From Trenches to Triumph: My 20+ Year Journey
Building Tech and Teams With a Global Perspective...
When I look back on my 20+ years in technology, I see a path that started in the trenches—hands deep in code—and has led to triumphs that still surprise me. I’m Andrew Huntley, and my career has taken me from South Africa’s bustling IT scene to Australia’s dynamic tech hubs, building systems and teams along the way. This journey isn’t just about tech; it’s about people, persistence, and the global perspective that’s shaped how I lead. My motto, "To lead, you must first follow," has been my compass, and I’d love to share what it’s taught me.
The Trenches: Where It All Began
My story kicked off in South Africa, fresh out of high school with MCSE and MCSD certifications in hand. I dove into developing enterprise systems—taxation platforms for SARS, stock trading tools, even ICU monitoring solutions. Those early days were about solving problems one line of C# or SQL query at a time. I remember debugging late into the night, fuelled by coffee and a stubborn refusal to let a system fail. It was gritty work, but it instilled a love for creating solutions that last—something I still carry today.
Back then, I learned the value of following. I’d watch senior developers, soaking up their tricks, and collaborate with teammates to troubleshoot. That hands-on grind taught me that tech isn’t just code—it’s about understanding the people using it. It’s a lesson that stuck as I moved to Australia, ready for bigger challenges.
The Climb: Building Teams and Tech
Australia opened doors to leadership, starting at Dialog Information Technology where I led a 20+ person team for Flight Centre’s booking platform. I pioneered a DevOps strategy that became the standard, turning chaos into a streamlined process. It was my first taste of triumph—seeing a team gel and deliver under pressure. From there, I climbed to Development Manager at TechConnect, transforming a proof-of-concept into the commercial SaaS Hummingbird247. Establishing Agile and CI/CD from scratch, I watched internal IP turn into a revenue driver, a win that still feels surreal.
As CTO of the DAPS Project, I defined a blockchain roadmap, managing a global team with a US partner. We launched the world's first fully private trustless blockchain and a secure AWS API ecosystem with zero breaches. In 2019 DAPS completed two successful testnets, sponsored Consensus 2019 NYC and passed a security audit by Red4Sec.
Mainnet launched in September 2019 after a full year of R&D and achieved over 3000 hosted masternodes in the first month, staying in the top 10 performers. A triumph born from following blockchain privacy trends and listening to my team’s input. These roles taught me that leading means building on the foundation of others’ strengths, a global perspective honed across continents.
The Triumphs: A Global Lens on Leadership
My recent roles cemented this approach. At Electoral Commission Queensland, I directed a modernisation program, slashing the server footprint by 70% and cutting costs by over 50% with a full CI/CD stack. It was a triumph of strategy and collaboration, managing multi-vendor teams with patience and clear communication—traits I’ve always valued. At Entain Australia/NZ, I owned real-time data engineering for fraud detection, replacing the Kafka layer to boost performance, proving that following data team needs leads to impactful results.
What ties these triumphs together is a global perspective. Working across South Africa, America and Australia, I’ve navigated diverse cultures, time zones, and challenges—from startups to multinationals. This has shaped how I build teams, fostering knowledge-sharing and resilience, whether in a remote setup or a high-stakes project.
Throughout, my motto—“To lead, you must first follow”—has been my guide. It means listening to teams, sharing knowledge, and learning together, whether in remote setups or high-stakes environments. People fascinate and inspire me; they’re the gold in this fast-changing industry.
The Personal Side: Fuel for the Journey
Beyond the screen, I’m a geek at heart. I unwind with Star Wars marathons or finding inspiration in the strategy of Formula 1 races or the escapism of camping trips. These moments recharge me, feeding my problem-solving drive. They remind me that leadership isn’t just about tech—it’s about bringing my whole self to the table, listening first, and leading with empathy.
Looking Forward: Sharing the Path
My journey from trenches to triumph has been about building tech that lasts and teams that thrive. Today, I’m crafting an Enterprise SaaS and PaaS (BYOC) digital asset intelligence platform with a small Aussie start-up team, blending my architecture expertise with AI innovation.
This project, shaped by recent training at Michigan University in AI Governance, Policy, and Regulation, and IBM’s Prompt Engineering courses, reflects my commitment to evolving with technology through continuous study, leading by following user and team input.
