Bunmi Akintomide (BS, Informatics, 2013; MS, Human-Centered Computing, 2015) is a Systems Specialist Manager at Salesforce, where he manages the marketing team within their Business Technology space. During his time at SoIC, he served as a student mentor for the Informatics Diversity-Enhanced Workforce (iDEW) program. Bunmi was kind enough to share his remembrances of his time in the School of Informatics and Computing and with iDEW, and his current work with Salesforce.
In Informatics, Bunmi discovered a field that merged his primary interests. “I love people and technology. Informatics was the field that was perfect for that combination. It allows me to use technology to solve problems that we face in our day to day lives,” Bunmi tells us. In Human-Computer Interaction, Bunmi’s future path in IT became clear. “Through HCI, you have the control of changing how people interact with technology, that’s my why, and the reason I chose that path.” Bunmi found an excellent fit for his interests at SoIC. “IUPUI was a perfect choice for me because the Informatics program is excellent and most importantly IUPUI is in Indianapolis. I wanted to be close to my family, and also be able to do internships to get work experience.”
Bunmi fondly recalls his time at SoIC, the instruction received, and the work he created. “I had an amazing time at SoIC, the professors were very helpful, and most importantly our career counselor (Brian Benedict) was very helpful. My most memorable work is my Capstone, where I created an app that uses AI to predict and help consumers select what clothing items to buy when they visit a store. Most people hate going into the store because they don’t know what to buy, and using the app I created, making a selection was easier. During the Capstone, my professor at the time, Stephen Voida, was a key resource to the successful completion of the project.”
Another important part of Bunmi’s time at SoIC was his role as a student mentor for the iDEW program, which provides students at Indianapolis-area high schools with high minority and/or underrepresented populations with IT curriculum and presents a pathway to college and university programs and careers in the IT field. The opportunity to work with high school students was a primary motivator for Bunmi. “I enjoyed my time with the iDEW program, especially visiting the classrooms to talk to the kids about my journey and what my day to day looks like at work,” he remembers. “Most of the students were not looking at technology as a field they want to pursue, but after my visit, I could see their eagerness to want to learn more about technology and potentially major in a technology field. I wanted to be part of this because I see how there’s a lack of diversity and representation of the underrepresented population in the IT fields. I believe it starts with the high school kids, getting them exposed to technology will play a big role in their desire in wanting to pursue a career in an IT field.”
Now a seven year veteran of the IT workforce himself, Bunmi works as Systems Specialist Manager at Salesforce here in Indianapolis. He tells us, “A typical day for me involves meeting with our product team, engineering team, and business partners to make sure my team is successfully delivering the work, and supporting innovation within our space. It’s an amazing environment to be in, and I truly enjoy what I’m doing, and happy to work at a company like Salesforce.” Bunmi sees unlimited potential in IT’s future, and the innovations coming out of IT are particularly important in the times we live in today. He points out, “As we can see right now, technology is the main reason we can all still work remotely during this pandemic. The future of technology is great, it’s exciting how the big tech companies are innovating every day… HCI / Informatics is very important to the future of technology, because if the consumer or the users can’t interact with the technology what’s the point of it? I’m looking forward to more AI innovation, how it can be used to make our lives easier.”
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