Hey, I'm

Daylen Hicks

Software Engineer & AI Developer

I'm a Computer Science student at North Carolina A&T State University with a passion for building full-stack applications and working with AI systems. From launching a pickup basketball platform with 500+ users to winning hackathons with AI-powered solutions, I love turning ideas into products that people actually use.

Download Resume

About Me

I'm currently pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science at NC A&T with a 3.6 GPA, while building products and gaining industry experience through internships and freelance AI work. I thrive at the intersection of full-stack development and artificial intelligence.

500+ Players

on I Got Next platform

1st Place

Hack NCAT Hackathon

UNCF Scholar

1 of 50 nationwide

SAS Intern

Incoming Summer 2026

Technical Skills

Languages

PythonJavaJavaScriptTypeScriptSQLHTML/CSS

Frameworks

ReactNext.jsNode.jsFastAPIStreamlit

Developer Tools

GitGitHubDockerPowerShellScrum

Libraries & Platforms

FirebaseNumPyPandasPlotlyTableau

Cloud & Deployment

VercelSupabaseGoogle CloudAWSRailwayNetlify

AI & System Design

Responsible AIHuman-in-the-LoopLLM EvaluationRLHFPrompt Engineering

Work Experience

JMP Statistical Discovery (SAS Institute)

Jun. 2026 – Aug. 2026

Software Engineer Intern

Cary, NC

›Incoming intern contributing to documentation tooling and scripting (Python, Perl, JavaScript, XML) for statistical analysis and data visualization software at a SAS business unit

Handshake

Feb. 2026 – Present

LLM / Generative AI Engineer

Remote

›Benchmarked output quality across 3 LLMs (Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT) using structured evaluation criteria, identifying performance gaps and selecting optimal models for production use cases
›Performed RLHF-style feedback by rating and ranking hundreds of model responses; cleaned and curated training datasets to reduce noise and improve pipeline accuracy

I Got Next

Jan. 2026 – Present

Founder & Lead Developer

Remote

Next.js, TypeScript, React, Firebase, Stripe, Google Maps API

›Launched a full-stack pickup basketball platform growing from 0 to 500+ active players and 120 courts mapped across 3 cities within 8 weeks
›Engineered Stripe Checkout + webhook pipeline for a $5.99/mo Pro tier with 4 gated features; extracted payment sync into a shared React hook
›Refactored 31-file codebase to feature-based architecture — centralized constants, unified service modules, and enforced Next.js App Router boundaries

igotnextapp.vercel.app→

Northampton County Schools

Aug. 2024 – May 2025

Tech Leader & FRC Team Captain

Gaston, NC

›Led a 10+ member robotics team engineering autonomous robots in Python, earning two Rookie All-Star awards and qualifying for the World Championship
›Developed a peer-mentoring program adopted by 25+ students that increased coursework proficiency by 40%

Featured Projects

A selection of projects I've built at hackathons and on my own time — from AI-powered pitch platforms to surgical robot dashboards.

PitchPad

Mar. 2026

1st Place, Hack NCAT

›Built an AI-powered pitch practice platform as deployment & infrastructure lead; architected a Next.js/Vercel frontend and FastAPI/Railway backend serving real-time AI feedback
›Integrated OpenAI Whisper for live transcription and GPT-4o to auto-generate investor-ready pitch decks in under 60 seconds
›Wired Supabase (PostgreSQL + pgvector + Auth) supporting 2 user roles and shareable pitch deck export

Next.jsFastAPIGPT-4oWhisperGroqSupabaseVercelRailway

SurgiControl Robot Arm Dashboard

2026

J&J Hackathon

›Built a real-time 3D surgical robot arm dashboard for Johnson & Johnson enabling users to save and replay precise arm positions
›Engineered CSV export to log exact arm placement coordinates, enabling data-driven motion pattern analysis

PythonStreamlitPlotlyPandasThree.js

Lincoln Financial AI Assistant

Oct. 2025

codeLinc10 Hackathon

›Led product strategy and pitch for an AI-powered financial assistant on Amazon Bedrock
›Shaped a questionnaire-driven recommendation engine for personalized retirement/insurance plans and presented to Lincoln Financial stakeholders

AWSAmazon BedrockPrompt Engineering

Education & Activities

North Carolina A&T State University

B.S. Computer Science, Minor in Supply Chain Management

Aug. 2025 – May 2028Greensboro, NC

GPA: 3.6

Halifax Community College

A.A. & A.S. (Concurrent with High School Diploma)

Aug. 2021 – May 2025Weldon, NC

Competitions & Activities

UNCF STEM Innovation Summit Scholar (2026) — 1 of 50 HBCU Students NationwideSJECCD AI Session Certificate (Mar. 2026)Hack NCAT 1st PlaceNSBEACMcodeLinc10CodeHouse JS Bootcamp

Let's Connect

I'm always open to new opportunities, collaborations, and conversations. Feel free to reach out!

daylenhicks10@gmail.com