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Medium: How I launched an app for FOX Sports in co-op

UC engineering student shares experience developing an Apple app

headshot of Michael Miller By Michael Miller 513-556-6757
2 minute read February 17, 2022

Medium published a first-person essay by a University of Cincinnati student who wrote about his experience developing a new app during a co-op with FOX Sports.

Jackson Hacker, a computer science student in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science, developed an Apple Watch app during his software engineering co-op at FOX Sports.

A screen shot of Apple Watch shows two NHL hockey scores along with the time remaining in the game as part of the Apple Watch app.

UC's Jackson Hacker designed a FOX Sports app for Apple Watch. Photo/Apple

"I was extremely nervous to touch such an enormous and widely used product," Hacker wrote.

UC was the first public institution to launch cooperative education, a model where students spend alternate semesters going to class full time and working full time at any of 1,300 co-op partners around the world. UC is ranked No. 4 for co-op in U.S. News & World Report's latest rankings.

"The magnitude of the product I was working on was staggering — millions of users, tens of thousands of lines of code and dozens of dependencies. I felt a bit out of my league," Hacker wrote.

The app Hacker developed allows Apple Watch users to check with a glance at their wrist the latest scores of games important to them, updated in real time. The app was released in the Apple App Store in December.

"I cannot believe how far I have come as an engineer in such a short time," Hacker wrote. "I am incredibly grateful to everyone at FOX who gave me the opportunity to grow so much while working on such amazing products."

Read the Medium essay.

Featured image at top: UC students cheer the Bearcats football team during Homecoming at Nippert Stadium. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Creative + Brand

Beyond the classroom

UC invented cooperative education more than 100 years ago, and we continue to innovate all aspects of experience-based learning, including internships, service learning, virtual co-ops, community projects and industry partnerships. Learn more.

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