First-Gen Entrepreneur

“Almost everything I’ve built comes from my personal mantra that computer science allows you to build something from nothing,” says third-year computer science student Rida Rahim.

Rahim is a first-generation college student attending New York Tech on the Long Island campus. She is also the first in her family to build something in technology, a feat that is dear to her heart. With no business connections or entrepreneurs among those closest to her to offer guidance, Rahim is navigating an uncharted path—and doing it well.

“I frequently wonder whether developers can trust code they didn’t write, especially as more is written or reviewed by artificial intelligence (AI),” Rahim says. To help address that uncertainty, she created ReviewAI for an online coding challenge.

The AI-powered code reviewer could analyze code in real time; flag bugs, security vulnerabilities, and performance issues; and deliver a “Code Health Score.” While it could tell developers where their code had issues, it couldn’t tell them what changed along the way to cause those issues.

Rahim recognized where the product could be improved and rebuilt it around change analysis. And DeltaReview was born.

Along with its predecessor’s capabilities, DeltaReview uses AI to automatically review code changes, flag what looks risky or wrong, and explain what could break and why, across more than 23 programming languages.

“It acts like an extra, always-available reviewer that catches problems a human might miss or take hours to find, saving developers time and preventing bugs from reaching real users,” explains Rahim, who is working on professionally scaling DeltaReview this fall in the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences’ class NESTS: Necessary Eleven Steps to Tech Startup.

While DeltaReview is still in its early stages, NESTS is teaching Rahim how to sharpen her product, pitch, and understanding of what investors look for when she presents it to judges during the NESTS FlyOff event in December to compete for a tuition scholarship.

“Beyond the FlyOff, I’m pursuing funding to scale DeltaReview and complete the legal groundwork so TawakalStudio can become its parent company,” she explains.

TawakalStudio is Rahim’s service that provides businesses with a built website and branded online presence. The idea came from a project she worked on for a job application and has since evolved into a registered LLC under the mentorship of Michael Nizich, Ph.D., assistant dean and center director of the Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center. Along with providing a hand-built website that can be customized to include databases, booking systems, or even full e-commerce, through her service, Rahim can set up a business’ domain, hosting, and professional email address, as well as handle basic SEO, help with content, and set up and brand their social media presence.

While it takes on select clients and advises business owners, including those local on Long Island, TawakalStudio also houses her smaller, personal software projects. One project is TawakalPlayer, a repurposed Samsung Galaxy smartphone mounted inside a velvet-lined wooden box. The device serves as a kiosk-mode Quran audio player. That is, users can use the product only for Quran recitation and nothing else.

TawakalStudio also houses Asas, Rahim’s self-invented programming language and interpreter she built from scratch. Able to remember information, work with words, do math in the correct order, compare things, and make decisions, the web browser-based product is user-friendly for beginners, as they can practice their coding skills and receive instant feedback on what went wrong with the code, why it went wrong, and how to fix the issue.

Rahim credits her creative, tech-driven accomplishments to those on campus who believe in her and have pushed her to build things from the ground up.

“With Professor [Peter] Goldsmith helping me build DeltaReview, being a founder started to feel possible instead of theoretical. Without people willing to invest in me individually, I don’t think I’d see myself as someone capable of building what I’m building.”

While her plate is full with her personal projects, computer science courses, and a minor in civic futures: policy, justice, and advocacy, Rahim still takes time to think about her future. She plans to secure a role in software engineering after graduating to financially support building her startups to a larger scale. Beyond that, she is considering a master’s degree in software engineering and hopes to make a name for herself where business and tech overlap.

“I want to change the trajectory of my family, build a name for myself, and eventually build enough that my success can help other people,” she says. “I’m excited to see how far I can take the things I’m working on now, especially DeltaReview, and what I can learn along the way.”