Before you begin coaching others, it’s important to feel confident in your own technical foundation, not because you need to know everything, but so you can guide learners effectively.
This module helps you:
Refresh your understanding of key programming concepts in your chosen language.
Practice explaining your reasoning clearly under tight time pressure.
Reflect on your communication style when discussing code.
You can choose any language you’re most comfortable with (e.g., Python, JavaScript, Java, C#, or R).
Practice whiteboarding under time constraints to build confidence in talking about your code.(Set a timer)
Select one of the following prompts in your preferred language:
Logic Challenge: Write a function that checks whether a given string is a palindrome.
Data Handling: Write a function that counts how many times each unique word appears in a sentence.
Algorithm Thinking: Write a function that returns the second largest number in a list or array.
Data Cleaning Challenge (Python): Write a function that removes duplicate rows from a dataset while keeping the first occurrence of each unique record.
Bonus: How would you handle missing values in a key column?
Tip: You may simulate a dataset using a list of dictionaries, a pandas DataFrame, or a CSV string.
Exploratory Analysis Challenge: Write a function that calculates the mean, median, and mode of a list of numeric values.
Bonus: Explain how you would handle outliers or missing data.
Spend no more than 10 minutes coding or outlining your approach (pseudo-code is acceptable).
Explain your reasoning aloud, as if teaching a beginner.
Note how you structured your explanation: where you paused, simplified, or rephrased.
After completing the whiteboard challenge, reflect on your experience.
How confident did you feel explaining your thought process aloud?
Did you focus more on getting the right answer or on communicating your reasoning?
What moments felt awkward or unclear, and why?
How might a beginner perceive your explanation?
What is one thing you will do differently next time you coach a learner?
Record your reflection in your journal.