iD Tech

Instructor

June - August 2019 • Amherst, MA

What I liked

I loved teaching kids how to code and working with the other instructors!

What I wish was different

Advice

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Instructor

June - August 2019 • Concord, CA

What I liked

I was able to work with students in small class sizes and teach them how to have fun with computer hardware and coding. I grew close to other instructors and staff that were around my age but of different backgrounds.

What I wish was different

I wish we had been paid more for the work we did. We were overworked for the pay we received, especially at the overnight camps. Our resources were not as abundant as I wished and the quality of staff varied greatly from location to location. For one of the classes, the hardware was so troublesome that both the students and I were greatly disappointed.

Advice

Never be afraid to value yourself more and ask for help even if you aren't completely sure you need it. There's always room to grow and learn even if you think you know enough to teach 8-year-olds.

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Lead Instructor

June - August 2019 • Houston, TX

What I liked

The workplace is well-organized and tightly run. My supervisor was friendly and supportive at all times and my coworkers were professional and prepared. I never felt worried about not knowing what I should do next, and I loved the added responsibility of being a Lead and supporting less-experienced instructors.

What I wish was different

My schedule was demanding because I was working as an overnight instructor as well so it would have been nice to have more nights off.

Advice

Be prepared to be busy at all times and exhausted by the end of each day!

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Instructor

June - August 2019 • Villanova, PA

What I liked

It was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge and expertise on the subjects I taught.

What I wish was different

I wish the students had been more attentive.

Advice

It opens your eyes to being a teacher rather than a student, and how to organize information and present it in a way that can be understood by others.

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Instructor

May - August 2019 • Seattle, WA

What I liked

All the staff promote such a positive environment to work in, and are always eager to help out when they could. Super fun to work with the students and help them discover an interest in the STEM field. Amazing lunch options every day.

What I wish was different

There is a mandatory break where another instructor takes over your class that I wish I could've worked during.

Advice

Be willing to improvise. Every week will be a little different in some way and knowing how to deal with new students, changes to the itinerary, etc. effectively will definitely help out.

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ID Tech Instructor

June - August 2019 • Hartford, CT

What I liked

I love working for iD Tech over the summer because I gained coding skills that are priceless when it comes to engineering. I love working with the kids because they had so many imaginations about what they wanted to do for their projects every week. I had one group of kids that coded their robots to play soccer with other students in the class. It was rewarding to see the inspiration in their eyes about their projects, and show it to their parents over the weekend.

What I wish was different

If I had to do something different, I wouldn't because these kids taught me things about myself just as much they learned from me. I wish I was more organized when it came with my lesson plans and teaching the kids different coding techniques, but through practice by the end of the summer, I was a pro at teaching. That wouldn't have happened if I didn't make those mistakes in the beginning.

Advice

I would share to that you have to network and treat everyone with kindness the same way if you meet the president of the company. Working for iD Tech was so nice and rewarding, I was able to meet a project manager for UTC, because his kid was my student at the day-camp. His son loved me so much, he went back to his parents and told me all about my class, and what he learned in the class.

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Instructor

June 2019 • Winston-Salem, NC

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

That it was very beneficial for me not only to learn how to teach but also to further my knowledge of my own studies.

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Instructor

July - August 2019 • Bellevue, WA

What I liked

I liked working with kids and as part of a team.

What I wish was different

I wish I had a more professional experience this summer. It was a lot of running a summer camp and not as much coding as I had hoped.

Advice

Have an open mind and a lot of patience! Pick your class age groups wisely.

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Camp Counselor

July - August 2019 • Cambridge, MA

What I liked

Working with kids, the management for our location (our camp director and returning senior staff was very competent and friendly at our location) and, of course, earning money.

What I wish was different

Counselors were expected to stay after and before work hours many days for setup and breakdown. Pay didn't cover those extra times because we're salaried, not paid by the hour.

Advice

It's high-pressure work being around hyper kids that whole time! And be prepared, because different courses you teach will require different amounts of hardware or software setup.

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Instructor

June - August 2019 • Irvine, CA

What I liked

I enjoyed meeting all of the fellow instructors from other schools and making friends with them. They are a great resource to you in the future if you know they are masterful in something and you need help.

What I wish was different

I was hoping to work the majority of the summer, but unfortunately, I was only assigned 4 weeks (20 days) of instruction/

Advice

Enjoy all of the little questions the students ask you. Their questions made me question how I understood programming and helped me learn the language better because of their questions I have not thought about yet.

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Instructor

July - August 2019 • Los Angeles, CA

What I liked

It was a really great work environment with fun staff and great kids every week. Really a job like no other.

What I wish was different

Expect to be stressed and confused when you first start. There is quite a learning curve with this job.

Advice

Take the opportunity! Try not to schedule long back to back weeks (I had 7). Do a lot of prep for every class beforehand.

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Instructor

May - August 2019 • Stony Brook, NY

What I liked

Fun work environment, overtime

What I wish was different

n/a

Advice

Go in with an open mind. Working with kids can be difficult but it is rewarding.

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Assistant Director

May - August 2019 • Stanford, CA

What I liked

I met some very kind and cool coworkers

What I wish was different

Work culture was too demanding, expected 24/7 work (literally), coupled with living at the location.

Advice

Don’t work for iD Tech unless you literally want to do nothing but work for a summer.

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Instructor

June - July 2019 • Boulder, CO

What I liked

I loved working with the kids and having a chance to get them excited about computer science!

What I wish was different

Advice

1 One person found this helpful

Lead Instructor

June - July 2019 • Chicago, IL

What I liked

Being a positive influence for many curious students who are very interested in the coding world. Being an instructor has allowed me to do more things out of my comfort zone and it has prepared me well in looking for a real job in the software engineering world.

What I wish was different

Preference to offer more amazing courses and the location space.

Advice

When you search for an internship, don't be afraid to try something you have never done before. Take good advantage of it as it will lead you to awesome rewards in your future!

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Instructor

July - August 2019 • Bellevue, WA

What I liked

I liked being able to teach kids and impact their lives positively.

What I wish was different

I wish that some of the work hours could have been less.

Advice

Make sure you come to work every day with a positive attitude and energy!

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Lead Instructor

June - August 2019 • Los Angeles, CA

What I liked

Loved working at a summer camp and teaching coding to kids - such a fun and rewarding experience

What I wish was different

I wish I hadn't done overnight shifts so much - I may have overworked myself for the pay

Advice

Make friends with your co workers! They were such an amazing group of friends to have at work

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Instructor

June - August 2018 • Houston, TX

What I liked

I enjoyed getting to show the kids how “boring” stuff like coding can allow them to create and alter fun video games.

What I wish was different

I wish a few of my students had been a bit better behaved, but as a whole the group wasn’t bad.

Advice

It was definitely entertaining but at times exhausting. Especially with younger kids, the job involves a lot more supervising/babysitting than teaching.

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Instructor

June - August 2018 • Irvine, CA

What I liked

It solidified my skills in JavaScript since I was teaching it.

What I wish was different

I wish I had been assigned more weeks of work.

Advice

1 One person found this helpful

Video Production Instructor

June - July 2018 • Montclair, NJ

What I liked

I liked how the rewarding the experience was. The feedback I received from my students made the stress of the job worthwhile. The job had a very professional feel and I gained lots of teaching experience as well as experience working with kids of multiple ages.

What I wish was different

I wish the curriculum wasn't jam-packed into a short week, but more spread out. I also wish my specific camp site had more staff, because I was the only one teaching video production and it was the five of us running a camp with 50+ kids a week

Advice

Make sure you know what's expected of you in terms of what you need to teach. Learn what you have to beforehand so that you're prepared when you have an audience.

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