Daylen
Hicks/Engineer
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 winning hackathons to founding two companies — a B2B sports platform and an AI consulting firm — I build products at the intersection of technology and community.
1st
Place Hackathon
3.6
GPA at NC A&T
3
Companies Founded
AI Engineer, Founder, Builder, Hackathon Winner, LLM Engineer, Basketball Head, Product Thinker, CS Student, Full-Stack Dev, Community Builder, AI Consultant, Problem Solver
Crafting digital
experiences with
purpose
A Computer Science student, founder, and AI consultant building at the intersection of technology and community.
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 winning hackathons to founding two companies — a B2B sports platform and an AI consulting firm — I build products at the intersection of technology and community.
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 AI engineering work.
Technical
toolkit
Featured
Projects
A selection of projects built at hackathons and beyond — from AI-powered platforms to surgical robot dashboards.
PitchPad
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
Secured a follow-up meeting with senior executives post-hackathon to explore commercialization and partnership opportunities
Aggie Aid
Developed a student resource platform for North Carolina A&T students to access campus tools and information
SurgiControl Robot Arm Dashboard
Sole developer on a 4-person team — designed, architected, and built the entire technical solution end-to-end while teammates focused on research and presentation
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
I Got Next
Real-time basketball court finder with GPS check-ins — 2.4K+ players, 150+ courts, 89% return rate
Stripe subscription pipeline with 3 B2B pricing tiers ($199–$699/mo) and a Pro player tier
Google Maps live court discovery, Firebase auth & real-time data, Airtable facility lead capture
18 routes: player map, facility dashboard, admin panel, public profiles, and B2B partner pages
Lincoln Financial AI Assistant
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
Where
I've worked
From AI engineering at scale to founding products from scratch.
Aug. 2026 – May 2027
Greensboro, NC
College of Engineering Ambassador
NC A&T College of Engineering- Selected through a highly competitive process to represent the College of Engineering to faculty, staff, corporate partners, alumni, parents, and prospective students
- Serve as a student recruiter and liaison, promoting NC A&T's engineering and computer science programs at key university events
- Act as the face of current Aggie engineering students, increasing awareness of STEM disciplines and supporting College of Engineering initiatives
Aug. 2026 – May 2027
Greensboro, NC
Resident Advisor
NC A&T State University- Selected to serve as an RA for the 2026–2027 academic year, fostering a safe and inclusive residential community
- Mentor and support a floor of residents through academic, social, and personal transitions during their college experience
- Plan and execute community-building programs, enforce university housing policies, and serve as a first responder for resident concerns
Jun. 2026 – Aug. 2026
Cary, NC
Software Engineer Intern
JMP Statistical Discovery (SAS Institute)- Incoming intern contributing to documentation tooling and scripting (Python, Perl, JavaScript, XML) for statistical analysis and data visualization software at a SAS business unit
Feb. 2026 – Present
Remote
LLM / Generative AI Engineer
Handshake- 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
Mar. 2026 – Present
Remote / Roanoke Rapids, NC
Founder & AI Consultant
Hicks Digital- Launched an AI consulting and web development firm serving local businesses and nonprofits
- Secured paid brand partnerships and delivered AI workshops for Boys 2 Men (May 2026) and Northampton County Schools (July 2026)
- Executed 25+ cold outreach campaigns and built client pipelines across Halifax County
Jan. 2026 – Present
Remote
Founder & Lead Developer
I Got Next- Built a real-time basketball court finder with GPS check-ins, serving 2.4K+ players across 150+ courts with an 89% return rate
- Engineered Stripe subscription pipeline with 3 pricing tiers ($199–$699/mo) for facility partners, plus a Pro player tier with gated features
- Integrated Google Maps API for live court discovery, Firebase for auth and real-time data, and Airtable for facility lead capture
- Shipped 18 routes including player map, facility dashboard, admin panel, public profiles, and B2B partner pages
Aug. 2024 – May 2025
Gaston, NC
Founder & FRC Team Captain — RoboJags
Northampton County Schools- Chartered the school's inaugural FIRST Robotics Competition team (RoboJags), recruiting and captaining 10+ members through a full competition season
- Won two Rookie All-Star awards, advanced to the state championship, and qualified for the FRC World Championship in Houston, TX
- Secured a NASA robotics grant and an NC A&T sponsorship to fund team operations, equipment, and travel
- Developed a peer-mentoring program adopted by 25+ students that increased coursework proficiency by 40%
Academic
background
SJECCD AI Session Certificate
San Jose Evergreen Community College District
Completed intensive AI training covering machine learning fundamentals, neural networks, and responsible AI practices.
North Carolina A&T State University
B.S. Computer Science, Minor in Supply Chain Management
Halifax Community College
Associate in Arts & Associate in Science
Earned both A.A. and A.S. degrees concurrently while completing high school — dual enrollment across the full four years.
Competitions & Activities
Building a
Bridge Home
I'm building a gateway program to give back to my community — making the path from where I started to where I am now a little clearer for those coming next.
College Transition Guidance
Helping high school students navigate the leap to college — from applications and scholarships to what the first semester actually looks like. I made this transition from a rural community and want to make it smoother for the next generation.
Motivational Speaking
Sharing my journey from Northampton County to NC A&T, hackathon stages, and the tech industry. Available for schools, youth programs, and community organizations looking to inspire the next wave of builders.
General Consultations
One-on-one conversations about getting into tech, choosing a major, building a portfolio, or starting your first project. No question is too basic — I'm here to help you get started.
Community Service
Boys 2 Men AI Workshop
Upcoming!Leading an AI literacy workshop for young men in Halifax County — covering practical AI tools, career paths in tech, and hands-on demos.
Roanoke Rapids, NC
Northampton County Schools — AI Workshop
Upcoming!Partnered with Northampton County Schools to deliver an AI education session for students, focused on real-world applications and pathways into tech careers.
Northampton County, NC
First Presbyterian Church
Packing plates for the homeless and less fortunate
Let's build something
together
I'm always open to new opportunities, collaborations, and conversations. Send a message or book a time to chat.