Anyone can understand computer science, but there are no shortcuts. I've learned this lesson throughout my life: from completing my Masters degree in computer science as well as my undergraduate computer science and math minor degree, where I was placed on the Deans list a few times, and achieved high As (a perfect score once) on my computer science and math finals, to fulfilling my internship duties at top tech companies such as Google and Amazon, to teaching myself to code in middle school....
Anyone can understand computer science, but there are no shortcuts. I've learned this lesson throughout my life: from completing my Masters degree in computer science as well as my undergraduate computer science and math minor degree, where I was placed on the Deans list a few times, and achieved high As (a perfect score once) on my computer science and math finals, to fulfilling my internship duties at top tech companies such as Google and Amazon, to teaching myself to code in middle school. Throughout this journey, an unquenchable passion for computer science developed. This passion has enabled me to successfully teach many students computer science. At UMD, I served as a teaching assistant for Java and C programming courses (CMSC 131, 132, 216), where I held supplementary class lectures as well as 1:1 tutoring sessions. I also tutored Python, Java, C, Ruby, Calculus, and Statistics. I generally taught adults or young adults.
In all of my teaching experiences, I was always told by at least one student that I taught better than the professor. While I enjoy such compliments, I believe what makes me a successful teacher is not anything special about me in particular, but instead my teaching method. When teaching a student, I strive to take the student on a journey, starting from the first principles of the topic, and, by using reason and intuition, build upon these first principles, one concept at a time, until we arrive at the underlying logical framework of the topic. This way, the student does not just know the topic, but they have made the topic a part of them. Such a student will have no need to memorize problem after problem, as their understanding enables them to mold the concepts into the precise model required for any problem.
Yes, it takes work, but it's also fun. Hence, if a shortcut is what you are looking for, then I am not the right tutor for you. However, if you strive to gain such mastery of these topics that you could reinvent the concepts yourself, then let's try working together :)
