Hunt & Co

Welcome to What’s The Stack! As tech recruiters, every day ask the question – “What’s The Stack?” and now, we’re bringing that question to life as we ask some of our favourite technical friends about their own tech stack all while enjoying stacks of pancakes in Brisbane’s most iconic church turned 24/7 pancake restaurant – The Pancake Manor!

So, what is What’s The Stack?

Every day our Technology and Product Account Managers, Carly Shearman and Emily Conaghan get the opportunity to work with some of Brisbane’s best tech companies and throughout this process, they also get to have insightful conversations with developers and tech leaders about how they got to where they are, where they currently are in their careers and what they’re trying to achieve. But what don’t they get to do? Jump on camera to capture these conversations with some of our favourite people in tech. Until…. Now!

The brainchild of Hunt & Co.’s Emily Conaghan and Carly Shearman, What’s The Stack takes a peek behind the curtain of the careers of Brisbane tech leaders and emerging developers to explore Brisbane’s Tech scene through a series of interviews with some of your favourite faces as well as some that you may not have seen before. 

Each episode of What’s The Stack will take you through three levels of conversation:

• Tall Stack: Questions about our guest and their career history
• Full-Stack: In-depth questions into tech-related topics
• Short-Stack: Funny, short sharp questions that no one else is asking

Let’s get into it…

What’s The Stack, Season 1, Episode 3: Sorcha Abel, Software Engineer at Culture Amp

Sorcha Abel is a Software Engineer at Culture Amp and in 2020, she was named the Women In Digital Technical Leader of the Year! 🎉 Sorcha is also an active member of the Brisbane tech community, giving her time to NodeGirls and CoderDojo – just to name a few.

This conversation with Sorcha is a breath of fresh air! She is so insightful and generous with her learnings from what has been an international career in software development. 

We are so grateful to Sorcha for sharing her time and wisdom with us. There’s something for everyone in this conversation whether you’re new to tech, establishing yourself or thinking about the implications of making a move – Sorcha has the advice for you!

5 Key Takeaways:

R.E.S.P.E.C.T:

Sorcha’s attitude towards respect is one that isn’t uncommon, but the great thing about Sorcha is that she takes on respect with a business mindset. It’s not something that you earn, it’s something that you get from the get-go. Having respect as an expectation within your team will promote openness in communication ultimately resulting in more collaborative environments where ideas are valued, heard and bought to the table.

Focus on what you do have:

Deciding to leave Ireland to start a new life in Australia, couldn’t have been an easy decision for Sorcha and her family. On top of the move to Australia, Sorcha also had to face the challenge of restarting her career in a foreign land. Sorcha’s advice to those in a similar situation is to focus on what you do have rather than what you’re missing. While it can be natural to focus on your lack of local experience and how this might impact your ability to find a new job, by focusing on the things you do have, you’ll find the confidence required to nail your next job interview, no matter where you are and where you’re heading in the world.

“We’re all doing the best that we can do with the tools that we have with the time that we’ve been given.”

There’s not much to it, but we just love this quote, so much so that Carly’s saying it on a daily basis.

Learning never stops:

Sorcha is a huge advocate for AWS, having taken on the challenge of learning it while at Genie Solutions. Sorcha continues to undergo AWS certifications and is a huge advocate for continual and sustained learning no matter what stage of your career you’re in.

Thank you for watching What’s The Stack! Looking to hire new talent, seeking new opportunities, or just loved this episode and want to let us know, go ahead and connect and email Emily Conaghan (emily@huntandco.io) and Carly Shearman (carly@huntandco.io).

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What’s The Stack… roll the credits

Powered by: Hunt and Co. 

Executive Producer: Emily Conaghan

Producer: Carly Shearman

Hosted by: Emily Conaghan & Carly Shearman

Support Crew: Elise Le-Galloudec and Matthew Hunt

Video Production by: BITL

Location: The Pancake Manor

Special Guest: Sorcha Abel, Software Engineer at Culture Amp

A special thanks to The Pancake Manor team and everyone that played a hand in making this project possible.

Industry & Career Insights, What's The Stack

Tags: brisbanestartups, brisbanetech, lifechangingconnections, whatsthestack