Student Feature: Kyle Taylor
Meet Kyle Taylor, BAIT (Bachelor of Arts in Information Technology) graduate from University of North Texas (UNT).
Kyle actually got his start in computers when he was a kid. “My parents weren’t in technology, so I was always just the computer kid in the house,” he said. In high school, Kyle got interested in Cisco programs and networking. He said that what really got him into networking was his class discussed viruses transmitted over WiFi. “I could be sitting in the presence of a virus at any point in time and I thought that was really interesting.”
Kyle ended up at UNT, starting in the school of business in BCIS (Business Communication Information Systems) before he got into engineering and IT. He didn’t find it very challenging and was looking through other degree programs. “I saw that the next semester they were starting IT programs under college of engineering and I thought, ‘That sounds better.’” H looked at the course requirements and went to talk to the engineering advisor. “I got enrolled and never looked back.”
Kyle thinks the most important thing to him in the program was his advisors. “Their vast amounts of diverse experience really helped me enjoy what I was doing and made me a believer in the things I was doing at the time.”
But it was the senior project he did with his best friend that really set him on his path. “We built an app for our senior design project. I don’t know where I would be if we didn’t build that app,” Kyle said. His public transportation app provided real-time tracking of Denton Country Transportation Authority (DCTA) trains, connecting to driver phones for location updates to let customers know the trains’ actual positions and ETAs. “We actually took that project and we submitted a paper to a government agency, we went to a conference and got our paper published. We did a lot of things outside of just school with this app.”
Kyle feels other students shouldn’t take similar capstone projects for granted. “It’s not just another class; it’s not just another test you’re taking; use it as a time to try something new and get outside of your comfort zone and you’ll be surprised how far you can apply it later on down the road.” Because of his involvement with creating his app, he now does a lot of community involvement. He teaches programming classes, serves as the president of a non-profit that supports technology and education and contributes tools and scripts to a local open-source community. “I’m really excited to be a part of that community that has a give-first mentality.”
Kyle currently works as senior web developer at Level 10 Interactive and his future career plans include starting his own agency. In reference to the IT program, Kyle admits, “When I first started it, I didn’t realize how impactful it would be on my life and career. I really loved the program and I love what I do right now.”