My Story

The farm

I grew up on a sheep and beef farm near Palmerston North, New Zealand. Moved to town when I was 14 for high school. Not exactly the typical origin story for a software developer.

Engineering (the hardware kind)

I went to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch from 2008 to 2011 and got my Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. After graduating I moved to Auckland for a 3 month summer internship at Phitek Systems, building a wireless headphone system that used light for aircraft cabin entertainment systems.

I stayed on for the rest of the year helping with their other inflight entertainment products. It was great work. Then they hired a masters student from Auckland Uni and couldn't keep extending my contract for 3 months at a time without breaking NZ employment laws. I lost my job.

I reluctantly moved back home to Palmerston North with my parents. I looked for work but it was hard to lock anything down. I was willing to move anywhere in NZ but a few companies weren't convinced I'd actually relocate. It was a rough time.

The accidental pivot

I reached out to my colleague Rob from Phitek who had moved on into contracting and asked if he had any side work. He gave me an Android app project. I had all the time in the world so I took it on.

I'd learned basic Java at uni and figured I could work it out. This was when Android Studio was first coming out in alpha and we no longer had to use Eclipse (thankfully). That project became the Te Pari Connect app.

Then I built my first personal Android app. PSArchives, a game companion for PlanetSide 2. A few developer mates who I met in the game helped me enter the world of software engineering. They showed me the ropes, pointed me at the right resources, and from that moment I was software, not hardware.

I changed my job searches from electronics to Android.

The couch in Brisbane

I had a few interviews in NZ but nothing stuck. Then one of these online mates offered me a couch to sleep on in Brisbane. There were more entry-level Android job opportunities in Brisbane than in all of New Zealand combined.

I had a few interviews in my first week and joined an Android developer meetup. In my second week I got interviewed and hired by the meetup group manager. I started at his firm, Creative Intersection, as an Android developer.

This was agency work. I got to work on lots of different apps for different clients. WorkSafe Guardian, PocketKeez, iSeekPlant, iDFish, AssessPal. I learned a lot and stayed for 2 years.

Melbourne

Since deciding to move to Australia, Melbourne was always the goal. Brisbane was just too hot for me, and the city felt more like a large hot retirement village. I wanted to enjoy my late twenties and early thirties somewhere with better vibes.

I had three requirements for my next job: Melbourne, Android, startup. I wanted to be on the ground floor working on an app and putting my soul into it. The agency life wasn't for me. You build and ship apps as fast as possible but you never get attached to the product or the company behind it. You don't get to watch it grow.

I wanted to sink my teeth into one thing and make it awesome.

I reached out to a few recruiters and found Tipple. An alcohol delivery startup in Melbourne. I loved it immediately. Android, startup, Melbourne. And they deliver beer, which is basically my three favourite things combined.

Now

I started at Tipple as the only Android developer. Nine years later I manage both the Android and iOS customer apps and a partner store tablet app. The role has grown with the company.

By night and weekends I work on my own projects. API Alerts is the main one right now, my first real attempt at building a SaaS product on my own terms.

The path from a sheep farm near Palmerston North to building apps in Melbourne wasn't planned. An internship that ended, a friend with a contract job, an online mate with a couch, a meetup group manager who took a chance. A lot of it was just showing up and saying yes to whatever came next.