Industry Talk: Statistics & Alchemy

16 Nov 2018 2:10 PM - 3:00 PM
Presenter/Speaker: Riley Hunter, Imagimation
Location: G.1.15

Imagimation is a technology start-up incubator based in Frankton, which currently houses several electricity retailers, a game development studio, and a technology solutions provider doing “affordable intelligence”. Within the umbrella of Imagimation, we work with full-stack web development, native ML/AI applications, and video games, alongside many smaller areas of interest. Being a group of technology companies, almost everything we do is tech-related at some level. Our primary technology stack uses Microsoft products at every level: VS IDE; Azure storage, hosting and compute; Razor Pages and ASP .NET Core frameworks. We also use Python, C++, Java, Julia, and Node/React/Redux in varying capacities.

I started at Imagimation as purely a machine learning developer, but quickly found myself involved in many other projects and areas. I’ve worked in almost every role I had skills in, and many I hadn’t, including project management, web development, and business strategy. Currently, I am a technology lead for one start-up and the owner/CEO of another.

The key skills needed to establish yourself in a technology start-up are adaptability and the willingness to learn, comfort with ambiguity, communication, and a positive attitude. Everything else can be learned on the job.

BIO
Riley Hunter is a graduate of the Master of Information Technology from the University of Waikato, having previously graduated from Wintec with a Bachelor of Information Technology. His primary interests and studies are in the machine learning and data science fields, and he is currently working with Imagimation to establish several technology start-ups. Riley’s current primary roles are business administration, management, and leadership in his own “affordable intelligence” business and also as a technology lead for a developing electricity retailer.

In his spare time, Riley likes to sleep and go around corners too fast on his motorcycle (but not at the same time).