My name is Joseph W. Dougherty and I am currently a junior Information Technology major with a Special Interests concentration in Networking at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. I have found computers and technology amazing since a young age, and quickly decided to turn my avocation into a career.

For my primary and secondary education, I attended Minisink Valley Central School District, whereupon I graduated with an Advanced Regents Diploma in June of 2008. In my junior year of high school, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Computer Networking (CCNA) program at Orange-Ulster BOCES C-TEC. In this program, I completed all four semesters of the CCNA training course over 450 hours of class time. In my senior year, I was accepted into the competitive New Visions Engineering program through the same facilities and SUNY Orange, where I earned 18 college credits.

Since the age of twelve I have been programming and creating websites, as well as fixing computers. In the past seven years, I have become technically proficient with HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, RSS, PHP, MySQL, Visual Basic, C++, DM, and more. In late 2007, I formally registered my computer business, providing computer repair, programming, and web development services. Over a one year period I had nearly forty customers, many of whom used my services multiple times. In the same time period, I created eight professional websites for local businesses and organizations, and developed a large software application for others. I also founded and operated a non-profit organization dedicated to recycling computers and helping to fight the digital divide.