Teaching Assistant Journey: Building Foundations in Computer Science

The Beginning

During my Bachelor's degree at Bojnurd University (2012-2017), I had the opportunity to serve as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Data Structures course. This experience was foundational—it taught me how to explain complex concepts, work with students, and contribute to the learning community.

The Role

As a TA, I was responsible for:

Key Experiences

Explaining Complex Concepts

Data Structures can be challenging for students. I learned to break down complex topics:

Helping Students Debug

One of the most valuable skills I developed was helping students debug their code:

// Common student mistake: memory leak in linked list
void delete_list(Node* head) {
    while (head != NULL) {
        Node* temp = head;
        head = head->next;
        // Missing: free(temp);
    }
}
// Corrected version
void delete_list(Node* head) {
    while (head != NULL) {
        Node* temp = head;
        head = head->next;
        free(temp);  // Properly free memory
    }
}

Creating Learning Resources

I created supplementary materials to help students:

Impact

Lessons Learned

Conclusion

My time as a Teaching Assistant was invaluable. It taught me how to communicate technical concepts clearly, work with diverse learners, and contribute to the academic community. The experience reinforced my own understanding of data structures and laid the foundation for my future career in software development.

The skills I developed—from explaining complex concepts to debugging code—continue to be valuable in my professional work today.

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Teaching others is one of the best ways to deepen your own understanding.