The power of a nod

The professor scheduled to teach my Advanced Programming class in college left the country a week before the semester started. The Comp Sci department scrambled for a replacement, and they managed to convince a developer at IBM to take on the evening lecture.

I was already addicted to coding by this time. I looked forward to class projects, which felt more like solving puzzles than doing actual work. My classmates and I made fun of the new 'professor,' a scruffy and eccentric guy. It was clear he'd never taught before, but it was also clear he loved the subject matter. He paced around and rubbed his beard, rarely making eye contact with students, saying "Uh" every few words. But his face lit up like a Christmas tree as he explained recursion.

On the last day of class, when I handed in my final exam, he addressed me by name for the first time of the semester.

"You're a good programmer," he told me. "You should keep doing it."

It's amazing how far a little acknowledgement and encouragement goes.