M.S. in Computer Science, 10 years as a software engineer

Harsh P.

I hold a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Illinois Springfield and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from CSVTU in India. I have spent the last ten years working as a software and data engineer, most recently as a senior data engineer and team lead at Amgen, and before that at MilliporeSigma and Experian.

While I have not taught in a classroom before, I have spent years doing the same core work a tutor does. At Amgen I led a team of three engineers for four years, which included onboarding new team members, running one on one technical coaching sessions, and reviewing their code line by line until concepts stuck. In that same role I regularly explained technical systems to research scientists who had no programming background at all, adjusting my explanation each time until it landed, sometimes with a diagram, sometimes with a simple analogy, sometimes just by slowing down and removing jargon one word at a time. At MilliporeSigma I built training documentation that non-engineering staff used on their own, which meant writing in a way that held up without me in the room to answer questions. That experience, working one on one and in small groups with adults who had a wide range of starting knowledge, is the direct foundation for tutoring computer science and math.

I tutor computer science fundamentals, Python, Java, SQL, AP Computer Science A, and SAT math. My approach starts with finding out exactly where a student's understanding breaks down rather than re-teaching everything from the top, and I build from there using concrete examples before introducing the abstract version of an idea. I do not assume prior exposure to programming concepts, and I explain a new term the first time it comes up instead of assuming it is already familiar. I work at the student's pace and check for understanding often rather than moving on because the clock says to.