Joseph Perticone – Introduction

Hey class. My name is Joseph Perticone, and I’m a fourth-year MIS major from Atlanta, GA. Before you question my seriousness, I am actually from ITP Atlanta (inside the perimeter), so I refute all backlash of being from an unknown suburb within an hour’s radius of Atlanta. This seems to be the majority of the UGA population that calls Atlanta home. On that note, I used to be against going to school for four years at a university that was essentially right down the road from home. It was the spot that everyone from my high school wanted to go to, as most of their parents were Georgia natives and graduates. Because of that, it was natural for me to have a strong urge to be different and go to school elsewhere. Honestly, if you would have asked me in the 9th grade, the University of Georgia was the last place I thought I was going to end up. So what happened?

I gave the University of Georgia the chance it rightfully deserved. Driving to the mythical land of Athens, GA, and sleeping on the floor of friends-of-friends dorm rooms in Russell Hall is the courageous activity that set me straight. Three football games, three separate tours, and two dining hall experiences later, I realized the rare golden opportunity UGA had to offer to the students lucky enough to experience and appreciate it. While my parents weren’t happy with the decision as they wanted me to go somewhere different, they reluctantly supported it given that my tuition was free with Zell-Miller. Looking back, they’ve admitted that I made an amazing choice and that they’re glad I’m here.

School Life

I knew I wanted to major in MIS when I enrolled at UGA. From my eye-opening experiences with AP Computer Science and other miscellaneous coding classes in high school, I knew that a mesh between technology and business was the field I saw myself in 5/10/20 years down the line. One of my teachers even name-dropped MIS as the degree to pursue, especially for women of interest. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to serve on the MIS Advisory Board as a Student Representative for the past year, which has been an absolute blast; helping host events with companies and board members has been some highlights, but I’ve most enjoyed working with my counterparts to spice up the MIS social media efforts. It could use some upbeat and new-era energy, so it’s been a work in progress.

Within the major, I’m currently completing my emphasis in Information Systems. I started with Cyber Threat Intelligence, then took Information Security (GRIPS), and I’m rounding out the requirements with IT Infrastructure. My favorite class of all was the GRIPS class with Mark Huber – highly recommend the class as it tests your ability to speak about things you both know and sometimes don’t know! Outside of the major, I’ve recently wrapped up my certificate in Entrepreneurship and loved every minute of it because of its expressive nature. I learned that there is no right path to a successful entrepreneur, but that “success” comes from persistence, smart decisions, selling, and a bit of good luck. This makes me nothing but excited for the future.

Outside of School

One of the biggest blessings of my life is that my mom has been a flight attendant for Delta Airlines for 30+ years. From this, I’ve experienced the ups (and downs!) of flying standby at no cost. If the flight has open seats, my mom and I are top of the list to make it on. Unfortunately, this strategy sometimes leaves us stranded in airports for days. It is well worth the amazing trips to London, Spain (3x), Paris, Rome, Greece, and Israel with sometimes a free first-class upgrade. Traveling around individual islands on moped rentals with flip-flops couldn’t have been a better way to see a few of the many islands Greece has to offer. The most amazing thing I was lucky enough to experience was a bat mitzvah celebration at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. You can see both of these trips below.

I’m involved with being a Terry Ambassador, which I thoroughly enjoy because giving tours to prospective students is a rewarding experience; it was what ultimately finalized my decision to come to UGA, so it makes it giving back in a way. The entrepreneurial mindset is definitely within me, as I’ve already tried and failed with a company called HelixCases. We put on one single software engineer recruiting competition where Lyft had college students participate in a Hackathon essentially. My biggest takeaway from those couple of long months was that I learned I can sell and recruit, and I ended up getting 600 individual students to sign up.

In my free time, I’ll be doing something active like playing pickup basketball, improving my golf game, or trying to beat my friends in casual games of pickleball, spikeball, or tennis. I’m a little overly competitive in nature, but that’s not the worst thing in the world. Friends and family are the two most important things in my life, as I’m a huge advocate that close relationships are the key to happiness in life. Lots of studies point to this.

Here’s a list of my favorites:

• TV Show: True Detective (Season 1)
• Movie: Tie between Pursuit of Happyness and Whiplash
• Song: Sister Golden Hair by America
• Album: Aja by Steely Dan (the YouTube documentary is a must see)
• Artist: Tame Impala
• Last meal: All-Star Special from Waffle House
• Podcast: Smartless with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett
• Book: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Plan for the Future

“Don’t try to figure out what your life is about. It’s too big a question. Just figure out what the next three years are about.”

My three year plan:

1. Go have an amazing summer traveling in Europe with friends for 8 weeks
2. Start my job with PwC doing Cybersecurity Consulting in New York City
3. Meet tons of new people and make lots of cool friends
4. Set myself up for an excellent job elsewhere