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Discover how others got started in their career, what their job actually involves and why they love what they do.
Engineering and Product
The dream of becoming a professional football player didn't quite pan out; however, luckily for Maikel Penz, his...
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Too short to be an astronaut, but with some Star Wars and Lego analogies to describe working in...
From flight attendant for the US Military to helping individuals and teams improve the way they work together,...
Founder
At 14 Justin’s Mum bought him an Apple Mac Classic computer to support his colleague study. At 15...
How would you explain to a five-year-old what you do right now? That’s a tough one! But good practice...
Marketing
A love of working with people and constantly learning has meant that Louise Lusty, Marketing Director at Flux...
From a young age, Alan Kan, Co-Founder and Innovation Director at Mission Ready, was interested in computers, and...
From dreaming of becoming a palaeontologist to discovering coding at college, Hayden Williams, Software Engineer at SquareKicker has...
From dreaming of painting planes, to thinking that something to do with computers was the most likely path,...
Dreams of becoming an astronomer and doing precisely that! For a while at least, anyway. Hercules Konstantopoulos, Data...
From dreams of becoming a vet to falling in love with the ability to creatively solve problems through...
From doctor to startup founder, Isabelle Bigio, Founder at Bootstrapped NZ grew frustrated with being the ambulance at...
Design and UX
From dreams of becoming an artist to a career in Product Design, Kinanti Desyanandini, Senior Product Designer at...
A childhood love for the magic of making people think or feel something through words and pictures has...
For a kid more interested in dismantling things and rewiring them rather than playing with toys, it is...
A love for math and going to bed early ultimately overshadowed the childhood dream of becoming a rockstar...
Business Development
From police officer to inspiring the next generation of Māori into tech careers, Phil Kupenga, Creator of the...
From dreaming of becoming a pediatrician to working at one of the world's largest tech companies, Sarah Lock...
From dreaming of astro-physics and computers at a young age, Dan O'Brien seems to have found a happy...
Operations
Dreams of becoming a Zoo Keeper took a back seat when a university internship led to a career...
To mark the launch of Matchstiq, Co-founder Greg Denton, shares his personal journey of how working in tech...
From wanting to start his own business to carving out a career in software development, Hemant Patel, Fullstack...
From professional athlete to lawyer and now SaaS sales, Charlotte Kight has had a really interesting and winding...
From dreams of making it big in badminton to getting swept up in the rapidly evolving technology landscape...
From dreams of following her parent's path into teaching, to navigating her way into the world of entrepreneurship,...
From dreaming of becoming a Space Shuttle Engineer to falling in love with computers and not looking back,...
From childhood dreams of wanting to make products that help people and the economy in sustainable ways, it...
From dreaming of becoming an astronaut to falling in love with computer games, Mohammad Kashem, Team Lead at...
From dreaming of becoming a pilot to working in one of the fastest-growing technology sectors, James Bayly, Head...
Having never imagined herself working for a tech company and destined to follow her parent's path into accounting,...
Having dreamt of becoming a vet at a young age and majoring in Arts at university, working in...
From dreaming of becoming a ballet dancer to working at one of New Zealand's flagship tech success stories,...
The person in the family that everyone went to when their computer broke, Summer Ren, QA Practice Lead...
From dreaming of becoming an architect to figuring out how to make sense of billions of data points....
Not knowing what he wanted to do when finishing high school and thinking he has missed the boat...
We recently had the great pleasure of having a deep-dive with Christina Bellis, COO @ CoGo. The conversation...
After falling in love with computer programming at a young age and starting a few small businesses as...
From aspiring fashion designer to getting her masters degree in computer applications, Shaleen Kaur, Product Specialist at Vend...
If solving problems is something you love doing, then engineering is a great career choice according to Nick...
A self-confessed nerd with a natural draw towards buttons, levers and knobs, Callum Rowe, Product Manager at AskNicely...
From aspiring teacher to software developer, Ali Haydar, Software Developer at Multitudes has found a craft that has...
Dealing with exponential growth sounds like a great problem to have. We caught up with Jordan Thoms, Co-Founder...
Although she could not have pointed New Zealand out on a map a few years ago, Steph O'Brien,...
Enhancing the performance of Narrative's product is something that is constantly on the mind of Steffan Levet, Co-Founder,...
A product of the University of Canterbury's Computer Science program, Duncan de Wet, Head of Engineering at Vxt...
Having completed a Master of Science in Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Anita Yang, Data Scientist at...
Having studying commerce at the University of Canterbury, Chelsea Aitken, Chief Customer Officer at Vxt eventually found her...
Having moved from the UK to New Zealand over a decade ago, Jack has really made a home...
A Ph.D in Microbiology and Immunology turned startup founder, Matt Peacey, Founder of FundTap has traversed a very...
From childhood dreams of working as a Formula 1 engineer, to helping lead the development of a more...
From hiking and skiing in the mountains, to ending up working for a SaaS startup, Pete Ashby, Sales...
Working in and around music and creative people was the ultimate career goal for Laila Ben-Brahim, Social Media...
Wanting to "do music" from a young age has really turned out for Aria Jones, Product Delivery Manager...
From aspiring ski-bum to tech founder, Grant Johnson, CEO and Co-founder at Rocketspark has a winding career journey...
Self-described typical nerd behaviour of writing computer games as a kid was how Harvey Kane, Senior Developer at...
From the typical childhood dreams of becoming a fireman or an astronaut, Jason Tiller, Head of Partnerships at...
HR and People
A last minute change of heart, saw Vanessa Radich, People and Culture Director at Melodics pivot from the...
Taking pleasure in crashing computers from the age of six so that he could try and fix them,...
Having dreamt of becoming a nurse or an architect when she was younger, working for a tech company...
Although a career in tech was never really on the radar, it was love at first university class...
After deliberately trying to avoid working in tech because she perceived it as cold and boring, Fei Guo,...
It was love at first PC for Dirk Swanepoel, Squad Lead at Re-Leased. We caught up with Dirk...
From 'the land of coffee' to studying and now working in what he describes as the 'magical land',...
_The dream of becoming a Doctor never quite eventuated, however Katherine Sandford, Executive Chair at UBCO, has instead...
An interest in pursuing a career in fine art or becoming a mountain climber didn't quite eventuate for...
A hunger to become an entrepreneur led Tom Wallace, Founder and CEO at Re-Leased, to explore a number...
Dreams of replacing Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United have not yet eventuated, however in the meantime, Min-Kyu...
From dreaming of becoming a doctor to cooking up code, Gregory Gould, Developer at MOBI had a narrow...
A childhood dream of becoming a Silver Fern or an entrepreneur has taken a backseat for the time...
Having dreamed of getting into computer programming at a kid, Minh Vu, Senior Software Developer at Parrot Analytics...
From dreaming of becoming an archeologist to predicting the favourite cartoons of children all over the world for...
Customer Success
Dreams of studying medicine or opening his own restaurant were thwarted by what now looks like a lifelong...
The dream of becoming a professional footballer or cricketer never eventuated for Tommy Heptinstall, Co-founder at OrbitRemit, however...
Dreams of becoming a professional athlete led Toby Delamore, Product Manager at Xero around the world, however it...
Dreams about doing something cool with mathematics, being creative and smart, certainly look to have come true for...
From working with Lion, Cheetah, Elephants and more to founding a tech company, Toby Skilton, Founder of Mutu...
A cocktail waitress from Houston who wound up working in Customer Success for a really cool New Zealand...
We recently had the pleasure of catching up with Mario Sinovic, Graduate Software Engineer at MYOB, to learn...
Dreams of playing professional football were scuppered by a somewhat harsh self-assessment of a complete lack of any...
Venture Partners
Dreams of becoming a Navel Architect expanded to an interest in Finance after observing KiwiRail being sold for...
From dreaming of becoming an astronaut to studying medicine and ultimately helping make music and DJ gear sound...
Busy playing Street Fighter and reading Wolverine comics, Young Ly, CEO at Serato never really thought too hard...
A healthy dose of curiosity and creativity has led Juliet McLachlan, Flight Test Engineer at Dawn Aerospace down...
Dreams of becoming a zoologist, journalist and/or athlete were quickly derailed the first time Daria Derecha, Junior Software...
A school visit by an award winning Australian journalist, Jana Wendt, left the 7th grade version Samantha Wong...
Never say never! After vehemently claiming she would never work in finance or computers, Tegan Wilson, API Product...
Dreams of staring on Coronation Street, to studying Biology and eventually working for the UK Ministry of Defence,...
Star Trek played a key role in Rody Oldenhuis dreaming about becoming a scientist when you was growing...
From dreams of building Formula One race cars to discovering a passion for building marketplaces, Ben Redwood, Head...
Teaching english and enjoying the wonderful life Italy can offer came to abrupt halt due to COVID. Renee...
What do you get when you combine creative problem solving with a keenness to learn? A Swedish Unicorn...
Dreams of becoming a fighter pilot morphed into a career as a Firmware Architect and Alastair Bain couldn't...
What does a cocktail bartender, a deer farmer and a helicopter avionics technician have in common? Logan Fraser...
A move from the Netherlands to come and cuddle our cows, Muriel Hol, Lead Data Scientist at Halter...
From growing up in the country with dial-up internet, to writing software that helps vets all over the...
A coffee date that led into working in an industry she never would have dreamed of, Holly O'Brien,...
We caught up with Greg Sheehan, Founder and CEO of PlayBooks to learn a little more about his...
A childhood fascination with dinosaurs that has morphed into a career enabling people with big ideas to change...
From aspiring diplomat to catching bad guys, Jessie Mao is an excellent example of the fast career progression...
From budding chemistry student to the science of marketing. We caught up with Dina Veljanovska, Brand and Content...
Unashamedly stalking you on LinkedIn, Kat is a person you should welcome a chat with if she pops...
Jack has been around the New Zealand startup ecosystem for a number of years and is well qualified...
We had the pleasure of catching up with Tip Piumsomboon, Principal at Blackbird Ventures to hear about her...
Fashion entrepreneur turned startup investor. Barnaby is responsible for the Flux Fund and working with early-stage companies to...
Having lived in China, Nathan became fascinated with e-commerce and how some of the insight he gained could...
The thought of working in sales often elicits a negative image for a lot of people, however a...
The hunger to learn and experiment with cutting edge technology has seen Heewoon thrive as a Field Application...
From finance professional to re-imaging the future of how we buy our groceries, Will and the team at...
Still right in the thick of his university studies, Luke and his Co-founder Lucy have launched a very...
From dreaming of inventing things to change people's lives, Mick is essentially living his dream. As a Mechanical...
Dreams of becoming a teacher, nurse, vet, zookeeper, foreign exchange dealer, optometrist, but certainly not Software Engineer, Jae...
From corporate banking to focusing on a compliance pain point that used to infuriate his customers, Bion and...
Corporate grad roles are not the only path available out of University. Kate shares her career story of...
From architecture student to following an early love for being in business, James had an entrepreneurial spirit from...
Matt is a great example of the opportunity for growth and movement within a company. His love of...
An internship that has allowed her to grow with the company, Ally shares her experience of applying her...
From professional wedding photographer to solving a problem faced by millions of photographers globally, James shares insight into...
From baker to software maker, Kevin shares with Matchstiq his career journey to date, explaining why he traded...
Casey realised early in his career he did not fit the corporate mould. Alongside founding Neighbourly, Casey has...
From aspiring rock star to Goldman Sachs and now tech founder, Tim shares the story of his career...
Sean grew up wanting to be a Software Engineer due to the limitless possibilities of tech. True to...
From aspiring professional footballer to catching the startup bug, Jervis shoots down some common misconceptions about marketing as...
From a PhD in experimental psychology to predicting the future. Victoria shares how a love of data and...
Laura-Jane helps design questions that create important changes within the workplace. She is a rare breed that is...
Growing up in Italy, Rebecca fostered a strong appreciation for art, architecture and history. She shares how this...
Lisa shares wonderful insight into how a love for computer games and a fear of public speaking made...
Julia is another great example of how transitioning from working for a big corporate into a smaller startup,...
Shamima shares some really interesting insight into how working in tech gives her an outlet for her creativity...
Ben shares his story, of how helping fill a temporary gap for his father evolved into a job...
Chelsea shares her thoughts on how working in the fashion industry provided insight into the role brands play...
To say Matthew is a cinema fanatic might be putting it too lightly. Matthew kindly shares how his...
A commerce graduate now helping grow the customer base of an exciting New Zealand startup, Nick shares some...
Hamish provides great insight into how problem solving skills and a growth mindset are core to anyone wanting...
From fashion photography to finding an outlet for her natural interest in problem solving, Madeleine shares some insight...
Engineer to initially reluctant entrepreneur, Ben shares some deeper insight into the quickly expanding team at Datch. Having...
From shovelling sheep manure to a stint as a corporate lawyer, working for WeWork in Washington DC and...
Liam shares how a seemingly mundane job selling cash registers, born out of the financial crisis, sparked a...
Tom was kind enough to share some insight into how refreshing it is working for a company that...
How dreams of being the next David Beckham evolved into hacking a favourite childhood computer game and eventually...
Connor shares his story of aspiring nature photographer to working as a corporate lawyer, then eventually helping a...
From happy and dedicated Commercial Banker, to transformational technology at Centrality FinTech . Ralph shares how a side...
Andy has had a rather unconventional career, starting out as a glorified ski bum, working for Facebook and...
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