This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Northeastern chapter.
Ali Ukani, a middler Computer Science major, is all over campus in the computer science department from being one half of Tastemakers Magazine‘s web team, to holding an officer position in NU Hacks (a social club for people who make things), our ACM chapter (talks and events related to Computer Science), and Crew (work on projects that benefit the College of Computer and Information Science). If you are not in the computer science community, you may also know him as the creator of Huskygram, a website that shows you Instagrams of Northeastern’s campus. When he is not making programs and websites, he enjoys playing guitar, lifting and reading.
How did you come up with the idea for Huskygram? Are you a big user of Instagram?
“I thought of it while waiting for a flight back to Boston, and it seemed like it’d be fun to make. I’m a big fan of Instagram because they made sharing photos fun and easy.”
How long did it take you to make this website?
“Less than three hours, split evenly between coding the part that grabs photos and the part that makes endless scrolling work. [I worked on] making it easy/nice to use for whoever’s using it, and making sure everything was running okay on my server.”
Are there any other cool projects you’ve made?
“I made an iPad app called ChordPad a couple of years ago as a tool to help my sister learn how to play the guitar. She liked it enough that I decided to give it away for free on the app store. I haven’t updated it in a long time, but that might change soon. I also worked with my friends Wylie Conlon and Eric Kelly to create a site for programmers to share code they like or find useful. We made the entire thing within 48 hours (without any sleep) at a startup competition called AngelHack, and ended up winning a trip to California to stay in a mansion for three days.”
What’s your favorite part of programming/creating new projects
“I’d say not knowing how to do something is my biggest motivator. It’s really rewarding when I figure out a tough problem, or do something I haven’t done before.”
If students are interested in computer science and want to get involved on campus, what do you suggest?
“Make things and meet lots of people who make things. Even if something is useless or has already been made, make it anyway just for your own benefit. ACM, NU Hacks, and Crew are great ways to meet people who like to write code and make things, no matter what level of experience you have. The best way to find out about getting involved or learning stuff is to talk to people.”
Any other random info readers should know?
“If you’re interested in computer science or writing code or making things, feel free to reach out to me through my website.”