Imagine working in a computer science lab at a college back in the days before Y2K. Would you simply make sure everything in the lab was running smoothly, or would you volunteer to help the students overcome big challenges they were facing at school?

I’d consider the second option going above and beyond, and that’s exactly what the person who wrote this story did.

You’re about to learn about several different examples of problems he encountered in the computer lab. One was something he couldn’t fix, but two more showed what a big impact he had on these students. Even a professor was impressed!

Keep reading for all the details.

My Time as a Student Computer Lab Supervisor

This one is about several small incidents when I was working as a computer lab supervisor when I was in college.

I went to college in Ontario, Canada, where you choose your major when you apply.

I am a graduate of computer programming, and I took a job offering for students as a computer lab supervisor.

I was fortunate enough to get a job working the labs that were for the computer programming students.

Here’s some more context about when the story took place and what the job entailed.

This was back when laptops were still realitively uncommon and people were still considering the Y2K bug world ending.

My job entailed ensuring the computers were getting used properly, assisting students with difficulties that they had, as well as doing routine maintenance on the equipment such as replace broken keyboards, toner cartridges, ghost images on corrupt installations (which happened very frequently given a bunch of late teens early twenties programming students who wanted to show that they knew everything).

This first story is about spilled coffee.

The first thing that I remember during that there was a repeated incident with one student that was determined that the cd-rom drive was a coffee cup holder, and after repeatedly telling him not to use the drive as a coffee cup holder.

He went back to using the drive as a coffee cup holder after I was no longer paying attention to him, as I was assisting a student who was stuck with an improperly constructed IF…Else IF…Then statement.

The guys drive closed, spilling the coffee all over the place, and causing the computer to lock up.

This is all the administration’s fault.

I had an unbelievable amount of paperwork to fill out for our repair department, as well as a report regarding what had happened.

I was fortunate enough that I had several students who were able to verify the accuracy of the report, and that I had followed all the policies.

The sad thing is that the administration had deemed it alright for the students to have food and drink in the computer lab, which in hind sight was a foolish decision.

Another story involves helping a student.

There were also a lot of feel good moments working in that lab, like the time I was helping a first semester student, who was struggling with some of the most basic concepts in programming using C++. He was having difficulty using the {}.

Most people had written him off as hopeless, but with the amount of time I spent in the lab, and saw him in there working on trying to do this, I felt that he really wanted to do this.

The one day he came and asked me for help, and I sat down with him and listened to what he was struggling with.

The professor loved the way OP helped this student.

While I was doing this, the professor that to this day I have the most amount of respect for had came into the lab and had saw me sitting and talking with this student that was in his first semester course (I was in 4th semester at this point).

He had listened to the way I explained that each time you used a { it was like starting a new story, and how I learned to close it immediately with a } and put a comment on what “story” it was closing. I also explained about using indentation for code, which helped make it easier to read, and also said don’t be afraid to use some blank lines if it helps keep things easier to read and follow.

Something clicked with him and he went on to getting one of the highest grades in the class that semester.

That instructor told me that I had helped that student in a way that he couldn’t and he was very thankful, and asked if he could use the way I described the {} as story beginnings and endings. It made me feel proud that the professor that I respected most wanted to use something I came up with on the fly to help a student, and it was courtesy of working in that lab.

Another story is about a student who didn’t seem to know what he was doing.

Another time that I felt really good with helping a student in the lab came about when this student who had made it to the 3rd semester (I was in my 6th and final semester at this point), had come in and was trying to complete a project for a course he was re-doing from the first semester.

He was struggling on how to copy it off his floppy disk, and on to the desktop of the machine he was working on.

This had sent up a red flag for me, as at this point he spent a full year already doing the computer programming course, and he didn’t know how to copy from one drive to another.

I went to help him, and got talking with him. During our conversation, I asked what caused his decision to take computer programming as his major.

It wasn’t exactly the career field of his dreams.

And he had told me that he chose it because his parents said that it would be the job to make lots of money in.

I asked him if he was enjoying it.

And he told me that he was not enjoying it at all, and he went on to say that he would have liked them to do a introductory to computer course.

I asked him what he really wanted to do, and he said his interest was in accounting.

This is good advice.

At this point, I gave to him what I consider the soundest advice to give to anyone thinking about a career.

I told him that he should be taking a course in what he enjoys doing, as he will be spending at least a third of his life doing it.

I found out a week later he applied for winter intake for the accounting course and got accepted.

When I ran into him a few years later, he thanked me for the advice, and it turns out he was making really good money as an accountant.

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It sounds like the good outweighed the bad.

There were other rage inducing things that happened such as students allowing their friends access to our specialized lab, students using the emergency exits which set off the alarm disrupting everyone, students using the T1 line from the college for their personal napster downloading, as well as things that bordered on hate speech due to differences of religious beliefs that I had to deal with.

But when I look back at the 2 years I worked in that job, I felt a sense of accomplishment.

I have several people that still thank me more than a decade and a half later for helping them get through the course, and I was always treated with respect.

I think that is what caused me to start down a path of tech support, which some days I regret that decision fully, but I will never regret my time as a computer lab supervisor

It does feel great to know you truly helped someone.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who volunteered to help promote a church event for free, then was surprised to find she had to still pay admission to get in.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This is a good suggestion!

One person is too young to remember Y2K.

This person shares their school’s policy on food and computers.

Another person can relate to this story.

The saying goes that those who can’t do teach. However, I’d like to add, based on this story, that sometimes, those who can do, are better teachers, and those who can teach and teach well are rare.

I love how he helped these students. It definitely says a lot when a professor is impressed and when the students learn from and take his advice.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about some renters who moved out and left their apartment in the same state of disarray they’d found it in when they moved in.