How tech can help streamline immigration to New Zealand
Governments around the world are slowly learning the value of accessing start-up and Lean methodologies, along with programming know-how, as they develop new policy and processes. It means web developers and programmers are in hot demand — and New Zealand’s no exception. One of Enspiral Dev Academy’s recent graduates is hard at work in the R9 accelerator, where he’s trying to help streamline immigration to New Zealand. We caught up with him to find out more.
Connor Boyle’s equally comfortable growing veggies, leading 6 a.m. dance parties, running events, and helping Government improve immigration processes for bringing new workers into New Zealand. He’s a recent Enspiral Dev Academy graduate, and programming is just another addition to his eclectic mix of skills — but one that’s opened up a new professional world for him.
Connor’s part of Traject, a team taking part in this year’s R9 accelerator — an initiative to bring together the public and private sectors to work on real problems businesses face. Lean startup methodology is used to rapidly test ideas before they’re invested in. Along with team mates Ashlyn Baum and Steffan Christensen (who’s from Immigration NZ), Traject is working to make it easier for businesses to hire highly skilled talent from overseas.
As he puts it, Connor’s life includes, “Mainly tech stuff, social enterprise, event design, music, and bio fuels.” With a degree in environmental science, he grew up with two self-employed parents and the freelance life always appealed.
Connor’s love of social enterprise and passion for food networks took him into business with local food initiatives, where he was frustrated by how hard it was to grow viable business models around the idea of eating locally. After a stint in social enterprise incubator Live the Dream, he decided it was time to add coding to his suite of skills.
Perennially fascinated by festivals and big music and arts events, Connor had from a young age set about teaching himself everything he’d need to know to run them: sound, lighting, infrastructure, artist and volunteer management, and more. But after nine years of running events, he knew his dreams of large, interactive art pieces for festivals could only be realised by learning to code.
As soon as he started programming as a student at Dev Academy, Connor realised it wasn’t just a means to an end — that coding was something he could build businesses with. And he did — after graduating from EDA, Connor was part of a team (including Ashlyn and fellow EDA graduate, Gabby Young) that won a prize at Nature Hack for their app, TreeHugger. It was a simple but brilliant concept that connected people with their local native wildlife.
Connor says the R9 accelerator would never have been a prospect for him before he started to learn coding. Now, his team Traject is working to make the Employer Accreditation process digital — so businesses can get approval to hire multiple immigrants through an online process, which was previously paper-based.
Traject is also creating a model whereby would-be immigrants who don’t have a degree in the field they’re applying for a job in, could be considered by a panel of industry peers. The ability to bring highly skilled people into New Zealand to work jobs they’re not “technically” qualified for, on a case by case basis, has special potential to invigorate New Zealand’s tech industry. Many programmers and developers don’t have computer science degrees (and, EDA would argue, most don’t need one), and lack of talent is a big pitfall for this country’s tech industry at the moment.
The platform will connect assessors and potential immigrants anonymously with no contact details swapped — so immigration practises can’t be defrauded. The accelerator’s currently in the prototyping phase, and a demo day on June 2 will put Traject’s model in front of Government and private investors.
Connor wants to help grow New Zealand’s tech sector, and while he thinks making the immigration process easier for skilled people to get jobs here is important, he says educating New Zealanders for tech jobs is even more so. He hopes some of the potential profits from their R9 project could help fund scholarships for students at Enspiral Dev Academy.
“We want to set up a venture that has value beyond the services we create,” Connor says.
“Enspiral Dev Academy really is trying to make a change that goes beyond producing efficient programmers. They’re thinking that if their graduates are going to play a significant role in building the tech industry in New Zealand, then they should help them embed a culture that’s slightly more forward-thinking.
“The question EDA’s asking is, ‘What’s the tech industry we want to have in 20 years’ time? And if a lot of the people who’re going to be there for that are passing through EDA, what do we do to help nurture that?’ I think they’ve got some pretty good answers.”
Want to know more about Enspiral Dev Academy? 18-week coding courses start every month in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand.
