Autobiography
My name is Monika. After doing the Medical Office Assistant Certificate and applied computer information systems certificate, I decided to do the Digital Design and Development Diploma. I learned a lot of great skills like website development, video editing, graphic design, UI/UX, and marketing. I thought this was a great program because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do yet with my career so I felt like it gave me a lot of opportunities later. Once I graduated from the program I was able to land a job as a project manager. I decided to keep trying new things. I got different jobs as a Marketing manager, IT Technician, junior software developer and IT Technician, and IT Systems Analyst.
During the course of all my jobs I also studied part time. I did the Bachelors of Business Aadministration.
Then in 2022 I was able to land a faculty position at BCIT. I was teaching coding. I enjoyed it a lot. I taught until May 2024. But I got another job now as a Mobile Developer with Westjet. I decided to move on to get more experience in real life. However, I do want to maybe get back into teaching later when I’m in my 50s. I started this Provincial Instructors Diploma in 2022 because I needed it when I was teaching at BCIT. I still want to complete this degree because I am almost done and I will eventually get back into teaching. It may or may not be for another university. Maybe instead I might use it to help me train other developers when I grow my career within the coding field.
Professional Identity
For me I knew I have always wanted to be a teacher when I got inspired by my instructors when I was a student in the Digital Design and Development Diploma. I saw that they made a really big impact on students’ lives and really wanted to help them grow in their career. For me as I got more experience in my career. I knew that everything that I was learning from other companies would be a great learning lesson to help students later on when I become a teacher. Being a teacher at BCIT gave me a lot of purpose because I knew I was doing something great to help others advance in their career. I have always valued learning and growing as a person. When I was a teacher I made sure to teach the fundamentals of coding well. It was difficult for new time coders but I saw a tremendous growth in their skills. Seeing the growth in their journey really made me happy. I believe in working hard in order to achieve goals in life. That is what I wanted to instil in the students as well is that even though coding is hard they will see tremendous results if they keep going at it.
What are the personal and professional values that guide you as an instructor?
The personal values that guide me as an instructor are to always work hard at what you want. If you work hard at what you want then you can achieve anything.
The professional values that guide me as an instructor are to always teach students the right way of coding. I want to make sure that I am trying to get students to really understand the basics so it is easier for them to understand coding later. I want to also inspire students letting them know that anyone can learn coding. It just takes a bit of time and problem solving.
What are a few of your own truths of teaching?
Some of my truths are:
I still feel like an imposter to coding because there is so much to learn. But there were a lot of students who looked up to me when I was teaching at BCIT and thought I was one of the best coders. This made me feel like I had a lot of knowledge to offer to students.
To have a well defined course outline to know what students will learn each week. I wanted to make sure everything was kept transparent so everyone knows what they will learn.
Modeling, working hard and always being willing to learn is important for anyone trying to pursue a coding career. However, not all students will have the same work ethic as me and that does not mean that I failed at teaching.
