DOM Merge Conflicts

This workshop contains a collection of DOM components. For this workshop, you will be creating branches for refactoring and updating the components and then resolving the merge conflicts that arise. You’ll be working in pairs, learning how to handle branching, refactoring, and creating pull requests.

Overview

• Objective: Learn to resolve merge conflicts that arise during software development

• Activity: Update and refactor DOM components in two different Git branches

• Duration: 1 hour

• Describe how merge conflicts can occur in a development setting

• Interpret a merge conflict message

• Resolve a merge conflict while preserving changes to the code

Prerequisites

• JS DOM syntax
• Access to documentation
• Some knowledge of how to run tests using Jest

Setup

• Get into pairs
• Before starting, ensure you create a fork of this repository on Github to use as a pair. Each person in the pair must clone down the fork of this repository from Github and navigate to the project directory

Instructions

1. Start Branching from main

Each pair will need to branch off from main. Firstly, make sure you both start on the main branch and it’s up to date:

git switch main
git pull origin main

2. Choose a task

As a pair, choose one task from tasks that you will both follow.

3. Follow the task instructions until the end

Choose who will be Person 1 and who will be Person 2 and then follow the instructions in your task’s directory. Once finished, continue the instructions on this page.

Some tasks will ask you to unskip tests, remove the skip before from the appropriate describe block in this case.

4. Test your changes

Use the provided test suite to ensure your app works correctly. Run the tests according to the task’s testing instructions.

5. Raise a pull request

Once you have tested your changes and are satisfied with the changes, commit your changes and push your branch to the remote repository:

git add <files-you-changed>
git commit -m "<description of change>"
git push origin [your-branch-name]

You should raise a pull request on your pair’s fork of this repository.

6. Handling merge conflicts

Once you have both raised your pull requests, choose one Pull Request to review first and then merge it.

Now you will need to handle the second pull request. For this pull request, you should now have a merge conflict in the remaining pull request.

On the branch to be merged run:

git pull origin main

So that you can resolve the changes locally using Git.

Use this guide from GitHub to resolve the conflict using Git.

When you come to resolve the merge conflict, you need to make sure to keep the updates and refactors. Make sure to test that your app still works.

Once you’ve resolved the conflict, you should be ready to merge the second PR. Discuss with your partner whether the tasks assigned have been completed after both merges.

Interviewing [Professional Development] [60 minutes] 🧑‍💻

Acing job interviews is a skill that can be learned like any other. Today we will pair up to practice interviewing.

Objective 💬

At the end of this workshop, participants can:

• [] Introduce themselves in 2 minutes
• [] Answer soft skill interview questions using the STAR method
• [] Prepare a strategy to get ready for technical interviews

Setup 🌼

• Pair up into groups of 2-3

Stage 1: Introduce Yourself, 15 minutes 🙆

In almost every interview, the interviewer will ask you to introduce yourself. The goal is to give the interviewer a snapshot of who you are, your professional background, and why you’re a good fit for the role. Take 5 mins to craft a compelling narrative.

Some tips:

• Your response should be 1-2 minutes
• Try to structure your response, as an example the Present-Past-Future model:
  • Present: Start by briefly mentioning your current role or what you are doing at the moment (education, job, etc.), and give an overview of your responsibilities.
  • Past: Mention your relevant experience, skills, or education. Focus on achievements and how they shaped your current professional identity.
  • Future: Highlight what you want to do next and why you’re excited about this opportunity.
• Try to be enthusiastic, let your personality and confidence shine
• Do not overwhelm your interviewer with too much information
• Allow 1-2 minutes for follow-up questions

After the 5 minutes are up take turns practicing your introductions. While the other person is introducing themselves, put yourself in an interviewer’s shoes. Share what the other person did well and what they could improve.

Stage 2: The Soft Skills Interview 🥎

Soft-skill interview questions are typically asked at some point during the interview process.

Answer these questions with the STAR method which stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result. Here is an example of using the STAR method to answer a question:

“Can you tell me about a time when you had to work in a team and faced a challenge?”

• Situation : “During my final group project, we had to develop a mobile app for managing student assignments. Midway through the project, we hit a roadblock because two teammates disagreed on which framework to use: one preferred React Native, while the other wanted to stick with Flutter. This was causing delays in our progress.”
• Task : “As the team lead, my task was to resolve the conflict and ensure we stayed on schedule.”
• Action : “I organized a meeting to discuss the pros and cons of both frameworks, focusing on performance and our project requirements. After evaluating, I suggested using React Native because it allowed us to quickly integrate with the backend we’d already built. The teammate supporting Flutter agreed once we reviewed the long-term benefits.”
• Result : “We moved forward with React Native, completed the app on time, and received positive feedback from our teachers for both functionality and performance. It also helped the team work more smoothly on future features.”

Remember, when asked about failures or mistakes to say what you learned from them.

Discussion, 15 minutes

Discuss how you might answer the following questions in a real interview. Take turns asking each other questions from the following list. Spend no more than 2 minutes on each.

• Tell us about a time you missed a deadline.
• What was your favorite project you have worked on so far.
• When was a time you failed?
• Tell us about a time you had to help your team members through a tough time.
• Tell me about a time you prioritized your time well, despite having multiple deadlines.
• Tell me about a time you solved a problem at work.
• How do you teach your colleagues about new practices within the company?
• Tell me about a time when things didn’t go according to plan. How did you deal with it?
• What is your response when a colleague disagrees with you?
• Share a time you set a goal and achieved it.

Stage 3: The Technical Interview, 15 minutes 📞

Pick any technical topic such as Javascript, Python, SQL, databases, etc., and search for the Top 50 beginner interview questions for that topic. Read through the list together. Discuss if there are any surprises in there. Which questions did you find easy and which ones did you find difficult? Try asking each other a couple of questions and see if you can answer them. Practice what you will say if you do not know an answer.

Some tips for technical interviews:

• Think out loud: walk the interviewer through your thought process.
• Interviewers do not expect you to know everything. Be honest when you do not know something.
• If you do not understand something, ask questions!
• Practice, practice, practice

Reflection 🧘‍♂️

With the remaining time, come together as a group and discuss:

• How did you feel introducing yourself? How could you tailor your introduction according to a job interview.
• Did you find it difficult or easy to use the STAR method to answer the soft skill questions? Why?
• Did you find the technical interview questions challenging? What are some strategies to stay calm when you do not know the answer to a question?

Summary & Homework

Interviewing is a skill that takes lots of practice. Your introduction should be thought out and well-polished by the time you are at your first interview. You cannot prepare answers for every soft skill question, but having 3-4 prepared in advance makes thinking on your feet easier. Prepare for technical interviews by reading through the most commonly asked questions for that topic. For questions you do not know, ask clarifying questions, say what you do know about the topic, and admit when you do not know. Your interviewer does not expect you to know everything!

Homework

• set up a practice interview by the end of this week with either a volunteer or another CYF participant.