Rice Computer Science alumnus Nicholas Hirsch (B.S. ’10) is an experienced software generalist with a love for all problems, technical and otherwise. After working as a software engineer for Amazon and as a senior team lead at Blucora, he ventured out to start his own companies. During the 35th Anniversary of the Computer Science Department at Rice University, he will be moderating the “What was Useful about my Rice CS Experience” panel.
Hirsch said, “I’ve been programming since I was 12, I asked for a compiler (Microsoft Visual C++) for my 14th birthday, and I’ve been hooked on software ever since. I’ve worked on linux kernel drivers, custom embedded systems for robotics, mobile apps, web apps, cloud infrastructure, front-end client libraries, micro-service APIs, database applications, etc… I’ve handled the job responsibilities of being a software engineer, team lead, people manager, project manager, QA specialist, and now business owner.
His current company, SimplyAugmented, is building foundational technology to power augmented reality (AR) solutions.