Alumni Highlight: Nicholas Richman

One such opportunity for IS&T majors is the annual PKI career fair. The chance to talk to employers and even interview in the same building where my studies take place created an atmosphere of involvement in the community. It really feels like the local companies are as much a part of the University as anything. I even managed to snag my first internship at one of these!

The coursework at UNO is involved and interesting thanks in large to the friendly, supportive, all-star professors. I had the opportunity to spend a year working on an undergraduate research project with one of my professors. Working together was engaging and provided even more experiences such as a summer research position in New Mexico or a conference trip to Scotland.

I also tried to stay involved in the scene of student organizations. The Association for Computing Machinery was a club that I’d committed to for all of my time at UNO, taking over presidency in my senior year. Being both a member and a leader of a student organization provided a lot of insight to how groups make and achieve goals. I really felt that the ACM was a team that worked together to further our understanding and solve Computer Science challenges. From competing in out of state Hackathons to organizing UNO programming competitions I’ve had diverse experiences in development and teamwork to help prepare me for the industry.

Q: What about your major drew you in? Why were you passionate about it, vs. the other majors out there?

Computers have been a part of my life since as long as I can remember. I’ve always been interested in online gaming as it gives me the opportunity to connect with people from around the world. As I started getting older I had the opportunity to take CS oriented courses in High School. These courses were some of my first introductions to the world of development. Suddenly I was learning to create software, and I hoped someday I could create applications and have users of my own products!

I think that one of the biggest draws of a Computer Science major is simply the freedom to create. Major companies and startups are constantly finding new ways to innovate within our daily lives. There are so many applications that we use in our daily lives with many different methods of implementation. I’ve worked on web applications, DevOps technologies, embedded systems, and more. Practices that exist in the same ‘field’ but couldn’t be farther apart in how they’re created and are being used.

Q: What class did you love the most, and did you have a professor that you learned a lot from?

My favorite classes involved software development, but I actually preferred the ones that put students in groups. Even if I didn’t have any friends around it was great to work through technical problems with new people. It’s interesting to see how everyone thinks and specializes in solving the tasks they’ve chosen. One of my favorite courses at UNO was Advanced Game Development simply because it gave students the opportunity to create. For one semester various groups of students were tasked with designing and developing their very own game entirely from scratch. Having that freedom to work with a group and create your own product for a grade was an amazing opportunity to have as a student.

As he’s no longer at UNO, I would say I was lucky to have the chance to take multiple classes with Patrick Cavanaugh. For me, he was my Introduction to C and my Game Development professor. In these courses he pushed not just getting the work done, but doing it right.

A practice that’s extremely prevalent in the real world as you’re expected to work on code with teams.

Q: What challenges have you faced in your career? What advice would you give someone looking to make the same transitions you have?

I guess I would have to say that one of the favorite aspects of my major can prove to be one of the most challenging at times. It’s very daunting to view job postings for embedded systems when all you’ve done is application work. Even in one discipline there’s really a lot of knowledge that we use on a daily basis. We need knowledge of algorithms, code maintainability, the Linux kernel, source control, automated testing, agile development, and so much more! I would say the best advice is really just to take it one step at a time, and definitely don’t be afraid to ask questions. Nobody knows everything, but that just gives us more room to learn from each other.

Q: What do you do for fun in your free time?

It would be hard to talk about my free time without mentioning online gaming. After a long day of work it’s great to reconnect with friends online. Especially after moving away from home!

Recently I’ve also adopted a dog from the Kansas City Pet Project. I’ve always been more of a cat person, but he really helps to keep me active. I make sure to set aside some time each day to run with him and keep us both active. We’ve worked together to complete a couple of local 5K events, and I hope to reach even greater heights someday!

Q: Anything else you’d like us to know about you?

One of the most important things in software development is focus. It’s easy to lose your place when putting together large applications. Personally, I listen to lo-fi hip hop anime chill beats to study and relax to. Relaxing background music helps me keep my mind in one place while cranking through a big project.