A Tech Team That Supports Me to Challenge the Status Quo

I’ve been working in the tech team at Sportsbet for five years now. It’s a great place to work because it keeps me on the front foot of emerging technology and gives me the opportunity to lead new projects. Everyone here supports one another, so you can challenge yourself while still balancing work with the rest of your life. What makes the difference for me at Sportsbet is that I’m given room to grow. The team have supported me to dive into the areas that interest me most and provided me opportunities to work on what I want, rather than just business as usual.

A chance to take the lead

At Sportsbet we’re encouraged to challenge the status quo. It’s an exciting way to work and it means you never feel left behind in the emerging technology world. I’m always learning and supported in testing new ideas.

This year in particular I’ve learnt new skills and led the integration of new technology here. This started with the opportunity to work on projects related to Kafka stream, which was new to me at the beginning of the year. I had the support to do more than just become familiar with Kafka: with the help from a couple of lead engineers, I managed to build a Kafka producer using AWS Lambda functions. This has never been done before at Sportsbet and I was proud to have challenged myself with the project.

Later in the year, I was tasked with getting several important customer-facing services ready before major racing events. Preparing for these events can be challenging and fast-paced, which makes it all the more rewarding when I know I’ve managed it well. It gave me the chance to prove what I can do.

A team that values you as a whole person

I think the most challenging part of being a tech person is how often you need to step out of your comfort zone. You need to keep applying and improving yourself to catch up with the latest tech trend. Working as a team makes this a lot easier.

Compared to a dedicated tech company, I would say it is less stressful to work at Sportsbet. Even though we often have lots of work to tackle, we support each other. A typical day for me involves coding, taking a break with my colleagues and collaborating in meetings. It’s a workplace where you can speak openly with your team when things are starting to feel stressful and talk about ideas to improve our ways of working.

One of the great parts about working here is that your leaders and colleagues understand that you have a life outside of work. They support you to work remotely, provide flexible working hours and even last-minute leave when you really need it. We have our moments where we’re extremely busy with major projects, but we always manage to take some breaks and have some fun in between.