Coding in Education

Coding in Education

By: Priya Rajagopal

Meet Priya Rajagopal. Priya is a computer science and technology educator at Connecticut River Academy in East Hartford, CT. She also serves as the “Instructor Facilitator” for the CTE department at her school and has worked with the leadership team on various curricular and instructional policies.

She holds a Master’s degree in Education from Goodwin University, Connecticut and a Bachelors in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Calicut University, India. After she spent a few years working in the IT industry, she decided to switch gears and start teaching. She has been teaching for eight years in both public and private schools.

We chatted with Priya to learn more about her experience in and outside of the classroom, as well as any advice she has for the next generation of coders.

When you worked in the IT industry, how did you use coding?

When I worked as a software engineer, I developed various programs and applications predominantly in the B2B (Business to Business) domain. My work experience is in the J2EE platform where we developed enterprise applications that run on servers. I used my Java and MySQL in those projects.

How did you transition from coding to teaching CS?

I always described myself as an engineer by brain and teacher at heart. I have a huge passion for education and saw the huge gap in the current CS job demands and lack of enough CS training in K-12 to help prepare students for a CS career. My first teaching job was in a public charter school in Massachusetts and I was able to be hired based on my industry experience. Since then, I worked on getting my teaching license and continued to teach CS for the last 8 years.

Can you share a bit more about your passion for teaching?

I have always been passionate about equity and education and I love bringing high quality computer science education to K-12 schools with diverse student populations. As a woman of color, I have seen discrimination happening at all levels and I am able to use those experiences to fuel my passion to provide meaningful opportunities and equitable teaching practices to students of all backgrounds.

I also launched a successful Girls Who Code chapter for the school and have organized and coached students to run various coding events at the school district. Utilizing my prior experience as a software engineer, I was able to collaborate with local IT companies for these events.

Any tips for young coders?

Coding can be frustrating and hard at times, but it is very rewarding and fun. Like with any new skill, it takes time, so stick with it and practice regularly. Do not be afraid to ask for help, support and feedback from your teachers, mentors and peers. And please do not feel intimidated by the stereotypes in the tech industry. They are looking to hire diverse people and the sky’s the limit when it comes to your career growth in tech. I encourage you to start coding today!

When not teaching or coding, Priya enjoys biking, cooking vegan food, dancing, traveling the world, and spending time with her husband and two kids.