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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The first step toward a successful career is a high-quality education. University of North Carolina Wilmington graduate and master's student Ricardo Valea not only took this step, he took off. This past October, Valea received the Computing Now Volunteer of the Month Award for his work developing the Computing Now iPhone application.

Valea's advisor, Ron Vetter, encouraged him to become involved in the project. Vetter is a professor of computer science at UNCW and the associate editor at Computing Now, which is a one-stop website resource articles from IEEE Computer Society publications. CN also provides tech news, book reviews, calls for papers, podcasts and videos.

The app is designed to keep users updated on IEEE-CS Computing Now news, blog posts, and podcasts. This allows users to easily access and view CN content on their iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

"I felt that he had the skills and qualifications to contribute to the computer science community," Vetter said. "I thought that he would benefit from developing a mobile application for society."

Valea earned a bachelor's degree from UNC Wilmington in 2009. He will earn a master's degree in Computer Science and Information Systems in December 2011 after completing the fall semester. "UNCW showed me a broad view of what computer science is and what skills I need to be prepared," Valea said.

In June 2009, Valea and friend Phillip Whisenhunt used their education and expertise to start BoomCo, LLC. An Apple-certified developer, BoomCo, LLC creates custom applications for mobile devices. Their first success inspired them to start creating iPhone applications for clients, the first being UNCW. The UNCW mobile application features campus-related news, videos and current events.

"Not many students start a business while in school," Vetter said. "It takes a tremendous amount of time, energy and confidence. Ricardo's personality makes him a natural entrepreneur."

In January 2010, Valea became the sole owner and operator of BoomCo, LLC. Since then, the company's focus has shifted from primarily iPhone applications to custom mobile software. Recently, Valea joined TASC Inc. as a mobile software engineer. TASC provides advanced systems engineering, integration and decision-support services. The company has given Valea the ability to experience a corporate environment and hone his skills.

Valea is considering working toward a doctorate in Computer Science and Information Systems, but said currently he is happy to focus on his career. In the meantime, he applies his ambitious attitude toward his work.

"An app is never finished developing," Valea said. "There's always something more that can be done."