Conversation with Nucamp Instructor who Teaches Web Fundamentals.

Veering from chef to teaching HTML, CSS, & Javascript.

“I want to do something that I really enjoy and teaching brings me a lot of joy. Seeing the light bulb moments that happen with students when something finally clicks; I like being the catalyst for that.” -Kayla Miller, Nucamp Instructor

Kayla Miller has been a Nucamp instructor since January 2022, and receives a lot of praise from many students for how great of an instructor she is.

Kayla is very detailed oriented and known for how great she is at finding bugs.

She enjoys playing Magic the Gathering most Fridays with friends, Xbox, and is currently playing the game Dauntless on Nintendo Switch.

Besides teaching Web Development Fundamentals and Node.js at Nucamp, Kayla also freelances as a full stack web development tutor through her own business, Helping Hand Code.

Kayla didn’t originally intend to get into the world of tech.

She started training to become a personal chef, but unfortunately could not pass the required skills speed tests due to weakness in her wrists.

While she was not able to fulfill her professional culinary dream, she took it in stride and pivoted into another one of her interests; computers.

Kayla grew up watching her father build computers, which instilled an interest in them for her.

Kayla went on to earn an associate's and bachelor’s degree in Information Technology with a concentration in web development.

During college, she took an introductory HTML & CSS class and realized she wanted to learn more about web development than her IT degree offered.

Since she didn’t feel she was getting where she wanted fast enough with web development, Kayla enrolled in an online coding bootcamp while still working on her bachelor's degree.

Kayla also self-studied coding before starting her bootcamp. So that, paired with her IT background, put her ahead of most of her classmates and she became known as the go-to person for help.

Kayla graduated from her bootcamp in 2020 and then with her bachelor’s degree in December 2021.

Instead of applying for programming positions, she wanted to teach.

Kayla loved being helpful and being part of the compounding positive effect that helping others learn new skills can have.

Her passion for teaching started during her time attending a coding bootcamp and eventually inspired her to apply to be a Nucamp instructor.

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

“Start with one language first. make sure you understand it to the best of your ability (not necessarily mastered, no one is an expert). Once you’ve nailed the first one, start adding new ones one at a time. Understanding the fundamentals of one language will apply to learning new languages. The syntax is just different.”

Watch Kayla's live Campfire interview  here.