Alumni Spotlight — Garrett Strobel

Garrett Strobel, MADAS 2011, was a Senior Software Engineer at iRobot before branching off to start his own game company, Juicy Juice Games, this last year. He has over ten years of experience in web design, mobile application development, and software engineering.

In what ways did your Digital Arts and Sciences experience prepare you for your career?

While I was at Digital Worlds, I learned software and made my first mobile app in a class. That led me to get into software more. I taught myself a lot of it, but Digital Worlds had a framework where there were people and resources that I could go to when I got stuck. This led to my first career in the industry, which was building mobile apps and games.

What do you like about your current career?

Working at my first startup, I kept getting better and better at software engineering and eventually got a job at iRobot in Massachusetts, where they make the Roomba. I recently left iRobot during the pandemic to start my own indie game company called Juicy Juice Games. I’ve loved being able to just work with a lot of different people during my career.

What are some of your favorite memories from when you were in the program?

Getting to work with technologists, learning from great people from different disciplines. I loved working on my thesis project. They let me use the whole REVE to build this big interactive digital installation, part sculpture, part digital art. Having that resource was a great memory, and working with Pat Pagano and James Oliverio [too].

What advice would you give to current students?

Take advantage of the resources you have. You also have to be a self-starter, I think, with anything digital. Have a vision and goals that you want to get out of [the project] and just do those things — find ways to work with the professors and class structures to make it happen. So take advantage of the resources you have and know how to use that time to build out your visions or your projects or whatever it is.