Meet our alumni: Jamie Frost

Jamie, whose career has taken an unusual turn as online teaching sensation @DrFrostMaths, talks about his time studying at Oxford.

What course did you study here and when?  

I studied for a 4-year Masters in Computer Science between 2004-2008, and then subsequently a DPhil (Computational Linguistics group) from 2009-2012.  

What was your background before that?  

I went to a comprehensive school, Southborough School, from 1997-2002, followed by Tiffin School, a selective state school, from 2002-2004.  

What attracted you to studying Computer Science as a subject?  

I’d always been interested in programming from a young age, after my parents bought the first family computer when I was 10. At school I taught myself BASIC in order to program on their Acorn Computers. One particularly satisfying moment was when I was aged 13, and I tried to code an analogue clock; I couldn’t work out how to find the coordinates of the endpoints of the hands. The day after I learnt about trigonometry in class, and rushed to a computer after school to finish my program! At age 17 I gained a recreational interest in Artificial Intelligence and built a Connect 4 player.  

What aspects of the course you studied here did you particularly enjoy?  

In my first year I particularly enjoyed the logic circuits course, and for my third year project I built a tool to construct and test circuits, including MIPS architecture components. I enjoyed the concurrent programming course too, and this software could output a circuit to CSP; I dug this out recently when making a GCSE Computer Science resource on the topic.  

What did you do when you left Oxford?  

Between my undergraduate degree and postgraduate studies, I was working for Morgan Stanley in bond trading technology. This involved working with traders and subsequently coding automated trading strategies. After my DPhil I went into school teaching, having enjoyed my experience of departmental and college teaching at Oxford. I eventually built DrFrostMaths.com, which started off as a depository for the various teaching resources I was creating, but ended up as much more, including an online platform for students answering questions online, where teachers could also set and monitor work. While mostly for maths, there’s also a Computer Science platform, with slides/worksheets for the GCSE syllabus, and an online testing-rig for mini-tasks. The platform overall is used by over 8000 schools across 133 countries, with 100 million questions answered online, 8 million resource downloads, and over 1 million hits a day. On the side I also do speaking engagements for both teacher and student groups.  

How has the course you studied here helped you in your current profession?  

A lot! The most demanding algorithm in my online platform was to take two expressions in LaTeX and compare them for mathematical equivalence, both on structural similarity and value equivalence (try this technical demo), using my knowledge of compilers/ interpreters. I’ve also had to create various bits of networked software for the platform, including a game where student devices connect with the teacher’s device; and a virtual whiteboard where teachers can project exam questions to student screens, which the teachers can monitor student annotations in a single view. When making teaching resources for GCSE Computer Science (and sometimes in Mathematics), I’ve made regular links to some of the things I studied at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, to give students a flavour of how they might eventually use this theory in practice.  

What advice would you give to current students on applying their knowledge in the workplace, when they leave university?  

At university I did all my coding in basic text editors, and my experience of refactoring and managing large amounts of code was pretty poor. It was therefore somewhat of a baptism by fire in my first internship in the summer between undergrad Year 3 and 4. I’d also be wary of jobs with ‘reputable employers’ without scrutinising the nature of the work you’re doing. My stint in the investment banking world was definitely not for me!  

What would student you have thought about what you are currently doing?  

I never thought I’d be able to blend my technological expertise with teaching in the way I have, nor achieve a level of niche B-Celebrity fame, where I regularly get asked for selfies at events by students and teachers! I’m just grateful that I have a job I love whilst also being able to keep my programming going.