While Flatiron School is a campus for lifelong learners, it also attracts another group of people who embody a similar mission — lifelong educators. Michael T., a Flatiron School online graduate, is a lifelong educator. He discovered his passion for education after joining Teach For America, a nonprofit group that teaches K-12 in low-income communities. Through code, Michael continues to grow and unlocks the potential of those around him. After graduating from the immersive Online Software Engineering program, Michael has launched several startups combining his passion for tech and education.
Before getting involved in education, Michael went to Stanford University. It was near Silicon Valley, but he was on a pre-med track and majoring in human biology. It didn’t take long, though, for him to realize he wasn’t passionate about medicine, which is when he went down the education path.
His introduction to tech started with Teach For America. He started a coding club and taught kids in the program the basics to become programmers. Having never coded before, Michael was using all his free time to teach himself to stay one lesson ahead of his class. He was hooked. Not only did he find his calling, he knew exactly the type of toolset he wanted to teach others — code.
After Teach for America, Michael knew he wanted to continue with education while pursuing his own coding journey. That’s when he decided to enroll in Flatiron School. After graduating, he started teaching programming at a high school. Looking back, Michael says that nothing helped him solidify the concepts more than actually teaching the concepts. Teaching also helped him become a better developer.
A year into teaching software engineering, a dream opportunity presented itself. Michael was offered a job as a Ruby on Rails developer for an education company in Los Angeles. This let him supercharge his experience with code, get exposed to real-world problems, and create an impact at scale in a field he was passionate about.
Lifelong learners are always moving forward, and it was no different from Michael. He took what he learned in LA and started his own company. He used his previous tech and education experience to start an education company called Axiom Coding. The company creates project-based coding curricula and instruction for high schools nationwide.
Michael continues to passionately pursue many projects beyond his startup. He’s written curricula for an education company in San Francisco and also started a consulting business in Denver that aids business owners in developing their Shopify stores. Today, through code, he is able to work remotely out of Denver. Having flexible hours lets Michael pursue different projects that align with his desire to learn and teach.
