The University of Michigan is host to a variety of job opportunities for its students. Some students may choose to work in the dining halls, where they can improve skills in interpersonal communications, team dynamics, dependability, and time management while getting paid (also free meals!!).

Other students might get paid doing research in a lab with a professor. Student-researchers can gain valuable skills, get a leg up on graduate school, and also contribute knowledge and impact the world.

Dining halls and research are just two student employment opportunities of many on campus. One in particular, EECS Instructional Aide (IA), is a position that I hope to obtain in the future because I believe it is one of the best jobs on campus - and here’s why.

The Perks of Being an IA

Although I’ve never been an IA, it seems that there aren’t too many jobs that can compete in terms of experience, impact/fulfillment, and reward.

IA’s hone their interpersonal communication skills, having to explain often difficult-to-grasp concepts to students. This skill is highly valuable, because while there is demand for good communicators, there is even higher demand for good communicators who can deeply understand technical concepts and are able to convey them to others. EECS IA’s also get to host their own discussion section. They are personally responsible for the learning of an entire classroom, which is already a larger impact than students usually have on campus.

What IA’s have done for me

Majoring in computer scienec was not a “love at first sight”-esque story. When I first came to Michigan, I was in the Engineering School, but I had little to no idea of what kind of Engineering I wanted to pursue. I took EECS280 (Programming and Intermediate Data Structures) because my parents said the high job demand made computer science the best option. Without a real interest in any other type of Engineering, I meekly enrolled in more CS classes.

Fast forward a year, and I can easily say that CS was the perfect major for me thanks to a number of peers support. In particular, my EECS280 and EECS281 IA’s were extremely influential in helping me enjoy computer science. While EECS Professors are super knowledgeable, its often difficult to create a personal relationship with them because of the sheer student to faculty ratio. In discussions, I was able to receive more one-on-one time when I needed help. Seriously, shout-out to the IA’s who put in effort to making their classes fun and engaging (i.e. one particular IA who created his own custom slides to present 281 material). With an engaging instructor, I was able to comfortably immerse myself deeper within CS topics and find a genuine interest in the field.

The opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ and inspire proactive learning into students, like my previous IA’s did for me, would be an opportunity that I would love to have.