Lin Rojtas

Courses supported: CS-0007; LING-1330; LING-1340

Major: Computer Science

Minor: Linguistics

Academic Level: Junior

Achievements and Accolades: Dean's List since 1st semester freshman year (Fall 2019)

Activities and Clubs: PyLing - Python-Linguistics enthusiast group

Post graduation plans: To work in some kind of natural language processing field!

Why did you become a UTA? I know how scary it can be as a first-time coder, and I wanted to facilitate that process that students have to go through in learning the ins and outs of programming. Teaching students to problem-solve in a way they haven't seen before and watching them learn is an exciting process to witness and help with!

What is the best advice you would give to a student who may need additional support? You have lots of resources all around you -- use them! Those resources are there for a reason; if they weren't, they wouldn't exist. Don't be afraid to reach out because chances are someone else has had a similar problem or issue. 

What is the best study tip you have for a student taking the course you UTA for? Practice practice practice! Creating a good foundation for your programming knowledge and skills sets you up for success with future classes. Even if you're taking CS-0007 as a gen-ed, your problem-solving skills will transfer to your field, so that foundation is still just as important!

Why should students come to your UTA office hours? Because I'm here to help! I know it can be intimidating going to office hours, and I know how it feels to be afraid to ask for help for fear of asking a stupid question or something, but no question is a stupid question. If I didn't want to answer your questions, I wouldn't be here! Programming is hard especially when you're starting out and having a friendly face who's been there before definitely makes it easier.  

What is your favorite thing about the subject you UTA for? Most (if not all) of the students who take CS-0007 have never coded before, so I think that it's exciting to see people start without knowing much about computers at all and end up being able to not only write pretty impressive programs for first-time coders, but also noticing the new perspectives from which they solve problems in general.