Makinde Adeagbo
Nigerian-American
Founder + CEO, /dev/color
Website (company): devcolor.org
Website (personal): makindeadeagbo.com
Nigerian-born Makinde Adeagbo is an addition to the very few people of color that can be spotted in Silicon Valley.
Makinde’s passion for computer science was sparked when he learned how to program games using a graphing calculator in middle school. And during high school in Louisville, Kentucky, Makinde’s parents reinforced his interest in science and math by enrolling him in many summer programs.
This form of nurturing made him well prepared to take on Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he would go on to complete his bachelor’s in computer science and electrical engineering in 2007. Makinde also landed internships at high-profile tech companies, such as Microsoft and Apple, and accepted his first full-time job as a software engineer at a 300-person social media company called Facebook. He worked at Facebook for nearly four years before transitioning to Dropbox, followed by Pinterest for two and a half years as a software engineer. At the latter company, Makinde managed “…the ‘Pins’ team, which focuses on what people should see in the homepage, in close-ups, and on various boards.” How cool is that?!
In May 2015, makinde founded /dev/color, which has been going strong ever since. Through this non-profit organization, Black software engineers help “…one another find new jobs, learn new technologies, start companies, and create a sense of belonging in Silicon Valley.” They are currently sponsored by: Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Uber, Airbnb, Asana, Collective Health and YouTube.
Interesting fact: during the three month period Makinde had between working at Facebook and dropbox, he moved to Nairobi, Kenya and accepted a software developer position for Bridge International Academies – an education company that builds and runs low-cost schools in Africa and Asia.
Sources: Urban Geekz, USA Today and Tech Republic