Hugh’s turned maths, science and computing into a career managing IT cloud infrastructure projects
Studying at Macquarie University led Hugh down a path exploring maths, computing and IT infrastructure, ultimately landing him a job as an Agile project coordinator. In this role, he keeps a team of 20 engineers on track, helping businesses navigate the complex world of cloud infrastructure. With dozens of clients and projects on the go at once, he never gets bored!
Hugh’s journey started with a Bachelor of Advanced Science at Macquarie University, for which he was offered early entry through the Macquarie Leaders and Achievers program. He loved exploring the different subjects
Macquarie offered – a minor in computer science is what first sparked his interest in IT infrastructure.
Hugh was involved in many of Macquarie’s extracurricular offerings, including the Maths Society. It was here that he developed his project management skills – having his peers tell him how great he’d be as a project manager sealed the deal!
Now, as an Agile project coordinator with a Cloud DevOps team (software engineering team) at AC3 (Australian Centre for Advanced Computing and Communication), Hugh is at the heart of the action.
“Every project is different, and I get to work across so many areas of IT. One day it’s cybersecurity, the next it’s optimising business management systems,” he says. One of Hugh’s coolest projects involved ethical hacking – yes, hacking!
During COVID, he led a project designing Raspberry Pi kits that allowed penetration testers to remotely test systems for security vulnerabilities. “I remember looking at it at the end and thinking, ‘wow, my job is awesome!’”
When he’s not managing projects? Hugh is a self confessed adrenaline junkie, scaling mountains and
abseiling into canyons.
Hugh’s advice for young people
“Degrees and qualifications will get you interviews, but soft skills are becoming increasingly important, even in technical jobs. Public speaking, attention to detail and problem-solving are half the difference between junior and senior engineers.”
Hugh’s path to Agile project coordinator:
- Bachelor of Advanced Science – Macquarie University, 2019 (Specialisation in mathematics, minor in computing)
- Project manager, Content Security
- State commissioner, NSW Rover Scouts
- Agile project coordinator, AC3
A version of this profile also appears in our upcoming issue of Careers with STEM: Maths and Data 2025 and was produced in partnership with Macquarie University.
