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The most important thing is people! We are sure about that. It depends on the teacher whether the child understands the subject, whether programming is really interesting for him.
Every employee of CODDY influences the result! That's why we are very careful in selecting the staff, and the training system is built and works like a Swiss clockwork. Nadezhda Tkachuk, HR -Manager at CODDY, will talk about the system and give tips on how to create a pleasant atmosphere in the team, how to recognize and avoid burnout.
Hi Nadia, tell us about your main tasks at CODDY.
Hi. My job is to develop and implement tools and processes that improve teachers' work and interactions with managers. Let me give you an example to illustrate. We have implemented a mentoring system. After the interview and training, the employee passes into the hands of a mentor who supervises him or her for two months. The mentoring program: what aspects to consider, how to set up the interaction - that's almost entirely my own development.
What should a CODDY teacher be like? What kind of skills are needed?
Of course, the instructor should have knowledge in the area in which he or she is teaching the course. I would like to add that we offer courses that are not about design and programming: they are courses for children, teaching soft skills. As far as courses for children are concerned, we are not looking for programmers, but for people who can deal with children. And here, of course, pedagogical skills and experience are particularly important.
A teacher should be interested in his subject, learn about new things and constantly expand his skills. It is important for us to have people working for us who know how to develop themselves. This is also an advantage for us. The development of each team member is reflected in the development of the company as a whole. An important point in a mentor's work is to communicate this value to employees. He can invite to his courses, where he explains the subject to the children, which is not in the program. We also offer the possibility to take courses in pedagogy with an official certificate.
And what personal qualities of employees are valued in the company?
First and foremost, we are concerned with the ability to communicate with the child, the parent, and the manager. A teacher has three different audiences with whom he or she interacts. The teacher should be able to explain the material to the children in a correct and interesting way, to establish communication in groups - this is the most important thing.
You also need to be able to communicate with parents. One of the situations I like least is when a teacher is afraid to call and talk to parents. Of course, such a candidate is not suitable for us. The ability to talk to a stranger without seeing them in person and still give them intelligent and emotional feedback is one of the most important skills.
Establishing communication with managers is important for teamwork. For example, there are teachers who cannot work with children, and if they tell the manager, there is no problem. The manager will just not give groups with younger students.
Tell me, what are CODDY 's training and adjustment programs for newcomers?
We have a clearly defined process that has been practiced for several years.
First, the person goes through a series of interviews. Then the training begins on the portal, where the transition from one step to the next is automated. The trainer immediately sees all the steps ahead. The first step is learning instructions on how to communicate with children, which is more of a soft skill. After these instructions, the trainer makes the first test, for which there are three attempts.
The next step is a technical guide on how to conduct a lesson: what you need to know to work on site, how to use the CRM system where the data of all our students are stored. This is also where the tests take place.
The third step is a trial lesson with a student. This is where we take an apprentice - these are the children of our employees and our most loyal regular customers. These children take many trial lessons, they know that there is a newcomer who may be nervous, sometimes even children help the teacher when he is confused or gets confused. The video of the lesson is reviewed by the mentor. If the candidate successfully passes all three stages, he moves on to the mentor. He has a series of questions to discuss. Mentors are always on call because novices naturally have questions. A mentor can follow a newbie for up to two months - that's a trial period. When a stable workload has accumulated, around 40-50 hours, and the employee receives positive feedback from clients, the probationary period ends. And sometimes our students grow up and come back to CODDY as teachers!
In this article, we talk about working in a programming school through the personal experience of one teacher.
Who develops these programs?
We have a team of methodologists who work every day to improve and complicate the programs. They write methodological materials, make them practical and expand them. The mentors and teachers themselves are also involved in this process, because without an experienced teacher it is difficult to create new materials.
At the moment, the HR department is changing the adaptation path for trainees, we are making it more convenient and flexible so that candidates can acquire the material more easily, and the tests are also becoming more complicated. We are constantly adding new materials, updating the guides for both beginners and experienced teachers, and holding additional meetings and webinars. It is a continuous work.
What are the career opportunities for teachers?
We give candidates the idea that they do not just have to be teachers. Many development managers, program directors, and HR are our own teachers. They either combine their workloads or have already completed their teaching careers and only care about updates. If a person is passionate about an area and has talent, we try to give them additional tasks and connect them with other projects.
Any teacher who has experience with methodological materials can develop their own methodology and get paid for it. Also, any teacher can become a mentor, which is also an additional income. But, of course, this requires certain skills. Our mentors really know how to do their job, they have a heart for mentorship and take on the task responsibly.
In this article we have described in detail what kind of mentors we expect and what we offer.What should be done to make employees feel good in the company and stay for a long time?
What should be done to make employees feel good in the company and stay for a long time?
I believe that emotional attachment goes a long way. All managers know that it is important to build a good contact with teachers. We really keep in touch, we know a lot about the lives of our staff, for example if someone gets married it's a whole event for us, we definitely congratulate each other. And I think it's the friendly, emotional connection that lasts the longest.
We also have people who have not worked at CODDY for a long time, but we still communicate with each other and help each other. There is a teacher who taught with us for many years, then had to change where he lived and worked, and now invites his friends to join us from time to time and brings very strong candidates. There are employees who have moved to large IT companies. They come with a kind of interaction that is beneficial to us as well as to their company.
Do you collect feedback from your employees?
We solicit feedback on a regular basis. The HR department conducts surveys: You can give anonymous or non-anonymous feedback about the program, the manager or the work as a whole, make suggestions for improvement or even leave a negative comment. And we sort out this information.
At CODDY there are meetings where teachers can talk to the manager and to each other. There are systematic meetings and there are urgent meetings when there are news and updates.
Nadia, can you give us some advice on how to avoid burnout at work and stay motivated?
The most telling number is workload. If a teacher has a heavy workload, we caution him or her to slow down. You need to monitor your fitness and fatigue very closely so you do not burn out. If we see that the teacher is reducing his or her workload, we find out why that is - is there an objective reason or has the burnout started. Every month I look at how the workload has changed and I contact the staff.
Another indicator is bad feedback from customers. We have a very good system for collecting feedback. We always know when there is bad feedback about a teacher. Even a small setback is a reason to be concerned and contact the person to find out if they have a problem.
One of the ways to deal with the problem is to change jobs. If I see that the employee is burned out, I offer him new interesting tasks and projects, especially personal ones, where he can have a change of scenery.
And it pays to be clear about whether the employee likes dealing with children. If children annoy you, if you feel uncomfortable - then this is not the job for you. We need people who really like working with children and do not do it by force or just for the money.
It is better to learn from the experience of others, and we are happy to share our knowledge. Thank you, Nadezhda, for the helpful story and the actual advice!