What it takes to be a Code School Instructor

We love our coding instructors for their personalities, skills, and their love for code that they bring to our classes! Outlined below is an overview of the talented individuals who are leading our virtual coding sessions this Fall for ages 7–18. Being virtual, you can join us from anywhere in the world! 🌎

Next Level Coding Course with Dipack.

Dipack is a software engineer at Transcend, a technology company pioneering Data Privacy Infrastructure for the internet, based out of San Francisco.

Dipack has a very extensive coding background and his skillset includes knowledge of JavaScript, TypeScript, Golang, Python, Java, Scala, Git, Pytorch, MongoDB, Postgres. He likes imparting knowledge and helping others navigate the tricky world of software engineering.

“I wanted the chance to help the younger generation learn better, and hopefully help them make the right moves to build the career they want!”

Dipack is teaching September’s edition of our Next Level Coding course, a program for teens looking to grow their current coding skills by building passion projects individually or as a team with the help of our coding instructor.

Scratch Game Design Beginner with Bella.

Bella is a senior and Computer Science major at the University of Notre Dame. She’s interned with multiple technology companies including:

• Spirent Communications- a telecommunications company as a Software Developer.
• Kyndi- an Artificial Intelligence company as a Quality Assurance engineer.
• Disney as a Software Engineer (Front-end) where she worked mostly with ReactJS.

For the past two years, Bella has also worked as a coding instructor at Code School because she “wanted a way to use [her] knowledge and love for Computer Science to directly benefit other people.” For many of our instructors, Code School gives our instructors an opportunity to teach kids the skills that they personally wish they had gotten to learn when they were the students’ ages. We love that as instructors, our team has the chance to provide that opportunity for another aspiring coder.

“I love that they (the kids) are able to get so much incredible exposure at such a young age, because it is going to provide a solid base of knowledge and confidence for them and so early on.”

Bella is leading our Scratch Game Design for Beginners course on Mondays at 5:45pm-7:15pm.

Intro to Web Development Beginner with Caleb.

Caleb is a freshman at Purdue University Fort Wayne and is majoring in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Secondary Education. He enjoys the new perspective and different point of view that comes with teaching a student a new skill and how excited our students get when they finish a tech project.

“I always wanted to be teacher and I love coding and Code School allows me to both.”

Over the past 5 years, Caleb’s become proficient in using Python, Java, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

This Fall, Caleb is teaching ages 7–12 how to build their own websites. Our Web Development course for teens is being taught by another Code School instructor, Luke (learn more below)!

Scratch Game Design Advanced with Bailey.

Bailey works as a software engineer in a rotational program at Google. She’ll be working on two different technical teams for the next nine months before she converts to a team full-time.

Bailey started coding in HTML and Java in her sophomore year of high school. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in May of this year with a degree in computer science and experience coding in Java, Python, C++, C, HTML/CSS, and SQL.

“While I was in school I also had two summer internships building full-stack web applications. Now I’m a full-time software engineer and get to spend my whole day coding :)”

Bailey enjoys teaching because she knows that there’s no limit to a kid’s creativity! She wanted to come work at South Bend Code School because she attributes a lot of where she is today to the teachers that she’s had throughout her educational career.

“I would not have pursued computer science in college without the influence and encouragement of my high school teachers, so I wanted to pass that on to the next generation of tech leaders.”

Before graduating, Bailey taught as an instructor with Code School for three years in a row. When she graduated, we thought that we were going to have to say good-bye but now that our coding classes are online and open to everyone Ages 7–18, this Fall, Bailey’s able to start her fourth year as a coding instructor with us from New York City!

On Mondays 5:45pm-7:15pm, Bailey teaches our Advanced Scratch Game Design course.

Web Development Intermediate & Advanced with Luke.

Luke is a Computer Science major at the University of Notre Dame with minors in Philosophy, Science, and Mathematics. His coding background includes Python, C, C++, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, R, Verilog, and MatLab and he has experience applying his tech skills in unique ways.

Luke worked as a computer science intern to automate company processes using Selenium, build clinical trial models in R, and create lost file detection systems. He also loves developing personal projects, his most recent one being an information technology support chatbot using Python with TensorFlow and a web application using MongoDB, Express, React.js, and Node.js.

“I was previously a volunteer at South Bend Code School, so when I received the offer to become an instructor, I jumped at it!”

Luke’s favorite part of teaching is seeing the potential that our students have. This fall, he’s looking forward to meeting a new group of students and watching them take the first steps on their coding journeys!

Luke’s introducing teens to three coding languages (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) in our Intermediate Web Development course on Wednesdays, 5:45pm-7:15pm.

Scratch Game Design Beginner with Karen.

Karen started off as a Code School parent when she originally enrolled her daughter in one of our coding courses. With experience in C++ and MatLab, Karen joined the team and started teaching kids how to code because she enjoys providing our students with tools that they need to excel, not only in coding but in life.

“I wanted to work with South Bend Code School because I wanted to be a part of this great organization to help them build the coders of tomorrow.”

Karen also teaches Scratch Game Design for Beginners every Monday evening!

Python Programming Instructor with Jay.

Jay is currently a senior at Notre Dame majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Philosophy. He has experience with Python, C, C++, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and SQL.

Jay loves teaching technical concepts and helping his students apply their new tech skills and creativity by building their own games and projects.

“I came to work at South Bend Code School because I wanted to apply my talents in a beneficial way. Since working here, I realized that I have a love for teaching and I love being able to help kids grow through code. These skills are important for anyone to have, and the work we do here really is amazing.”

Jay is leading our Python programming course where teens learn one of the most popular programming languages, Tuesdays 5:45pm-7:15pm.

To learn more about all of our coding courses, visit southbendcodeschool.com.