TEAM Archives - Harvest Technology Group https://harvest.technology/category/team/ Integrated technology solutions for remote operations Mon, 28 Aug 2023 01:51:29 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://harvest.technology/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/cropped-Harvest-and-Speedcast-logo-tile-32x32.jpg TEAM Archives - Harvest Technology Group https://harvest.technology/category/team/ 32 32 222219568 HARVEST TECHNOLOGY GROUP’S OLESIA KOCHERGINA WINS EMERGING TALENT AWARD https://harvest.technology/2023/08/23/harvests-olesia-kochergina-wins-emerging-talent-award/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harvests-olesia-kochergina-wins-emerging-talent-award https://harvest.technology/2023/08/23/harvests-olesia-kochergina-wins-emerging-talent-award/#respond Wed, 23 Aug 2023 01:50:02 +0000 https://harvest.technology/?p=15219
Olesia Kochergina from Harvest Technology Group wins Emerging Talent Award

Harvest Technology Group’s Olesia Kochergina, wins the Australian Subsea Business Awards Emerging Talent Award. Photo by Ammon Creative. 

August 23, 2023: 

On the 17th of August, Olesia Kochergina from Harvest Technology Group (Harvest) won the Emerging Talent Award at the 2023 Australian Subsea Business Awards. Hosted by Subsea Energy Australia at the Perth Town Hall, the event celebrated the best in the Australian subsea and ocean-based industries. Harvest was honoured to be selected as a finalist in four categories.

The Emerging Talent Award acknowledges an individual with less than four years of industry experience who demonstrates exceptional technical or commercial ability within the work environment as well as participation and contribution to the subsea energy and ocean-based community.

This award celebrates Technical Lead – Applications, Olesia Kochergina, and her contribution to the development of Harvest’s Nodestream™ applications. Starting as a software developer, Olesia quickly progressed to a Technical Lead role and now leads a growing team of developers and testers. Harvest is proud to see Olesia acknowledged for her work to continuously improve the user experience in Nodestream™ software applications.

“Receiving this award is incredibly motivating and meaningful to me. I’m especially grateful to my mentors at Harvest, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer Jaron Warburton, for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to grow. Thank you to Subsea Energy Australia for this recognition, and to Harvest Technology Group for the nomination,” said Olesia Kochergina.

“To me, this recognition is all about collaboration, innovation and facing challenges. It has been a great opportunity to reflect on my role, emphasising the importance of fostering an environment where team members feel empowered to voice their ideas and where continuous growth is encouraged and celebrated.”

“This award is not just about personal achievement, but the hard work and dedication of our entire team. It demonstrates the importance of not just technical skills, but also communication, leadership and mentorship which drive impactful technological initiatives.”

Harvest extends its congratulations to the other nominees in this category as well as the other category winners. It was an enormous honour to be nominated and to celebrate the achievements of those who work in and support our local industry.

Winning this award is a testament to Olesia’s hard work and dedication to Harvest and its commitment to developing innovative technology to enhance efficiency and safety in the subsea and ocean-based industry globally.

Congratulations Olesia!

Harvest Technology Group Team Celebrating Olesia’s Award. Photo by Ammon Creative. 

Follow Harvest Technology Group on LinkedIn for our latest news and updates.

]]> https://harvest.technology/2023/08/23/harvests-olesia-kochergina-wins-emerging-talent-award/feed/ 0 15219 IN CONVERSATION WITH ROSS MCKINNON, NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT HARVEST TECHNOLOGY GROUP https://harvest.technology/2023/07/12/in-conversation-with-ross-mckinnon-harvest-technology-group/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-conversation-with-ross-mckinnon-harvest-technology-group https://harvest.technology/2023/07/12/in-conversation-with-ross-mckinnon-harvest-technology-group/#respond Wed, 12 Jul 2023 05:49:08 +0000 https://harvest.technology/?p=14832
Harvest Technology Group Non-Executive Director Ross McKinnon

Harvest Technology Group Non-Executive Director Ross McKinnon. 

An avid adventure racer, Harvest Technology Group’s newest board member, Ross McKinnon, knows how to focus his efforts for maximum return. From childcare to human performance technology, Ross has channelled his passion for business transformation, leadership and problem-solving, to drive results. A technologist himself, Ross is excited to apply his knowledge and experience at Harvest after contributing to the growth of several other Australian technology companies.

Tell us about your background as it relates to growing tech companies.

I’ve had a very diverse background. I started my career as a mining engineer doing everything from leading shifts in open cut coal operations to working as a drill and blast engineer in the Hunter Valley. At 23, I became an open-cut examiner in NSW. After emigrating to the UK, a shift in career was needed from mining to technology. I was able to utilise my technology degree and ended up helping a UK aerospace company transform their technology platform to comply with international manufacturing standards.

After returning home to Brisbane, I worked at Michael Hill as a digital transformation executive and in 2001 stepped up to act as global CIO. During my time there, the tech team built technology to generate revenue beyond jewellery sales. The team created a cohesive technology ecosystem to centralise and scale the business across Australia, New Zealand and into the US and Canadian markets.

At the start of 2015, I began my current trajectory, joining the board of several companies from technology to childcare. Most notably, I sat on the boards of Fusion Sport and Grabba, where I was able to use my leadership and strategy to help grow two Aussie tech companies.

My core function has remained the same no matter the industry – identifying a problem and developing or using technology to solve that problem in the most profitable way for the business.

What attracted you to joining the HTG Board?

Initially, the technology. As a technologist myself I thought the tech stack was really cool and saw a lot of potential. High-fidelity, secure communication is a problem in many markets as satellite technology just isn’t reliable. I’ve also previously worked with Harvest’s Chairman, Jeff Sengelman, on the board of Fusion Sport, another Australian technology company.

The future for Harvest is exciting. I’m glad I joined the board; the team I’ve met are extraordinary and I’ve been so impressed by what I have seen. Like every business, Harvest has its challenges, but that’s where I operate – that’s my strength and what keeps me interested.

What’s the most important thing the Board does to help customers, partners, and investors?

My objectives for Harvest are to minimise distractions, focus on the problem the technology solves, what people will pay for the solution and optimise the revenue structure. The focus is to create a strong resilient scaling business. Technology businesses can be challenging with markets valuing hardware and software differently. Moving the market expectations to create the optimal revenue structure that’s advantageous to investors, stakeholders, and the business, is a gradual process that pays off in the long term. The Board’s role is also to help to mentor and support the CEO and provide strategic advice and guidance to the business.

What drives you to work with Harvest to help solve remote?

Remote video and data streaming over constrained networks is something I’ve seen as a gap in the market for many years, so I was interested to know how Harvest was solving it. The globe has a problem: overcrowded satellite infrastructure and increasing data requirements – particularly in remote or long-range applications where terrestrial solutions cannot be utilised. Harvest is uniquely positioned to solve this fundamental problem.

At my core, I love creating and I love helping people. I am happiest when I can do both, and that’s what I can do for Harvest.

You are based in Brisbane, Queensland which has some remote places. Have you ever found yourself relying on communications in those areas?

I worked as a nipper in underground mines while I was studying mining engineering in the late 80’s. As a nipper, my role was to drive around underground all shift checking the isolated workers to ensure everyone was okay and that they have the supplies they needed. I worked underground at both Mount Isa and Selwyn gold mines in Queensland. At Mount Isa, my base of operation was 1.9 kilometres underground. It was a very bizarre feeling when you turned off your headlight and not seeing your hand in front of your face. There was no communication network underground at that time and no possibility to transmit video back then.

Do you have a particular career highlight or something you’ve been most proud of?

The mentoring work I’ve done has been some of the most rewarding. On one board, I came in at a challenging moment when the business was struggling but the leadership team had the talent and drive to learn. Over the next 4-5 years I spent time mentoring the CEO and developing those skills. Seeing them grow to become globally recognised as a leader in their field is a career highlight for me.

Do you have downtime? How do you spend it?

I really enjoy adventure racing as an amateur. It is a team sport that involves a continuous race navigation to reach as many checkpoints as you can within a time limit. Races can go from 3 hours up to 10 days, often in remote untouched locations and involve a combination of running, mountain biking and kayaking. In 2011 our team of 4 competed in the world championships in Western Tasmania and came 54th out of 90 teams finishing in 9 days of continuous racing.

Adventure racing is the perfect combination of mathematical problem-solving and physical endurance; you need to work out how to reach the most checkpoints in the maximum amount of time to get the most points. You must solve for your current physical condition of not only yourself, but of all of your teammates as well.

Is there a parallel between your approach to adventure racing and your approach to business?

Yes, 100%. At first, I was training 30 hours a week and realised it was unsustainable. Now my strategy is to focus on intense strength training for an hour three times a week. It means in a race you’ve got all the strength you need to move at speed, but you can reduce your effort and keep going for days. The same is true in business – you don’t want to waste time, energy and effort to end up burning out. Identify the total addressable market, streamline your product and costs, maximise value, minimise wasted expenditure and distractions. Understanding the end customer’s problem, who’s going to pay for it and how much they’re willing to pay – that’s where you need to focus your efforts for maximum return.

Follow Harvest Technology Group on LinkedIn for our latest news and updates.

]]> https://harvest.technology/2023/07/12/in-conversation-with-ross-mckinnon-harvest-technology-group/feed/ 0 14832 IN CONVERSATION WITH PINKU JAIN, SYSTEMS TESTER FOR HARVEST TECHNOLOGY GROUP https://harvest.technology/2023/05/15/in-conversation-with-pinku-jain-systems-tester-for-harvest-technology-group/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-conversation-with-pinku-jain-systems-tester-for-harvest-technology-group https://harvest.technology/2023/05/15/in-conversation-with-pinku-jain-systems-tester-for-harvest-technology-group/#respond Mon, 15 May 2023 02:49:04 +0000 https://harvest.technology/?p=14085
Pinku Jain Systems Tester at Harvest Technology Group

Pinku Jain, Systems Tester for Harvest Technology Group. 

An early love of maths and problem-solving spurred Pinku to a career in STEM as a Systems Tester at Harvest Technology Group. With a Masters in Technology, Pinku is a valuable asset, bringing her passion for technology and positive attitude to the growing development team. Driven by her continuous desire for learning, she ensures the quality of software and hardware products for Harvest’s customers.

Joined Harvest: 2022
Qualifications: Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communications Engineering, Master of Technology in Electronics, Diploma in Electronics and Communications Engineering, and ISTQB Certification. 
Tell us about your role and what you’re responsible for at Harvest. 

As a systems tester, I’m responsible for testing Harvest’s software and hardware. I also set test plans for each product and ensure our offerings are error-free and function as intended so we can deliver high-quality solutions to our customers.

Have you had any other roles at Harvest, if so what were your responsibilities?

Yes, I first joined as a Junior Systems Tester and worked under the Automation Test Engineer who was responsible for creating the test plan for each product. As the Junior Tester, I executed the test cases after each software update and conducted retests of previously identified bugs once they were fixed by the developers. After a few months, I achieved my certification from the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) and was promoted to Systems Tester. Now I can create and complete my own testing plans!

What does system testing involve?

Systems testing is one of the final steps for verifying quality before deployment. When I get a new product or feature, I first talk with the developers to understand what it is, how it works and the functionality and requirements for the customer. Once I understand the scope, I write a testing plan to cover all functionalities. For example, some of the functionality tests for the Nodestream™ Android application include installation, connection, and settings testing. The developer’s role is to create a product or feature and it’s the tester’s role to break it or make it crash so that improvements can be made.

What happens if you do find a bug or error?

When I find a bug it means I am doing my job right! First, I try to reproduce it; some bugs are reproducible and some occur randomly. Each bug is raised with its description, information to reproduce the bug, software version the bug was found in and assigned to the developers in GitHub.

At Harvest, we use the agile development approach, which means development and testing work in parallel; in collaboration. Typically, developers implement one or more features, release a version for testing, and while we’re testing that version, the developers will create the next version with more features and bug fixes identified in the current version. 

What does a typical day look like?

Our team follows an agile iteration cycle, planning tasks in fortnightly blocks. I split my tasks into week one and two, then work out what I need to do each day, checking my progress against how many tasks are left for the iteration and reassessing priorities. Priorities can change if a critical bug is fixed and the fixed version is released for testing, this means we’ll need to retest before testing other lower-priority products, features or non-critical defects. 

What got you into technology, was it something you were always interested in?

From childhood I always enjoyed maths; it runs in my family as both of my parents are maths teachers and I always enjoyed problem-solving. Growing up my family had fun together playing riddles and solving puzzles. At school, my favourite subjects were maths and physics which lead me to my engineering degree, and technology felt like a natural progression. Once I graduated university, I was looking for a position where I could apply the skills I had gained through my education and receive the support and mentoring to learn testing practices. I find it really satisfying to be using my technology and maths skills and applying them day to day. 

Do you have any advice for other women looking to get into STEM?

If you have an interest in technology and like to learn, don’t think you have to sacrifice your family to have a career. I don’t believe that family or career is more important than the other, I see both being equally important. As a mother of two, it has taken time to adjust, but I know my children will grow up seeing a working mum and they’ll have a positive approach to balancing work and family. 

What do you love about your job?

I love that we’re always working on something new at Harvest. There is always new technology and new interfaces for our team to test, so I am constantly learning new tools and techniques. It is important to me to always challenge and extend myself to gain more knowledge. 

How do you measure success in your position?

Success as a tester is when you deliver a quality solution to the customer and they are satisfied with its function. If I find a lot of bugs when I’m testing something, I consider that a success. This means my testing has identified issues before they reach the customer. For me personally, success is continually learning. If you fall short of a goal but gain knowledge or experience, it’s still a success. 

Do you have good mentors at Harvest?

Yes. When I first joined, my line manager Dhivya gave me a thorough introduction and training in systems testing. Dhivya authored our testing policies and procedures and is a great mentor. She has a lot of experience in testing but is also very approachable so I always know I can go to her if I need her help. Olesia, our team leader is another fantastic mentor, she is very hard-working with a passion for new technologies. I have a lot to learn from her. 

What’s the most remote location you would like to visit?

I haven’t travelled a lot, I was born and brought up in India and moved to Australia after I was married. I’d love to visit Switzerland; I have heard great things about how beautiful it is.

What’s your theory as to why a Perth company is leading the way for remote operations?

New innovations and new technology are Harvest’s point of difference. The technology we use here is high-class and built with a team of experienced developers. Our team develops cutting-edge, good-quality technology with fewer system requirements.

What do you like to do outside of work? 

Outside of work, I love spending time with my family, I have a 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. So sometimes after work, it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day! 

Follow Harvest Technology Group on LinkedIn for our latest news and updates.

]]> https://harvest.technology/2023/05/15/in-conversation-with-pinku-jain-systems-tester-for-harvest-technology-group/feed/ 0 14085 IN CONVERSATION WITH JASON KING, PRODUCT DESIGN AND DELIVERY LEAD FOR HARVEST TECHNOLOGY GROUP https://harvest.technology/2023/02/28/in-conversation-with-jason-king-product-design-and-delivery-lead/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-conversation-with-jason-king-product-design-and-delivery-lead https://harvest.technology/2023/02/28/in-conversation-with-jason-king-product-design-and-delivery-lead/#respond Tue, 28 Feb 2023 01:44:32 +0000 https://harvest.technology/?p=13235
Jason King product Design and Delivery Lead

Jason King Product Design and Delivery Lead 

Harvest Technology Group’s Product Design and Delivery Lead Jason King joined the company in 2019. The former electrician now ensures the design, quality control, and compliance of the company’s hardware products, as well as warehouse and logistics management. When it comes to job satisfaction, for Jason it’s all about creating high-quality products and watching the company grow and succeed. 

Joined Harvest: 2019 
Qualifications: Qualified electrician 
Tell us about your role and what you’re responsible for at Harvest

I’m responsible for the design, development, and delivery of all Harvest hardware products. I work with the software development team to ensure our hardware is fit-for-purpose, from conception through to customer delivery. This includes user guides, manuals, hardware specifications, product compliance, product packaging and liaising with vendors and manufacturers. Quality assurance and quality control are also a large part of the job. My team ensures that all products adhere to design standards and are manufactured to those standards so that every customer receives a quality product without any defects.

What do you love about your job?

The diversity and the challenges – there’s never a boring day. I really enjoy a good challenge and working under pressure, as well as furthering my experience and knowledge. Being part of the success of Harvest is what drives me.

What led you to this role?

I was approached by Jimmy Dean, our Head of Solutions Architecture, and Jaron Warburton, Chief of Innovation, as they needed a technical specialist to manage the company’s hardware requirements. They’d identified a skillset gap and brought me on because they knew my capabilities from when we’d worked together previously. Given my experience as an electrician programming lighting control systems and my interest in technology, they thought I’d be a good fit for the company.

What achievement are you most proud of since working at Harvest?

My biggest challenge at Harvest was hardware compliance. I had to learn what we needed to do to meet regulatory compliance requirements for our customers globally, and then develop our policies and procedures. There’s an abundance of compliance information which can be difficult to distil and contextualise. Now, we have a really robust system in place to ensure our hardware is compliant with the sectors and regions our customers operate in. It’s a great sense of achievement.

Jason Kind manages Harvest's products, logistics and warehouse
What goal are you currently working towards?

Our goal at Harvest is to always provide our customers with solutions that address their operational needs while giving them the best possible experience. As we grow and mature, we are always learning more about our customer needs and how our technology can help them solve their problems. My focus is to continually improve the whole customer experience from unboxing to setup to usability and capability. When I think about myself as a consumer; if I buy a product and have a bad experience with it, I am reluctant to buy from that company again. If I have a pleasant or rewarding experience, then they will be my go-to company for anything I buy in the future. Making sure our customers feel like this is at the centre of everything we do.

How do you measure success with the customer?

Success is solving a problem with our technology that a customer thought was impossible to solve, without much additional instruction or support. For me, it’s all about user experience and onboarding and ensuring a pleasant experience working with Harvest.

What’s your take on why Harvest is leading the way in remote operations solutions?

Not only is our technology so robust that we can provide integrated solutions involving multiple applications and interfaces, but we also have a very in-depth understanding of the technical and operational nature of our target sectors that is backed by an extensive working experience in those sectors. We understand the needs and challenges facing remote environments and locations and have developed our technology and built our solutions to address those needs.

What’s the most remote location you’ve ever worked in?

While working in oil and gas, the most remote location I visited was a place off the coast of Myanmar. These days, I don’t really have any aspirations to go anywhere remote at all!

Follow Harvest Technology Group on LinkedIn for our latest news and updates.

]]> https://harvest.technology/2023/02/28/in-conversation-with-jason-king-product-design-and-delivery-lead/feed/ 0 13235 IN CONVERSATION WITH OLESIA KOCHERGINA, TECHNICAL LEAD – APPLICATIONS https://harvest.technology/2023/01/11/in-conversation-with-olesia-kochergina-technical-lead-applications/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-conversation-with-olesia-kochergina-technical-lead-applications https://harvest.technology/2023/01/11/in-conversation-with-olesia-kochergina-technical-lead-applications/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2023 03:06:16 +0000 https://harvest.technology/?p=12324

Olesia Kochergina , Technical Lead – Applications

Playing educational video games from age seven opened the gateway to the world of information technology for Olesia Kochergina, Harvest’s Technical Lead – Applications. While Olesia’s fondness of gaming has waned over the years – being too fixated on dissecting how they’re built to enjoy them – her love of tech has grown since joining Harvest where she has the development team of her dreams and mentors who challenge and inspire her daily.

Joined Harvest: March 2019
Qualifications: Bachelor of Science and Computer Science and Games Technology from Murdoch University, Perth.
What are your responsibilities at Harvest? 

I lead the development of mobile and desktop applications, which involves technical leadership, team management, software development and design. My role also includes writing and maintaining software standards and procedures for our development teams.

How many are there in the innovation team? 

There are about 21 of us in the innovation team and 12 of us are developers.

What led you to join this team? 

When I started I only had one year of experience and was looking for something challenging enough to keep me interested. I quickly realised this was the right company as there’s always so much innovation happening. Personally, I’ve learned about so many different concepts, including data compression, remote control, CI/CD, and UI/UX.

CI/CD – what’s that? 

It stands for Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment, which is a set of practices and tools to assist with automating areas of development and improve team productivity to enable delivery of reliable software to customers faster.

And for the uninitiated, can you explain UI/UX?

UI is User Interface, so that’s pretty much what you see within an application, all the different buttons, colours and fonts are part of the UI. On the other hand, UX is about the User Experience and how you interact with elements within an application.

What do you love about your job? 

There is a lot I love about my job. To start with, the people are the main reason I like being here. Everyone is friendly and always ready to help. We have a positive work culture that fosters innovation. Since 2019, I’ve managed to work on a wide variety of cutting-edge projects, which is why I’m so energised and inspired in my job – there’s always something new to learn. 

Is there a particular piece of technology or a project that you are currently working on?

Currently, I’m working on an improved version of Nodestream™ for Windows, applying the UI design to the application and adjusting UX based on internal and external feedback.

Have you been involved in code-name “NS2”? 

At this stage, I mainly work on the Nodestream™ technology. Once “NS2” goes to a beta stage and we start integrating it with the existing ecosystem, then I will become more involved. My responsibility will be implementing the business logic for existing applications to tie in with the new infrastructure. “NS2” will provide the front-end as well as the backend cloud service.

What got you into technology? Were you always into it? 

From age seven, I was really into video games and at some point, I thought it would be really fulfilling to develop them. When I was older, I did a programming class which motivated me to learn C# by reading books and online content. Later, I pursued a degree in computer science in Dubai. Then because Murdoch University in Perth offered a games technology course, I decided it was an opportunity to experience game development firsthand and move to Perth.

Programming code
How does the gaming framework inform your work at Harvest? 

One of the key aspects about game development is its complexity and involvement of multiple scientific domains. The gaming framework has helped me with learning how to break down complex problems into manageable tasks and applying knowledge from physics and trigonometry to solve everyday software development challenges at Harvest.

Have you got a particular highlight since you’ve been working at Harvest? 

Growing the company and witnessing it evolve is something I’ve enjoyed. Harvest is growing, our technology is growing, and the number of customers is also growing. It’s exhilarating to see the progress we’ve made so far.

And what’s coming up in your area of business for Harvest? 

My team’s focus remains on new technology we can embed into everyday things. Once the product suite is complete, the next phase is migration to “NS2” and utilising cloud services to improve the existing offering. To get to the next milestone our applications will receive a new unified look and feel. We are also getting close to a minimum viable product (MVP) of the iOS application. I’m sure all our iOS customers can’t wait to see this ready – as an iPhone-user, I’m included.

Do you have good mentors at Harvest? 

Definitely. Our Chief Innovation & Technology Officer (CTO) Jaron has been my mentor since I started in 2019. I have so many good things to say about Jaron and his influence. The way his mind works is remarkable. He always brings so many ideas to the table that we can explore. The people above me believe in innovation, which allows us to investigate new development concepts and frameworks, different Artificial Intelligence (AI), techniques, and various algorithms to improve our products. As a team, we are comfortable exploring the unknown.

What do you do when you’re not working? 

I enjoy playing board games, being amongst nature, attending music events, and visiting museums.

Do you play computer games now? 

No. I stopped playing computer games when I was studying at university because I couldn’t stop analysing the mechanics of the games. I’d spend my time trying to understand how they did one feature or another, so the joy of playing games vanished. But I am grateful that it opened doors for my professional development.

Harvest enables remote operations to work smarter and safer. Is there a remote location somewhere in the world that you would like to visit? 

My goal is to visit New Zealand because the nature and landscape looks unbelievable, particularly in the South Island.

Follow Harvest Technology Group on LinkedIn for our latest news and updates.

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