Jacob Hite

About

The long way round to a classroom

Nobody sets out at twenty-two to become a teacher at fifty. Here is how it actually happened.

I lived in many states growing up, but call Colorado my home state.

I graduated from UC, Boulder in 1999 and got my BS in Computer Science and have been working as a software engineer ever since.

I'm an avid traveller and made my way to SE Asia in 2011 where I have spent the majority of my time during the past 15 years.

I earned my CELTA English Teaching Certification in Chiang Mai, Thailand and have done some volunteer teaching, but am ready to take teaching to the next level.

At this point in my career I'd like to pivot from coding to teaching Computer Science at international schools in SE Asia and am excited about gaining these teaching skills with the Moreland University program!

A room of children seated on the floor of a wooden schoolhouse in South East Asia, with two adults teaching at the front.
Volunteer teaching in South East Asia.
Three people grinning with their arms in the air in an open-plan office.
The other half of the story: twenty-five years of this.

The route

One thing after another

  1. Growing up

    Many states, one home

    Moved around a lot as a kid. Colorado is the one that stuck.

  2. 1999

    BS Computer Science, CU Boulder

    The formal part of the education.

  3. 1999 — today

    Software engineer

    Twenty-five years of shipping things, and of learning what actually breaks in production.

  4. 2011

    Moved to South East Asia

    Where most of the last fifteen years have been spent.

  5. Chiang Mai

    CELTA certification

    English teaching certification, plus volunteer teaching — the first real evidence that this was the direction.

  6. Now

    Moreland University, TEACH-NOW

    Teacher certification, and the pivot from writing code to teaching computer science at international schools.