"I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh summa cum laude with a degree in Computer Science and a minor in Greek. My favorite subjects were compilers, programming language theory, algorithm design, and computational complexity. I now live in Philadelphia and work as a software engineer. I believe that spending time really thinking about what the code is doing helps us find better solutions and reduce bugs and frustration. Error messages are often a tool for helping figure out what's wrong and catch mistakes early.

I have tutored dozens of students over the years at all levels of proficiency. I have helped students learn to code for the first time in Python, JavaScript, and Java. I have helped others improve their coding by learning a new language like Haskell, Prolog or SQL. For others I have helped explain a scary codebase, walked through how to simplify certain areas of code, and tackle needlessly-complicated university assignments.

I currently volunteer 1 day a week teaching ESL to a class of Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese immigrants at a community center in Philadelphia. Many of them are complete beginners, so classroom instruction has required lots of visual explanations. It has been great so far.

As a college student, I volunteered at a community center in Pittsburgh providing homework help in an elementary after-school program. That was my first experience being one-on-one with a student, and I loved it. I haven't stopped since." less...