tutor

elementary school teacher

instructor

camp counselor

teacher

Coding with Kids

When I first started as an instructor, I was teaching programming classes online and aside from the occasional rowdy student, I loved the job. They were / can be very flexible with your schedule and are very responsive when it comes to addressing an issue with the student(s). It is a part time job to take while you are in school or needing some additional income.

When the summer came around and we started teaching in person classes, that is when I knew I was not going to stay after the summer. The first in person class I taught had numerous issues, including (but not limited to):

- Not given the wi-fi information to connect student computers
- ISD staff not knowing about the presentation day on Fridays when schools were under tight security
- Promising bonuses for teaching in person classes, but having the details & requirements of the bonus changed to being near impossible to meet
- Not coordinating with the instructors who are teaching in the same location
- School district policy requiring a substitute in case of an emergency on your end, but being told "Just don't get sick"

There are more issues I had experienced, but those were the worst of it with the summer classes. In general, management was unorganized and after talking to a former coordinator (who helps schedule instructors and handle students), management would blame the coordinators for the mistakes of the instructors.

The reason I left is because I had a big life event I was planning for a year and I informed my supervisor a few months before that I was going to need the week off for it. When the event came, I received an email detailing a consequence for an issue that happened a month prior and was not addressed with me in any form or fashion of what the issue actually was. 

I will not tell you whether to apply or not, but I hope this information from my experience will help you make a better decision for yourself

Management is shockingly disorganized. Several times I was assigned a class in which critical information about it was omitted from me (e.g. students with special needs being present whom I was not trained to properly assist), which soured my perception of the company pretty quickly. It would continue to worsen when I would be told to do tasks outside of my standard duties, which will happen to you.

Many instructors have complained that management also struggles with infrequent and unhelpful communication, which I can attest to. If you need help with anything that is not immediately urgent, it is not rare that your requests will be deferred, forgotten, or completely unaddressed. Sometimes, you will even be given legitimately awful, unusable advice. 

In terms of curriculum and content, it is also pretty subpar. A lot of the in-house documents on course lessons are outdated, some of them are missing, and many have content that is, at times, just incorrect or misleading. If you work with your mentor, you can probably work out a far better curriculum than what is provided.

On that note, their infrastructure and the website's back end is inadequate. Resources and pages sometimes fail to respond with all of the necessary content, and this can go on for minutes at a time.

Pay is neither consistent nor proportional to the work you will put in oftentimes, so be aware of that. The policies around bonuses and promotions are also quite strange as they seem to contradict their "everyone makes mistakes, let's learn from them!" attitude. 

This company made me hate teaching, which I used to be passionate about. It is not even because the personnel in management are malicious or selfish, they are literally just incompetent. 

Teaching kids is very gratifying, and when you excel as an instructor the parents are often big fans of you. Teaching a good camp felt very empowering. You need lots of independence, as you will sometimes be the only adult at a location. I was very quickly transitioned to opening and closing locations, despite being very new. They trust their instructors immensely.

Worst experiences included a few nasty parents and a particularly bad joint camp with Bellevue Best-In-Class. I'm unsure if that location is still offered, but would advise against teaching at that location.

Work-life balance left a little to be desired, but that's partially necessary with the nature of the job. Camps start Monday mornings, so all pre-camp communication is dealt with on the weekend, and you will frequently be contacted off-hours. Lesson planning also consumes lots of time, but after a few camps it becomes minimal.

My supervisor was INCREDIBLE but unfortunately doesn't work at the company anymore. They were helpful, attentive, and extremely caring about me as an individual, not just an employee. Hopefully they reflect the company's hiring values and there will be more supervisors like them in the future.

Top management has little interaction with instructors and some of their policies can feel disconnected from the actually teaching material. Lesson plans were often over-ambitious and I would get through maybe 1/4 of what was planned.

Overall a good summer gig. Decent pay but could be higher considering the level of off-clock involvement and the living cost in the northwest. If you're independent, a good people-person, and a dedicated teacher, you'll do great.

It should be noted that I only worked in-person camps in the Seattle area, and have no idea what the company is like remotely or anywhere else in the country.

My only negative about this job is that hours aren’t always guaranteed depending on what types of classes you’re teaching. By that i mean that there’s seasons I’ve taught 15 classes (can be about 20-25 hours for the week roughly) and others seasons I’ve taught 3 (roughly 5 hours for the week maybe less?) but overall usually if you ask for more classes/more hours you can get them, also will really depend on what kind of content knowledge you have and what kinds of classes you can teach. Management is great and always listen to your needs and have really quick responses. Very flexible scheduling and lots of training provided. Kids are great, fun environment and you’re given a lot of independence in the sense that i don’t feel watched 24/7 by management and I feel like they place a lot of trust in us which definitely contributes to a good work environment. Pay is decent/fair. Management does good job of reviewing and giving out raises on a consistent basis and you’re rewarded for time spent with company. Overall its a pretty easy/simple job if you like kids and know some basic coding. 

The founder/CEO/COO is very involved in the daily operations of reach region, and expectations were very high (nearly unrealistic). Too many systems in place which led to inefficiency, unnecessary bureaucracy, and miscommunication. Finally, instructors were not valued and compensated appropriately for their work. These were lots of misunderstandings and miscommunication between leadership and instructors, and instructors were undervalued. 

I worked for Coding With Kids for 6 months. The support in the Phoenix for instructors was very limited. For the first 4 months I was being managed by only people out of state which made it difficult to effectively receive help and guidance for classes. When I did have a manager they became overwhelmed by the stress and left the company

I feel it is important to also mention the lack of empathy the company seems to have. On several occasions I was asked to do class while ill, one time I was asked to teach while I had the flu. The disregard for the students is something I did not feel comfortable with either. 

Overall, I would not recommend working for or with Coding With Kids. I would not send your child to their classes.

The operational inefficiencies here are pervasive. Inadequate and hurried training results in subpar teaching experiences. Additionally, there's a habitual practice of allocating classes to instructors moments before they are set to begin, which leaves no time for preparation. While there's a policy promising compensation for travel times exceeding 30 minutes, this often isn't honored for those using public transportation, under the pretext that one can engage in other activities during transit. Furthermore, there's an unreasonable expectation for instructors to transport heavy equipment without considering their access to a vehicle, disregarding the potential for harm.

Originally the company had a bit of a management problem but said manager was replaced with someone way more fit for the job. This made the job a lot more enjoyable, but, the pay really didn't match the workload. The pay is 15 an hour, but, the most you can make in a day is 2 hours worth of pay and that's 5 days a week. By the time you add up the gas used to travel you really aren't making much. The after school traffic adds to the stress of low pay. When the summer camps are available full time work is available for a week. If this was a full time program I would still be aboard.

The Executive Team is unable to provide even basic support/direction to regional leaders. The Regional Teams appear to have grown complacent with issues because high-level leaders disregard their feedback. 

The company offered no dedicated training resources upon hire. Manager Meetings are held with no real purpose or direction in mind - they serve as a stage for the CEO to share passive-aggressive commentary.

Worst of all - the company is unwilling to change. I would not recommend this company to anyone looking to make an impact on a team, youth, or within their own career path.

This was the oddest job I have worked. The training is rushed but pays pretty well. I got the sense that the employees (instructors and managers) are a rotating door with people constantly joining and leaving. All communication with management is via Discord. I never met or had communication with my team lead. If you don't have a car, I highly recommend not working here. Many times, with a car travel time would be more than the actual time worked. When I did not have a car, sometimes I would be traveling upwards of 3 hours just for the 1 hour of paid work instructing.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Tutor 4 salaries reported	$23.25 per hour
Elementary school teacher 15 salaries reported	$23.06 per hour
Instructor 5 salaries reported	$19.20 per hour
Camp counselor 4 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour
Teacher 1 salary reported	$15.00 per hour

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