Our Volunteer of the Month series highlights people who have made unique and impactful contributions to our program. This month, we’re excited to celebrate Eli Smith. Eli has consistently crafted thoughtful opportunities for React students to extend their learning beyond our core curriculum. We’re grateful to Eli for supporting our students.
Tell us a little about yourself!
I currently work as a graduate software engineer at IMC as a member of the Platform Engineering team. My job involves creating and maintaining internal tooling to help other developers deploy and run their code on both our Kubernetes and non-Kubernetes infrastructure. Working closely with our development teams to address their ever-growing list of needs is a challenge that I look forward to every day!
I first picked up programming in 7th grade when my dad worked through the “Java for Dummies” textbook with me over a few months. I found an application for what I was learning (admittedly, almost all of which was way over my head) in creating multiplayer server plugins for Minecraft and apps for my Android phone. Taking computer science classes in High School cemented my love for programming and led me to a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida. My short professional journey to this point has ventured into several different languages and technologies, each of which has unlocked new doors and perspectives in my career.
Why did you get involved with Code the Dream?
I joined Code the Dream shortly after graduating in June of 2023 as a group mentor and assignment reviewer for the React course. I am extremely passionate about sharing my love for programming and all things STEM, and CTD was an exciting new challenge to undertake after graduating out of from the volunteering organizations I had joined during my college tenure. My experiences teaching and mentoring had previous been limited to pre-college students through volunteering at STEM days, making trips to guest-teach a lesson at schools, or working as a math tutor. By contrast, CTD offered the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, interact with a completely new audience, and discuss more complex topics than anything I had taught about before.
I held my first several group mentorship sessions from my parents’ basement while I visited home for the summer waiting for my full-time job to start in August. Since then, I’ve also had the pleasure of working with students 1:1, reviewing homework assignments, facilitating mock interviews, and creating the “Hack CTD’s Style” challenge for the Emu React cohort last year.
What has been meaningful about your experience with Code the Dream?
Code the Dream is a community unlike any I’ve experienced before. Every staff member is incredibly thoughtful and dedicated to creating the best experience possible for both volunteers and students alike. Every student I connect with is hard-working and driven to learn, even when personal challenges arise or the material is challenging and difficult to understand. When I make a mistake, it’s comforting to know that everyone will be understanding and willing to help me correct it.
CTD also allows me to sharpen my communication skills and deepen my knowledge of technical topics as I try to share them with students from many different backgrounds and levels of understanding. Mentoring provides me a perfect outlet to share how much I truly love programming and problem-solving, and I am so thankful to have found such a supportive community in which to do it.
Anything else you would like to share?
I live to see the “Aha!” moments in others, and helping students make connections or understand difficult concepts is my favorite source of these moments. Being able to share a really cool optimization, language quirk, or technology makes me happy in a way that is hard to obtain anywhere else and keeps me coming back every week!
Several students shared their appreciation for Eli:
Elijah was an outstanding mentor. He consistently conducted sessions in an organized manner and provided us with hands-on examples related to the course materials. His approach has greatly enhanced our learning experience.
Larasati, React.js student
Elijah’s mentor sessions were so helpful. He answers our questions very patiently and professionally and gives us ideas on how to resolve problems with the code, while also finding time to enrich our programming style with another application that he showing us very interactively each session. He is a perfect mentor!
Fany, React.js student
I consistently attend Eli’s sessions and appreciate his style. He is great at giving feedback and answering questions, and I also appreciate how he introduces us to concepts beyond the curriculum.
Jenny, React.js student
Thanks, Eli, for your dedication to our community!
