iD Tech

Instructor

June - August 2024 • Santa Clara, CA

What I liked

I loved the personalities and passion of my fellow instructors. All of them were awesome and really made the camp special for the kids. I also loved having kids that were willing and ready to learn the content. When the stars aligned, the job was very rewarding

What I wish was different

Really bad pay. $2 an hour less than a McDonald's employee. The budget for the summer camp was also extremely low ($150 for the whole 6 weeks of camp). iDTech just loves to cut corners and costs. I also wish we would have gotten paid for the time spent studying the curriculum we would be teaching. On top of all of the pay stuff, I had a pretty bad director (on-sight manager) who didn't get along with kids and was condescending and demeaning. Look out for Audrey if you work here.

Advice

Try to only offer to teach the courses that you feel comfortable teaching. Don't tell them that you are willing to learn new courses because they will take advantage of that and put you in courses that don't involve your interests or major. Because they don't pay you for your time getting up to speed on the curriculum, if you're unlucky, you will teach multiple curriculums and be constantly busy getting up to speed.

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Instructor

June - August 2018 • Santa Clara, CA

What I liked

Fantastic coworkers, fun to teach kids how to code, management is great , flexible work weeks.

What I wish was different

Wish I had gotten paid for some of the hours I worked. I would often work past when we were supposed to clock off (especially Thursdays), but at the end of the week I had to edit my timesheet to take out those overtime hours I worked. From what I heard this really only happened at the Santa Clara branch.

Advice

Have fun with it. The more fun you have or seem like you're having, the more the camp will seem fun to your students. Always ask for help from your director, assistant director, or lead instructors when presented with a difficult situation (like a hard to handle student). Make friends with your coworkers, they can be not only good friends down the line but also excellent connections.

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Python and Machine Learning Instructor

June - July 2023 • Sacramento, CA

What I liked

The ability to teach multiple courses. This helped me learn a lot and I got to travel around California. The directors, regional managers and coworkers are great too.

What I wish was different

It was perfect!

Advice

Don’t be afraid that you are not the expert in what you are teaching. If you can explain things well and can learn fast, you can teach anything.

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Camp Instructor

June - August 2023 • Cambridge, MA

What I liked

Decent pay, relatively supportive supervisors/ camp directors, was nice to do work related to my field of study.

What I wish was different

Could have used better organization at the start of the summer, Staying late on Thursday nights to right diplomas for each individual child was a lot.

Advice

Children are very difficult do deal with, be prepared for that.

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Instructor

May - August 2022 • Los Angeles, CA

What I liked

Teaching talented students was a rewarding and impactful experience.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Instructor

May - July 2023 • Nashville, TN

What I liked

I liked to work with kids and teach them valuable lessons about 3D printing and modeling.

What I wish was different

I wish there were other ways to apply the skills that I learned in college

Advice

This is a fun job that will help you understand the topic you're learning by teaching it to other people.

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Java Instructor

June - August 2023 • Villanova, PA

What I liked

Loved teaching and getting to know the kids. My coworkers were also really wonderful people. The experience also helped me solidify my Java foundation and apply it in ways new to me (Minecraft mod development).

What I wish was different

Better managerial staff at our location. The big thing would be better compensation for how many hours instructors were truly working each day of the week, especially factoring in time for preparing for classes. Overnight instructors would start the day at 7am and end at 10pm on working days.

Advice

This is a good job to do in your freshman summer, especially if you're still finding your footing in CS and tech. Apply early and have it as a useful backup freshman/soph year!

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Camp Counselor

June - August 2023 • Harrison, NY

What I liked

I liked the people I worked with and the experience

What I wish was different

Some administration things

Advice

Be patient and adaptable

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Instructor

May - August 2022 • Lisle, IL

What I liked

Learning new things to teach.

What I wish was different

Management, maybe no kids.

Advice

Be prepared to handle kids, you should like them before applying.

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Online instructor

May - July 2022 • Orlando, FL

What I liked

The pay and flexible schedule

What I wish was different

More up front training on teaching a class

Advice

Don’t be afraid to ask questions they staff is super understanding

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Online Private Lessons Instructor

March 2021 • Austin, TX

What I liked

Great flexibility, amazing staff, friendly superiors, great communication with the team.

What I wish was different

Nothing really, everything's transparent enough that you know exactly what you're getting into.

Advice

Prepare. Your. Lessons. Even if it's something broad, have an idea of what to do. You do NOT want to get called out by a 13yo who knows more code than you, trust me.

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Online Private Lesson Instructor

July - September 2022 • Campbell, CA

What I liked

Flexible schedule. Helping kids from all over the world learn code was awesome! Especially, when you knew you were making a difference because they tell their parents they loved learning from you so you become your repeat customers! You don't have to self-advertise other than that.

What I wish was different

Advice

If you're not completely comfortable teaching a subject, you may want to forgo, although practice makes perfect. You'll always be able to change the subjects you can teach with approval though.

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Instructor

June - August 2018 • Purchase, NY

What I liked

I loved getting to know my fellow staff and I enjoyed teaching a lot more than I expected.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Game Development Instructor

May - August 2021 • Portland, OR

What I liked

I liked the resources that they had available for instructors to use; their curriculuae were generally pretty fun and engaging. The staff was also great, I enjoyed conversations with my managers that I did get to have.

What I wish was different

I wish the pay was higher for such a demanding job; additionally, there is not very good internal communication, it feels a bit like you're forgettable/replaceable, as an employee. Additionally, my manager changed about 4-5 times throughout the summer, which was very confusing, and left me wondering if they were being mistreated, or why they decided to leave. The management team that I met was well represented with Black women and other underrepresented minorities, which was really great, especially for a tech company, but given the number of people who left, it made me think that maybe they aren't paying them enough either.

Advice

I would say to not go with iD Tech if it's your first job of this kind; I was lucky to have other prior experience, but they left me in the dark a lot. There are many other options that pay a lot better, especially given the difference between their product fees for customers, and what compensation the employees receive. If you want to get into tutoring/online CS education, you deserve to be compensated far above what iD Tech can offer.

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Online Private Lessons Instrutor

June 2021 • Conway, AR

What I liked

I like having the ability to pick my own hours. I also like working 1 on 1 with students because it helps them learn more.

What I wish was different

I wish the the instructor absences or late lessons were weighted based off of how many lessons that instructor has taught.

Advice

Do it. It is great. Set reminders for your lessons.

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Online Private Instructer

April 2021 • California, MD

What I liked

Remote work, working with kids, flexible hours, good pay

What I wish was different

More hours

Advice

Get a desk

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Virtual Tech Instructor

June - September 2021 • Sacramento, CA

What I liked

I enjoyed teaching children about different topics. I felt that the guided lessons were very helpful in teaching as well as the training. They were very clear about all policies. They also had some virtual bonding activities every week.

What I wish was different

I wish that the managers were more helpful. Sometimes, help managers didn't reply when I needed help which hindered teaching some classes. I think the enjoyment and ease of teaching is highly dependent on how the children you teach are. I also wish I was assigned me more shifts as they advertised on their job posting that I could do upto 30 hours, but I rarely did more than 12 hours a week.

Advice

I wish I knew how much of a time commitment this would take. I expected it to take more, but I think I could've done another part-time job while I was an instructor.

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Online STEAM Instructor/Tutor

July - August 2021 • Campbell, CA

What I liked

I liked that they provided me with their own curriculum but were also understanding of the flexibility of each age group. Therefore, I did not feel rushed to get through every part of the material.