Name: Matt O’Hagan
Hometown: Commerce, MI
Year: Junior
Major: Computer Science
Age: 20
Her Campus (HC): If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
Matt O’Hagan (MO): We’ll go with spirited, creative and driven.
HC: Why did you decide to go into the Computer Science field?
MO: I was interested in technology since I was a kid, so I was always trying to learn more. This almost led to a suspension in high school when I found out how to shutdown other kid’s computers from across the room. After that, I was always finding new things to tinker with. I edited videos and made little games and sites here and there. I started to see the creative outlet that technology provides for us and once I saw all the awesome things students in college were building, I knew I had made the right choice.
Courtesy: Technole
HC: As the director of HackFSU, can you tell us more about the organization and the work you guys do?
MO: If you can imagine hundreds of students, alongside industry recruiters and mentors, converging on campus for a weekend to build and showcase a product they made from scratch, then that’s a hackathon. HackFSU is a 30-hour hackathon that is organized solely by a group of students here at FSU. Aside from locking down countless logistics and building a brand to encompass the event, our organizing team also works to bring in the best sponsors and mentors to fund the event. Everything, including travel and food, is free for the students; there really isn’t a reason not to go. I was able to jump on the first organizing team and it’s been a pretty rewarding experience since then. I’ve met a ton of awesome people at conferences for student organizers that have been held in New York City and San Francisco.
HC: You are also involved with Technole, can you tell us about that?
MO: Of course! Technole is our RSO at Florida State that HackFSU is run under. We’re a community and family of students that are all about learning how to build and create anything we can think of. One of the most exciting things we get to do is travel to other hackathons thrown by students across the nation. In the past two years we’ve been able to meet students and explore the campuses at the University of Michigan, Duke, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Stanford—just to name a few. We also have socials, general body meetings, a big/little program and events called “LyteHacks,” which are our nine-hour mini hackathons hosted just off campus at Domi Station. LyteHacks is for those that don’t want to give up a whole weekend to travel but still want to learn something.
Courtesy: Technole
HC: How can students get involved? Is it only for Computer Science, IT and Engineering majors?
MO: Definitely not! It’s for anyone with even a slight interest in creating or technology. We are pretty interdisciplinary in Technole; some of our members are studying philosophy, international affairs and even Chinese. A lot of students that travel with us are learning for the first time, and are amazed at what they can build in such a short amount of time. To get involved with Technole you can like our page on Facebook to see when we post events for socials, general body meetings and LyteHacks. Also feel free to message us to get on our email list! If you want to get involved with the HackFSU organizing team then definitely just find me on Facebook and shoot me a message! Or you can email me at matt@hackfsu.com!
HC: What are some misconceptions or stereotypes surrounding the major that you are studying? What is it really like?
MO: For one, in the way we use the word hacking: it’s definitely not breaking into things! Hacking is constantly building things using whatever we have access to at the moment, and using what we’ve built to help us learn. We also don’t lock ourselves up in a basement, hunched over a laptop coding by ourselves for days, mainly because that’s not how creativity happens. I think we’re friendlier and collaborative than a lot of people would imagine, and hackathons are only accelerating this.
HC: What would your dream job be?
MO: Oh, that’s a tough one. With tech, you can go in a lot of different directions, both development wise and career path wise. I would love to found an impactful startup some day and build it up from nothing.
Courtesy: Technole