Inspiring Conversations with P.Y. Nicole Chang of theCoderSchool Pasadena

Today we’d like to introduce you to P.Y. Nicole Chang.

Hi P.Y. Nicole, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Before moving back to America in 2013, I was working abroad for 20 years, and I had to juggle between parenting two young kids and leading international teams in large global companies. Since my time at home was limited, I had to be very intentional with how they were raised during their critical years. Three attributes that I wanted them to develop as citizens in the future world were Confidence, Critical Thinking Skills and Creativity. After graduating from Stanford, I spent the majority of my professional life in traditional jobs like management consulting, retail and media. However, I always have had a passion for entrepreneurship — I started my first company when I was 12 and several since. As well, academia has always been in my blood as both my parents were teachers and I greatly enjoy opportunities to spend time in the classroom giving guest lectures or teaching as it reminds me of my childhood where I could be found being guinea pig to my Mom’s research or helping my Dad’s foreign graduate students with their writing.

A couple of years ago, I decided to take a detour from corporate America and return to my entrepreneurial roots. I explored local opportunities that were aligned with my passion and expertise and that would contribute to society. I came across an exciting franchise that teaches computer coding to young students out of Silicon Valley and started the Los Angeles branch. This school is a platform that allows us to help prepare tomorrow’s future leaders with not only the coding skills that will serve them but also help imbue them with the same three attributes that I feel are critical to one’s future success and happiness – Confidence, Critical Thinking Skills and Creativity.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
For anyone who has tried to start a business, one knows that the road is anything but smooth. No matter how much planning one does, there is always something that comes up unexpectedly. Even though the business has been around for over 6 years, the Pasadena location is relatively new — a week after our ribbon-cutting ceremony, we had to shut our office due to COVID local regulations. This was challenging at first as not only was the business model affected, but we have to continue to pay rent (even though can’t use center) and cover other expenses as a growing company. For some reason, this all does not qualify as a business interruption for insurance purposes?!?! We had to quickly pivot the business model to also be a great experience online. We are grateful that technology (and our coding skills) allowed us to transition our classroom online and continue to grow — parents have shared with us that it has been a life-saver during the pandemic, the kids have enjoyed the experience so much, and referrals have really helped us get through these tough times.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about theCoderSchool Pasadena?
We are the Pasadena/Los Angeles location of the #1 after-school coding program in Silicon Valley for children (ages 7-18) — yes, employees from Google and Apple even send their children to learn coding with us! theCoderSchool has almost 50 schools across the country. Although each location is independently owned we are like a big family, what is great about being part of this family is that we leverage the experience of thousands of coaches and students across the nation to provide the best learning experience for our students. In running the classroom, we bring in findings from neuroscience research for optimized learning.

For example, in our camps we start with exercises that wake up the right brain (creative side) and help focus. We also do Appreciation Circles where everyone says something they are appreciative of — this de-excites the nervous system and increases dopamine in the brain and creates a “good feeling” reward circuit. What makes us different from many other coding programs is that our classes are very small (max five students to 1 teacher), very customized to the student and project-based. From the first ten minutes of coding, a student is working on their own project that interests them. If a student is interested in something and gets a hand-on experience, this really helps with the learning. Furthermore, the experience of writing code from the beginning and coming up with a working game or project instills a lot of confidence in the kids. Many other schools have the same curriculum path for all learners, and not all kids learn the same way.

Actually, the company was founded because our founder saw a need in the market for a hands-on approach —although the founder’s children had been studying coding for a few years, when he asked them how they would code something, they had no idea of the process of how to take a concept and turn it into a program.

How does enrollment work? Our coding lessons are structured as a monthly subscription, weekly lessons @ an hour long. We have a variety of different programs and pricing plans based on the age and experience level of the students. There is no enrollment fee, no registration fee, and no long-term contract. Using our flexible curriculum, the students work at their own pace with guidance from their Code Coach. Their project is based on their experience, how they learn, and what they are most interested in learning. Classes start as low as $119/month. We offer free 30 min one-on-one private trial no obligation coding lessons for anyone who is thinking about coding and wants to give it a try — sign up at pasadena.thecoderschool.com.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Tenacious & Persistent Excellence. As a parent and educator, I realize how important a child’s well-being and development is and know that it is a gradual process. We are honored that parents entrust their children to us and do our utmost to make sure to provide the optimal learning environment in which a child can thrive.

Pricing:

• FREE 30-min Private Trial Coding Lesson
• Classes start as low as $119/month
• Our most popular Code Coaching – 2 students to 1 coach is $269/month per student

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Telephone: (626) 345 -5875
• Website: pasadena.thecoderschool.com
• Instagram: @thecoderschoolpasadena
• Facebook: @pasadenacoderschool

Image Credits
Annie Tao (@thecoderschool) Benny Migs (@thecoderschool)