August Update
It's been a busy month for me. I was asked to teach a Game Development course at the University of Colorado Boulder’s ATLAS Institute, so I've been spending my time preparing for that.
I've never taught before, so learning to teach has been my focus. I'm also putting together course material and assignments for the students. It's a lot of work, but I'm so excited and feel so privileged to have the opportunity to pass down the knowledge and stories of what I've learned. Sharing what I know was a big motivation for creating Wizard Workshop. Last week, I spent three days at CU for their Fall Intensive teaching workshops which was a great help and gave me a lot of confidence moving forward.
Courage to Teach
Parker Palmer encourages teachers to show up to the classroom as their undivided selves, with authenticity and vulnerability. It's an opportunity to create community with a shared pursuit of truth.
For the course, I'll be teaching in Godot. I've been having a lot of fun learning it myself, and I believe one of the best skills I can teach is how to learn. There are so many resources for learning Godot, so pointing students in the right direction will help. I put together a playlist of tutorials I've watched that I think offer a good start. It's hard to know what skills and abilities the students will have coming into the course with, so I'm trying to keep projects flexible and allow them to focus on learning what they want.
I'm also going to be talking about what it takes to find a job or start a company within the industry. It's a very difficult time, but I believe it is important to be honest and transparent about it. There are so many folks who are eager to learn and want to be a part of the industry, but there are not a lot of job openings right now, and even fewer for junior developers just starting out. However, I do believe there are opportunities for new companies and building small teams that can have a big impact, so I'll be covering ways to start a business of your own and focus a lot on team work.
Meeting the staff and faculty at the ATLAS Institute has also been a real joy. Everyone has been so welcoming and kind. I'm excited to get to know my colleagues and learn from all of them. I can tell already it's a wonderful teaching community that I feel lucky to be a part of.
I've also been spending some of my time volunteering at the Longmont Humane Society. It's nice to get out and feel useful while helping all the animals. I spend most of my time washing dishes, doing laundry, and spending time socializing with the cats there. There's always something to learn and I'm meeting so many new and wonderful people.
If you're looking for a new friend, go check out your local humane society!
Thanks, as always, for reading and for being part of my journey. Updates have been fewer lately, but leaning into these changes has been genuinely a big positive impact on my life and wellbeing.
- Jonas
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