This Nucamp Instructor’s passion for coding goes beyond his day job

Behind the scenes of a Software Engineer and Game Developer who teaches at Nucamp

"Being an instructor helps reinforce knowledge you would maybe take for granted. A good teacher won’t always know everything, but will be able to help you find the information and explain it clearly.” -Olaf Minkowicz, Nucamp Instructor

Olaf Minkowicz’s coding journey started when he was about 10 years old; he taught himself HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and BASIC.

After high school, he enlisted in the military and worked for 8 years as a Military Intelligence Electronic Warfare Systems Maintainer and Operator and a Military Intelligence Systems Engineer.

In these positions he was in charge of setting up servers, networks, hardware, and was the all-around IT guy for the team.

On top of that, he also freelanced.

He then taught at Coding With Kids (similar to Nucamp but for children) and was a technical writer for Zenva.

While transitioning out of the military, he switched his focus to Software Engineering and completed his degree.

Olaf completed his military career in January 2020, then worked for Microsoft as a Software Engineer and Site Reliability Engineer for about 2 years.

Today, Olaf is a Full Stack Software Engineer at a DoD startup, Rise8, and a part-time Lead Game Developer at his own studio, RookTKO.

RookTKO’s team of engineers and artists have been diligently working on their first commercial title, RNR, for two years and are aiming for a 2023 release.

Which finally leads us to speaking about his time at Nucamp.

Olaf was one of the first instructors to join Nucamp and is still with us after 21 cohorts and almost 4 years later!

We love Olaf’s dedication to Nucamp and to the coding community as a whole!

Olaf has an average instructor rating of 4.64/5 from 692 students–which truly speaks to his commitment and how much students appreciate him.

Why did you decide to become a coding instructor?

“I didn’t have the opportunity as a child myself. I didn’t have the support from my parents and didn’t have a mentor. I believe nurturing that in children, and even adults, by being there for them and mentoring them, it really helps a lot. The mentors I had in the military showed me this. If you can be there for someone, help them learn and make them better, it is a great feeling for the mentor to be able to affect someone’s life positively. Being a coding instructor makes my life feel full. I am making an impact and it gives me a sense of purpose.”

Do you keep in touch with any of your students?

“I keep in touch with some of my students. I’ve made sure to reach out to students that I thought would be a good fit to opening at the companies I’ve been working for. I have had the opportunity to even interview past students myself.”

Why choose Nucamp as an instructor?

“I’ve taught and mentored at a few different bootcamps, but I feel I’m able to interact with my students and make a bigger impact on my students here at Nucamp. The flexible hours are nice for instructors and since the course work is already there I get to focus on helping and interacting with my students. I am able to become a better software engineer though teaching by reinforcing what I know and revisiting material. I’m giving back, but I’m also learning myself–it’s a win-win!”

Why choose Nucamp as a student?

“The price point and material is great. You don’t have to break the bank and the material is continuously being updated. You get access to A LOT of instructors and one dedicated instructor. Students can reach out for mentorship, resume help, networking help, portfolio help, etc. Plus, if you are currently working, you can keep your job and join Nucamp part-time.”

Is there any prework you would suggest getting familiar with before joining Nucamp?

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with being over prepared. Nucamp is the best priced bootcamp out there. Being over prepared will help you keep the overwhelm down when you start. You will feel overwhelmed no matter what when it comes to learning something new, but being prepared helps. You can prepare with free content on FreeCodeCamp.com, different YouTube streamers, and CodeAcademy. The free resources out there will get you started and Nucamp will provide new problems to solve and new ways of approaching problems in general. Other great resources are books. There are a lot of great books out there. I recommend “HTML and CSS by Jon Duckett” since it is a well crafted visual learning book. Also, make sure to focus a good amount of time on JavaScript.”

Can you tell us more details about your Military Intelligence position?

“I was a jack-of-all-trades systems engineer (system admin, network admin, server admin). I was the default IT person for the military personnel. I would be there to set up hardware/networks for any training exercises, etc. Training lasted about a year, and we went over the basics of hardware. It took a year or two for the investigation to go through to get my clearance.”

What was your journey into game development? How did you start your own game development studio?

“I’ve always liked video games. I was more introverted as a kid and I got into making small games when I was young. I would mess around with game engines and writing lines of code. I broke a lot of stuff... but it was fun! This got me into web development, which led me into the military. The military brought me back into web development and then full circle back to game developing.”

What kind of game are you building?

“We are working on a few prototypes and one is actually going to be released before the full game is. One of the prototypes is an arcade style game, similar to DigDug, but is roguelike as well. It is for mobile and PC. The main game we are working on is called Runner RNR and is a fusion of procedurally generated, roguelike fighting game. Similar to other games like Super Meat Boy and other platforming games. It takes design elements from Dynasty Warriors and other action adventure games. We are hoping to early release on Steam by April next year and then mobile as well.”

Do you have tips to get into the gaming industry after graduating from Nucamp?

"Typically the gaming industry does not pay as well as a software engineer role with similar experience, so unless you are deeply passionate about it, it might not be the best route. To become a game developer build up a portfolio just like you would to apply for web developer or software engineer roles and join game jams (similar to hackathons, but for the game industry). You will have more creative freedom by finding a software engineer or web dev role and working on your game developer skills in your free time since the skills are transferable.”

What language do you use for game development?

“I personally use Phaser (Phaser.io) at my studio, it is a JavaScript library. My advice is to pick a language that you like and you can find a way use that. If you are already learning web development, it is a natural transition to get into game development.”

Lastly, what is one piece of advice you would give bootcamp students (future or current)?

“If anyone is interested in becoming a programmer of any type, know that you will feel overwhelmed at some point. You are learning something completely new. Put in the hours and think of it as a second job. The more serious you take it the more you will get out of it. It will change your quality of life.”

Watch Olaf’s live Campfire interview with Nucamp’s CEO, Ludo, here.