Apple Mobile Engineer on Mission to Revolutionize Campus Navigation for Universities with His Eight Years of Mobile Data

The Man With The Plan

I’m Terence - born and raised in Oakland, Mississippi (pop. 550). Like most 90's kids, I grew up loving to play video games. My older brother and I would play Nitendo and PlayStation for hours. By 12th grade, my friend Daniel and I were creating our own computer levels to Super Mario Bros. It was the first time I saw computer code.

I was first exposed to engineering by being a part of the Coffeeville/Calhoun Upward Bound TRiO Program in high school. As a freshman at Mississippi State University in 2011, I also joined the Bagley College of Engineering Summer Bridge Program, which was full of amazing mentorship from fellow engineering students who looked like me. ✊🏽

I was a first generation college student, so learning campus and finding my way around a college town was a complete adventure.

Making It Happen

During my freshman year, I took a FYE (First Year Experience) course named iProgram taught by Dr. Rodney Pearson. For 10 weeks, he taught the class how to build mobile iPhone apps using XCode. I thought it was the coolest thing ever because he also had apps on the App Store already. I would spend hours after class continuing to watching YouTube tutorial videos on building apps in the Objective-C language. Although I struggled through my engineering courses, actually building software solutions came naturally to me. I was able to understand the principles of data structures and apply them to real world situations. I credit Steve Canfield for my knowledge of business information systems. Homework in his course helped me connect the lines between building software and serving others.

By my senior year, I had 12 apps on the Apple App Store: games, utilities, a MP3 player, and a devotional app. My next dream was to create something that other people would really find useful. After having trouble trying to meet up with friends around campus, I decided to make a campus navigation app. I knew it could be a great tool for freshmen students for sure. The timing was perfect considering I had recently learned how to use Apple’s MapKit.

The next four months were spent walking campus daily and researching software tools. All of my free time was now dedicated to building my vision. After collecting the coordinates of buildings around campus, I began building my own database and designing user flows. I would spend hours on Physics, Calculus, and programming homework then work on Bully Walk until 3am some nights. It was pure passion.

The Release

The first version of Bully Walk was strictly a navigation app — including routes to majority of places around campus. Once complete, I released it on my 23rd birthday, January 2016.

Screen recording of Bully Walk version 1.x

My marketing strategy consisted of posting flyers around campus on bulletin boards, posting on social media, word of mouth, and handing out promo cards in between classes. I would also survey students to see what features they would want added. Building Bully Walk was a one man show. Graphic design, coding, UX, marketing, QA, surveying, advertising, etc. has all been me. It was something I truly believed in. By April, the app began gaining traction with its first 500 downloads.

Receiving feedback from students continued to fuel my passion. Like most universities at the time, MSU would provide paper maps as a navigation guide. Bully Walk was something completely new but also a clear cut idea. Overtime it grew into a central hub for all important student resources. I was also able to partner with local businesses in Starkville for additional promotion.

Presentation during Innovate Mississippi meetup | Jackson, MS 2016

The Turning Point

In June 2016, Bully Walk won 1 of 350 worldwide scholarships to attend Apple’s annual WWDC event in San Francisco, California. I normally watched the conference online each year but decided to submit Bully Walk since it was my proudest work. To my surprise, Apple’s review team loved my approach to improving campus navigation and covered my travel & attendance to the 5-day event. It was the opportunity of a lifetime!

Months after the Apple conference, Bully Walk’s impact on campus involvement received recognition from The White House committee. I was nominated to attend the first White House Frontier Conference held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While there I was able to see former United States President Barack Obama who co-hosted the event. Together we discussed ways we can leverage technology to improve our society for the next generation.

As I entered the beginning of my fifth year of undergraduate, I was able to meet Eric Hill, Director of the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship & Outreach. They were in the process of opening the new E-Center in McCool Hall with the goal to support dreamers and provide an environment for student entrepreneurs. With their support and guidance, I was able to continue growing Bully Walk into a brand known amongst everyone who visited the campus. Orientation leaders were now telling students and parents about Bully Walk versus handing out maps when I was a freshman.

Workspace at MSU Center for Entrepreneurship & Outreach — 2016

Present Day

After nearly eight years after the initial idea, Bully Walk has generated over 1.3 Million routes for students and visitors with its 40k downloads. The app now includes dining services, the student portal, bus routes, and a dozen other things I found useful as a student.

Since leaving MSU in 2016, my career as a Software Engineer has consisted of opportunities at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Amazon, Microsoft, FedEx, Instagram, and handful of thriving tech startups. My professional network has also given me to opportunity to learn from other leaders in mapping systems such as Mapbox and SnapChat. Bully Walk’s success is a result of the continuous improvements made over the years as I’ve grown in my career as a Software Engineer.

Results from the first month of Fall 2023 semester (39,435 routes provided)

Changing The Way We Navigate Campuses

The past several years of my life have been spent developing, maintaining, and managing scaling industry software being used by millions across the country. I’ll be taking the knowledge I’ve gained to build a software brand that provides innovative solutions for common obstacles — starting with campus navigation for colleges and universities.

Student surveys over the past eight years unanimously conclude that having this intuitive mobile app drastically improves the college experience for freshmen and newcomers. The same was true for parents, staff, and tenured students around campus. As a former student myself, I understand the need for reliability and relevance, and will continue to build upon the foundation that began in 2016 with new solutions.

Help Support the Dream

Share this story & donate to support development efforts as I expand to campuses across the country and continue to solve the common issues that colleges and universities face.

To my first supporters

The students, staff, parents, athletes, fans, and visitors. Thank you for believing in Bully Walk and continuing to support throughout the years as it developed through trial and error. I was just an ordinary kid who wanted to make a difference - still am. It's been so fulfilling to hear how much my app has helped you, even if it was only a semester or two. May my journey inspire you to go after your dreams regardless of the adversity along the way.

View The App on the Apple App Store

Let's Stay Connected

Join my LinkedIn network: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terencedwilliams/

First Generation Student on Mission to Revolutionize University Campus Navigation With His Million Route App

By Oakland Software Co.

First Generation Student on Mission to Revolutionize University Campus Navigation With His Million Route App

Award-winning software generates 1.3M routes around campus

Team Members