Tech Careers Hotline

Michelle MacRae was raised by a mum who was her number one fan and a dad who’s a professional treasure hunter, or as she puts it, a pirate. That mix of structure and adventure led her from regional NSW to Google, where she helped launch Task Mate and found a way to pay women in Mexico without bank accounts through OXXO convenience stores. At 38 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with melanoma, and it left her grateful for the scientists whose research saves lives. Today she’s Co-Founder and CEO of Bower, a Gold Coast startup giving scientists smart glasses that replace the safety glasses they already wear and capture their lab work through video, images and voice, so they can stay in flow and get back to discovery.

In this episode, Michelle shares the people, purpose and price rule that has guided every career move she’s made, what it was really like building Bower at night while leading generative AI at Microsoft, and why some investors passed on her because she’s a mum. She also talks about being the only woman in the room in deep tech, why you can build a startup from a regional town, and her advice to do the thing that looks like work to everyone else but feels like play to you.

If you’re curious about a career building AI or founding your own startup, this one is for you.

Bower is hiring! [email protected]
Michelle MacRae LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-macrae-90820025/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/
Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

Jade Loyzaga is a Senior Engineering Director at Canva, where she leads a 500-person tech team across content discovery and AI. She studied computer science and fine arts, then worked as a software engineer and tech lead at Twitter in the US before moving home to Australia to join Canva.

Jade shares her career advice on moving from engineer to engineering manager to director, the two books she recommends to everyone (The Manager’s Path and Staff Engineer), and how Canva builds with AI. She opens up about her return to work after parental leave, what she looks for when hiring tech leaders, and what has worked at Canva to get more women in tech into leadership. She also answers the big question on every student’s mind: should you still study computer science in the age of AI?

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/
Jade Loyzaga LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jadeloyzaga/
Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/
Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

Sarah Bradley is Director of Data Science & AI at Nasdaq, where she leads the AI and machine learning behind the platform's market surveillance technology, used by exchanges and regulators worldwide to catch financial crime. Before that, she was a classically trained musician who performed as a soloist at the Sydney Opera House and didn't write a line of code until university.

In this episode, Sarah unpacks how AI models spot market manipulation, why she disagrees with the classic advice to just follow your passion, and what she tells the hundreds of school kids who ask if it's too late to learn to code.

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/

Sarah Bradley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbradley-ai/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

Kara Bombell started her career as a documentary filmmaker, then spent fifteen years rising to COO inside major ad agencies before leaving it all to co-found Ethic AI. In this episode, she joins me to unpack why the businesses getting AI right aren't the ones moving fastest — they're the ones pausing to think first.

We get into why "human in the loop" should really be "human at the helm," the confidence gap between men and women adopting AI, why real learning requires struggle and why most AI tools are optimised against that, and why she thinks the so-called "soft skills" are actually the hardest and most valuable ones right now. Kara also shares her own path from documentary filmmaker to AI entrepreneur, and why refusing to tone herself down for the boardroom has been the thing that's actually driven her success.

If you're curious about a career shaping how businesses use AI responsibly, this one is for you.

T-EDI Standards: https://www.tedistandards.com/

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-

Kara Bombell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kara-bombell/ Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE

License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

Hannah Deveney grew up in a house full of scientists, but a work experience placement with the robotics team at UNSW is what got her hooked on computers instead. Over 20 years later, after product roles in hospitality, travel, fashion, and a pandemic pivot at Local Measure. She's now Senior Director of Product Management at Zendesk, the company behind the "powered by Zendesk" line you've probably seen at the bottom of a customer service chat.

In this episode, Hannah talks about how her team rebuilt their whole product during the first weeks of COVID, why they tested three ideas and dropped two of them quickly instead of chasing everything at once, and what watching a support agent juggle 17 open tabs taught her that the data alone couldn't. She also opens up about how AI is changing her team's work day to day, what stands out to her in someone trying to break into product, and one piece of advice from a mentor, choosing the hard path over the easy one, that changed the direction of her whole career.

If you're curious about a career building products that shape everyday customer experiences, this one is for you.

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/
Hannah Deveney LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahmilborrow/
Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/
Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

Emma Crockett dropped ballet and vet school dreams the moment a work experience placement had her setting up IT systems instead of treating animals, and she realised she liked that more. Twenty years later, including seven years as Senior Director of People Analytics at Meta, she joined Atlassian less than two years ago as VP, Head of People Insights, Operations & Benefits, at a company that's changed the game on remote work.

In this episode, Emma shares the unfiltered truth about what those first, disorienting months in a new role really look like, why building your first ten relationships can make or break how fast you onboard, and what the data actually says about remote and distributed work. She gets honest about how her team is experimenting with AI day to day, what actually makes a candidate stand out to her, and one piece of advice about rubber balls and glass balls that might change how you think about your next stressful deadline.

If you're curious about a career at the intersection of data and people, this one is for you.

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/

Emma Crockett LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-crockett-17769314/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

Shameela Gonzalez dropped maths the moment it was optional, majored in organisational psychology, and became one of Australia's most trusted cyber security advisors. She talks about what it actually feels like inside a cyber crisis, what she learned as chief of staff to some of Australia's most senior security leaders, how she handles imposter syndrome after all these years, and why cyber is far more accessible than most people think.

If you're curious about a career in cyber, this one is for you.

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/

Shameela Gonzalez LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shameelagonzalez/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

Mindy Eiermann studied Asian studies, was heading to law school, and ended up VP of Product & Design at Culture Amp — without writing a single line of code. She talks about falling in love with the problem, why telling people what you want is the most underrated career move, and what she looks for when hiring PMs.

If you're interested in Product Management, this one is for you.

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/

Mindy Eiermann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindy-eiermann/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

In this episode Mel talks about making the leap from financial services into tech, backing yourself before you feel ready, and why the best no of her career turned out to be a breakthrough. She gets honest about self-doubt at the highest levels of leadership, what it actually looks like to put your hand up, and why she believes AI is about to change every industry on the planet.

If you have ever wondered whether you need a technical background to build a career in tech, or whether the moment has already passed, this episode is for you.

Tech Career Pathway Resources: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/

Mel Silva LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melspiteri/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

What if the worst moment of your life became the reason you built something that helped thousands of others?

Jenny Rudd built a tech startup in her late 40s, with no engineering degree, from a small town in New Zealand. After spending 40 hours screenshotting texts for her own family court case, she looked around, realised nobody had built the solution, and decided she would. The result is Dispute Buddy, an app that turns your messages into court-ready evidence without ever having to relive a single painful text.

In this episode Jenny talks about pitching investors, going through Techstars, and building a lean startup from scratch. She gets honest about surviving the early years, what default dead actually means, and why she thinks being wrong is her greatest asset.

If you have ever wondered whether it is too late, or whether you need the right background to build something meaningful in tech, this episode is for you.

Tech Career Pathway Resources: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/

Jenny Rudd LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyjanerudd/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Music Credit:

https://uppbeat.io/t/ottomp3/on-the-move License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE

https://uppbeat.io/t/qube/play License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD