As an 8-year-old, Danny Joseph would sit in his living room fiddling with Comcast internet boxes his mom brought home from work. Taking them apart, building them together again and learning how they worked consumed his time.
He came to FGCU in 2015 majoring in software engineering but left during his first semester. During his time away from school, he built apps, picked up videography and worked on himself. He created an iOS and Android app called “Avoid the Triangles.” The game was complete with leaderboards, levels, trophies and achievements.
“I kind of put it out there to the public and when you put out a game, or just an application in general, it’s an organic experience because you put it out there and you don’t know what people are going to do with it,” Joseph said.
He had his friends, co-workers and community members hooked on the game. Couples he knew were battling it out for top spots on the leaderboard.
“It was a really validating experience,” he said. “This is something I enjoy doing: creating software and creating something with that kind of value in the world.”
In fall of 2019, Joseph came back to FGCU still as a software engineering student.
“When you’re going through dropping out the first time you’re kind of like, ‘why is this happening?’ But, the second time around you look at it like, ‘what didn’t I get to do that I know I want to do?’ he said. “Going into the second time around, I wanted to give back and make the experience that much better for the next student behind me.”
For the last year and a half, he has been actively engaged with the software engineering club. He started as the vice president and became president of the club last spring.With his presidency, he noticed weak points in the software engineering program. Internship opportunities were hard to come by and other than platforms like LinkedIn, students had few options when it came to searching for an internship.
He created a platform for software engineering students to shop for internships. There is no official name, but for now it is being called the SEC Job Board. It’s a database that refreshes daily. Companies can list their internships and students can click the listing. It takes them directly to the internship application for them to apply. The goal is to further the database for other job types.
He is also working on bringing an annual hackathon to FGCU. The idea is to have companies come to the hackathon with different problems and have software engineer students create software that would solve the company’s issue.
Jordan Robertson met Joseph at his first software engineering club meeting when he was a freshman. After Joseph graduates, Robertson will become the club’s president. Joseph would always stick around after meetings to talk with other members and get to know them.
“Throughout the time that I’ve worked with Danny in the Software Engineering Club, he has always supported me when I bring ideas to him because he wanted me to learn and be innovative,” Robertson said.
He said Joseph is the kind of person that can connect with anyone.
“If I ever walk with him somewhere, I feel like I’m next to a celebrity with how many people recognize him,” Robertson said.
Joseph isn’t sure what he’ll do after he graduates in the spring but he does know that he wants to be an active alum. He’s dedicated his time to helping improve other student’s college experiences and wants to continue that even after graduation.
