21-year-old Yemi Agesin is one of the few students from across the globe who was awarded Apple’s most prestigious award – the 2023 Swift Student Challenge. His baseball game explores the intricate and high-level strategies that go into a batter v. pitcher matchup, incorporating SpriteKit and SwiftUI following his lifelong passion for baseball. His Journey to the Game As a computer science student at Kennesaw State University, he had been coding for many years, beginning in middle school. “During our lunch break in middle school, a few others invited me to come with
Cummins is hiring on pocitjobs.com Shannon came to Cummins Inc. a little over 10 years ago from the Aerospace and Defense Industry. “I worked at a solid rocket motor manufacturer, so literally every day, what I did was considered rocket science.” Shannon has her PhD in Chemical Engineering, and she currently serves at Cummins as Technical Advisor for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). “My main role is as a CFD analyst working on projects across the business units, mostly spark-ignited engines. Also, some of the diesel engine projects, it really depends,
Cummins is hiring on pocitjobs.com Chris lives with a higher purpose than self. As a Business Information Systems student at Tennessee State University (TSU), Chris served as a University Ambassador mentor and volunteered at his local Boys and Girls Club. He has long felt a calling to give back, to minority groups in particular. So, when he graduated, Chris planned to interview prospective employers that placed as much value on giving back as he did. When he attended the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Day at TSU and interviewed
Shepherd is the “world’s first Bible app that recommends verses based on your needs.” The Bible is the most widely read book in the world, but increasingly, Christians are opting for app-versions over the physical book. As YouVersion’s Bible App reaches the colossal milestone of 100 million downloads—joining major brands like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter—one Black-owned Bible app is growing in popularity. “It’s more like having a daily chat with a good friend, a friend who always knows the best part of the Bible to share with you.” Samuel Abaka-Wood, Shepherd founder Introducing Shepherd Shepherd,
Cisco is hiring on pocitjobs.com Meet Naomi Colon – a woman who embodies the definition of a modern-day superhero. Juggling the demands of motherhood, community service, and a thriving career as a project specialist at Cisco, it’s no surprise that Naomi’s story has caught the attention of many. POCIT sat down with Naomi to find out more about how she does it. Tell me about your career trajectory and your journey to Cisco. I started my career in healthcare right out of high school, and pretty much stuck around until
Intuit is hiring on POCIT. Matthew “Matt” Castilla is a senior software quality assurance (QA) engineer at Intuit Mailchimp. Although he has had an unconventional entrance into the world of tech, Matt has carved his unique path to success. In this interview, Matt tells us how he went from an accomplished musician to a thriving career in tech. Tell me about your career trajectory and your journey to Mailchimp. I grew up in a musical household—both of my parents were musicians. They were also professors at historically Black colleges and
Asana is hiring on pocitjobs.com Kabi Muhu is a first generation Kenyan-American who works as a Program Manager at Asana, a work management platform. Her role involves managing the Asana for Students program, which offers college and university students free access to Asana Premium. “This program sits within the Business Strategy & Operations team and is about inspiring and empowering the collaborators of tomorrow,” she tells POCIT. “By providing students with free access to Asana, they can sharpen their tech skills, and develop more efficient ways of working and collaborating
Cummins is hiring on pocitjobs.com Mayowa has his eyes set on the future. A native Nigerian, Mayowa realized early the role human exploration can play in impacting the environment. “I was looking to contribute, to create a movement, to make progress in that area, and I dedicated my life, my career to making advancement safer for future generations,” he said. In college, Alonge gained research experience developing an eco-friendly battery. That research landed him a six-month internship with Cummins Inc., which he knew of from their office in Lagos, Nigeria.
This year has been a rollercoaster for the tech industry, from the rise in Black VCs investing in Black & brown tech founders to the unexpected tech layoffs that shook the industry. As we subtly adjust to the “new normal,” it is safe to say that this year has been a drastic year of change for everybody. No matter how good or bad your year has been, here are some of our favorite interviews with Black game changers in the tech space that have reshaped our definition of success. So
Originally published on Medium by Glenesha Grant as part of her “5 Coffees, 5 Days w/ Black Product Managers” series. Our fifth and last feature is with Sefunmi Osinaike, Co-founder of Co.lab and author of “How to Product.” Sefunmi Osinaike is currently working on the Co.Lab program that gives people the experience they need to land jobs in the tech industry. Specifically around Product Management, Product Design, and Software Development. His first PM role was at Microsoft. Before he got into product management, he was building a product to help students better manage
