Northwestern Engineer + Michigan M.A. in Education. STEM, Coding,

Jonathan B.

I tutor students in math, computer science, and piano. My background combines deep technical experience with a formal education in how learning actually works. I earned my bachelor's in industrial engineering from Northwestern University in 2010 and spent more than a decade as a software engineer, first at UPS in operations and then at Belvedere Trading building tools for traders. In 2019, I completed my master's in Education Leadership and Policy at the University of Michigan, where I studied how K-16 students actually learn and where the gaps in motivation and method tend to open up.

Most of my professional teaching experience has come from sales engineering roles, where I have spent the last three years explaining complex software systems to customers, internal teams, and stakeholders who arrive with very different levels of technical background. The skill at the core of that work, breaking something complicated into a clear sequence a specific person can follow, is the same skill I bring to tutoring. My approach starts with a question: what do you actually need? Some students need help finishing tonight's homework, others need to rebuild a foundation that never quite landed the first time, and most need a mix of both. I will tell you honestly which one I think we are dealing with, and we will plan from there.

For math, I tutor pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, precalculus, calculus, and SAT and ACT math preparation. For computer science, I work with students in Python, JavaScript, intro computer science, data structures, and the AP Computer Science curriculum. I also teach piano, an instrument I have played since I was five years old, from beginner through intermediate. I work with students from middle school through college, and I am available evenings and weekends, online or in person in the Chicago area.