This summer, we are thrilled to be providing a third cohort of bright Change Makers with an introduction to computer programming in order to continue our work empowering young female and non-binary people of color and providing them with the support and knowledge necessary to jumpstart their careers in tech! This work would not be possible without our amazing Mentors and Facilitators who help support our Change Makers and provide instruction during the class sessions.
Today, we want to highlight Alex Caulfield!
Alex is a software engineer at Wayfair and has been a mentor with G{Code} for over a year. He joined our mentor team in February 2020, and we are so grateful for his commitment and wisdom he provides to our program!
How did you first get involved with G{Code}?
Bailey, G{Code}’s Head of Strategic Partnerships, reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in teaching JavaScript concepts to women and non-binary people of color, and I was really excited for the opportunity to share my knowledge.
What keeps coming back to mentor with G{Code}?
I keep coming back for the moments where I see lightbulbs go off and people understand new programming concepts, and the awesome questions that all G{Code} changemakers ask.
What is your favorite aspect of mentoring?
I really enjoy trying to communicate that coding can be done by anyone, and helping demystify the process of how to get into the software industry. Every engineer started at the same place our changemakers start, and I hope we can provide an adequate support system for them to build up their technical skills, find new learning resources, and increase their confidence in their abilities.
What are your favorite memories from working with G{Code}?
My favorite memory is the lesson on logic and algorithms. Over Zoom, I had the changemakers direct me on how to make a peanut butter sandwich (an activity stolen from my intro to computer science professor). Since I was pretending to be a computer, who doesn’t understand how sandwiches are made without being explicitly told, we were able to have some laughs as I failed to open the jar of peanut butter based on their instructions.
Thank you, Alex, for all of your hard work and constant support for G{Code}! We can’t wait to have you help mentor our next cohort of Change Makers this summer!
