, is where you work out the pseudo-code and logistics of the problem. Where you would work on best practices to force on time or space. Time on how long the application will produce for a user depending on space or vice-versa. This can save a company thousands of dollars if implemented correctly. Finally, the 3rd and 4th quadrant is for the actual code.
With that said, we all whiteboard in life but in different ways. The way we explain a concept can be done in different ways throughout life. Using a whiteboard as a SWE student, is a tool that is very useful and will be used going forward.
