Joel Austin '19
Bachelor's degree in computer information systems and technology
Front End Software Engineer at Meta
After earning his Bachelor's degree in computer information systems and technology from Pitt-Bradford, Joel graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information in 202 with an MS in Information Science, and a concentration in human-centered computing.
He is currently employed as a Front End Software Engineer at Meta in Menlo Park, California.
During his graduate studies, Joel landed two important – and impressive – internships: one at Tesla, the other at Facebook.
No one who knows Joel is surprised by that because as a Pitt-Bradford student, he was always going beyond.
For example, Joel proved he didn’t have to be in the same room, the same building or the same city as the people he was working with to have a successful internship. He spent one summer as an intern at IPC Systems Inc., a software development company in New York City then continued working remotely from his residence hall in Bradford.
The internship was not just challenging in the technical area he wanted to pursue, but also in understanding the inner workings of Wall Street. IPC Systems works in the complex world of investment banking, where thousands of transactions are happening every second.
The passion and experience of my professors at Pitt-Bradford gave me the drive I needed to eventually work at some of the most revered companies in tech,
Joel said, noting that a project management class he took with Don Lewicki, associate professor of business management, gave him a leg up on some of the computer science interns there who had a hard time understanding and conversing with the business people.
Joel also had two second-place finishes in the University of Pittsburgh's annual university-wide Mobile App Challenge.