Luda joined the Breakout Mentors team the summer of 2013. He is a junior at Stanford studying computer science and has really enjoyed sharing his excitement for programming with his students. Let’s hear how he got his start programming and his advice for kids trying to learn.

When did you start programming?

I’ve always been interested in tinkering around with things, but I didn’t really start programming until junior year of high school. I remember my friends showing me these little programs on their graphing calculator that they made, and they were so cool, so I was like, “I need to learn how to do that”. From there, I never looked back.

What do you find rewarding about teaching kids how to program?

All the kids I’ve encountered really, really wanted to learn, and there is no better things than to see their faces when they realize just how much they could do with programming. It is their energy and enthusiasm that inspire me to be a better teacher every day.

What advice do you have to kids learning how to program?

Don’t be discouraged if things don’t work the first time. Keep learning, keep tinkering, and soon you will be able to do things you might not even have imagined before. Never be discouraged.