In our opinion and the opinion of his 3rd–5th grade team, Joey Glover is a great mentor. "I like Joey, because he is funny!" 8-year old Alai'a told us. A skilled teacher, Joey has a unique ability to explain the most challenging computer science concepts to any age. For the past year, he has worked with our CS First elementary-age team meeting at UT Dallas' ATEC building and has succeeded in making coding approachable for his students.
"He pushes them to make sure they understand the concepts presented in the CS First videos, and to go further, if they want," said his fellow mentor Stella Lin.
Meet Joey...
How did you become interested in tech and programming?
I feel like I have always been interested in technology and programming, but I think one of my greatest inspirations was playing the old game Roller Coaster Tycoon. It was just so magical to build cool rides and incredible to see all the people interacting together in the park, and it was all done through a really clever program, so it got me very interested.
What did you study in college?
Electrical Engineering
What are you working on now?
I work as a software engineer at Raytheon in the Identity Services department. I am currently working on updating our development processes to the 21st century and coding various back end services to help other internal businesses interact with LDAP.
What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I really love to teach, so I've gained a place to be able to teach others, and to teach something I am passionate about. My most memorable moment was when we were creating a platforming game and one of the students was spamming the screen with one of the sprites. It was pretty hilarious, but kinda you had to be there.
Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Don't be content with speculating about something that could easily be researched. In relation to coding, this means if some piece of software does something interesting, don't just speculate about how it might be done in code, but instead look and search and read about how it was done.
Is there anything about our mission that really connects with you?
The thing that connects with me the most is the idea that all students deserve the opportunity to learn computer science. I believe the more freely we exchange ideas and information the more quickly society will get better. We are not the owners of any information, and the more we spread the information the more refined it will become over time.
