James Washburn
Seattle
Summary
Innovative software engineer and co-founder of UA Drone Ranging Club with a strong focus on project management and team leadership. Successfully obtained over $25,000 in sponsorships while directing drone development projects. Expertise in budget management and technical mentorship, promoting teamwork and achieving significant results. Also led the largest fraternity at the University of Arizona, managing over $2,600,000+, hosting six-figure events, and overseeing 200+ members.
Overview
1
1
year of professional experience
Work History
Co-Founder, Head Software Engineer
UA Drone Ranging Club
- Current
- Co-founded a student organization focused on autonomous drone ranging and controls. Now the Head Software Engineer, leading our team to create our newest drone, “Pegasus”.
- Leading efforts to secure $25,000+ sponsorship with Raytheon; coordinating technical mentorship around drone design, safety, and testing.
- Spearheading project scoping (hardware selection, firmware tasks), and compliance planning (FAA/part-107 adjacent practices).
President
Largest Fraternity at UA
- Current
- Elected to lead 200+ members; accountable for $2.6M+ annual intake and a six-figure social budget.
- Plan, delegate, and supervise large-scale events (up to $100k each), vendor negotiations, risk management, and logistics.
- Hosts meetings and records minutes, keeping a team of 10 Executive Members accountable and active.
- Built simple tools (in C/Python) for attendance/GPA tracking and event cost reporting; improved transparency and budgeting accuracy.
- Found and initialized the process of go purchasing property for the fraternity from the school.
Eller Sales Club
University of Arizona School of Eller Business
Tucson
09.2024 - 09.2025
- Developed key sales skills and marketing tactics that make me a better speaker and salesman.
- I learned how to create and execute elevator pitch from professional sales speakers.
Education
Bachelor of Engineering - Software Engineering
University of Arizona, College of Engineering
Tucson, Arizona05.2027
Skills
- Software development
- Project management
- Technical mentorship
- Team leadership
- Budget management
- Stakeholder communication
- Negotiation techniques
- Fundraising
- Goal setting
- Entrepreneurial leadership
- Capital fundraising
- Innovation and vision
- Customer relationship management
- Operations management
- Sales techniques
Awards
- Leadership & Service recognition (HS) - Student Body Elected Official
- Football & Lacrosse Captain
- Placed #1 in DECA Business Competition in Washington State – Overall
Professional Experience
Data Structures & Algorithms, Object-Oriented Programming, Systems Programming (C), Databases, Software Engineering I/II, Discrete Math, Computer Organization, Python, C++, JavaScript, C, Verilog, Git/GitHub, VS Code, Linux, Node.js, Tableau, Microsoft PowerBuilder or Power BI, Bash, OOP, data structures, algorithms, event handling, game loops, collision detection, REST basics, unit testing, Alien Invasion, Python, Built a 2-D arcade shooter implementing a game loop, event handling, sprite collision detection, and state management., Applied OOP (classes for Ship, Alien, Bullet, GameState) to keep code modular and testable; reduced duplicate logic by ~40%., Chapter Ops Tracker, C, Designed and implemented C programs to track member GPA averages, attendance, and event cost analytics for 200+ member organization., Parsed CSV inputs and produced aggregate statistics; decreased manual reconciliation time from hours to minutes per event., Wrote input-validation and error-handling routines; organized code into headers/implementations for maintainability.
Leadership Experience
- Co-Founder, UA Drone Ranging Club, Co-founded a student organization focused on autonomous drone ranging and controls. Now the Head Software Engineer, leading our team to create our newest drone, 'Pegasus'., Leading efforts to secure $25,000+ sponsorship with Raytheon; coordinating technical mentorship around drone design, safety, and testing., Spearheading project scoping (hardware selection, firmware tasks), and compliance planning (FAA/part-107 adjacent practices).
- President, Largest Fraternity at UA, Elected to lead 200+ members; accountable for $2.6M+ annual intake and a six-figure social budget., Plan, delegate, and supervise large-scale events (up to $100k each), vendor negotiations, risk management, and logistics., Hosts meetings and records minutes, keeping a team of 10 Executive Members accountable and active., Built simple tools (in C/Python) for attendance/GPA tracking and event cost reporting; improved transparency and budgeting accuracy.
Timeline
Eller Sales Club
University of Arizona School of Eller Business
09.2024 - 09.2025
Co-Founder, Head Software Engineer
UA Drone Ranging Club
- Current
President
Largest Fraternity at UA
- Current
Bachelor of Engineering - Software Engineering
University of Arizona, College of Engineering