We've all heard that expression "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." As someone who has experience both working in and teaching tech, I can confirm that whoever said that got it the wrong way around. I love teaching beginner developers, and you've got to be a good developer to teach it. Juniors ask the weirdest questions, they will ask you things you have never ever considered, and suddenly you have to come up with a suitable explanation and analogy in 2s flat. It's fun, it keeps me on my toes, it means I learn new things in every single class, and it is so rewarding being part of the early stages of someone's journey into tech.
She Codes
She Codes is a startup, based in Perth, that is on a mission to teach women coding skills, get women into technical careers, and build communities of like-minded women. Their vision is to increase diversity in tech by inspiring 100,000 women across Australia by 2025.
She Codes runs several different programs of various lengths. My primary role with She Codes is as the Technical and Education Lead.
This is a diverse role, but a big part of it is facilitating programming workshops, and often that involves live coding and giving detailed explanations about technical subjects on the fly. On a more personal level, I care so deeply about getting more diversity in tech, that sometimes the hardest part about this role is leaving the emotions at the door. I go out of my way to make sure every single student is getting the most out of every class, which can be a difficult task at the best of times, but the success our students have had as a result makes it all worth it in the end.
NCSS
The National Computer Science School runs a summer camp program, which I attended as a student in 2014 and 2015. NCSS is what made me realise that I wanted a career in Software! It is a 10 day event where students from all over Australia and New Zealand, as well as tutors from all over the world, come together to learn and experience Computer Science. It's just as nerdy as it sounds and is always an incredible experience! I loved it so much that I went back as an industry mentor in 2016, and then as a tutor in 2017 and 2018.
Gather Workshops
Gather Workshops was a small non-profit that delivered programming workshops in schools and kids holiday programs. I met the lead content developer and workshop facilitator at my first ever tech conference and we immediately realised we had the same values and goals for Digital Technologies education in New Zealand. Two weeks later I was teaching my first Gather Workshop, and one of the students in my class was actually a teacher from my own high school! I continued to work for Gather on a part time basis for another three years. I was involved with delivering workshops on Python, JavaScript, HTML/CSS and Robotics to students and teachers all around New Zealand.