'Chief Nerd' sees healthy push for innovation in NZ

Need a Nerd's David Hallett is devoted to technology — and the Waikato — and he wouldn't have it any other way

By Vera Alves, Auckland | Thursday, 01 December 2011
A glance through David Hallett’s curriculum vitae quickly proves that the title of “chief nerd” on his Need A Nerd business card fits like a glove.

Currently, most of Hallett’s time is taken up with his role as solutions architect for the energy company, Mighty River Power.

But Hallett wears many other hats, including director of both IT services company Need A Nerd and Pulsar Computer Solutions. He is also a national councillor at the New Zealand Computer Society (NZCS) and technology columnist for the Waikato Times. He is on the board of the Wintec’s School of IT Employer Partnership Group, and serves as national executive industry representative for Computing and IT Research and Education NZ (CITRENZ), an industry group aimed at developing “marketable qualifications” for students planning to enter the IT workforce.

With all these roles, Hallett has a very wide scope of IT in New Zealand. “It’s an interesting landscape,” he says. “There are a lot of very skilled individuals but there is a shortage of developers and project managers.”

Hallett believes one of the biggest issues at the moment is the eroding distinction between IT and telecommunications. “There are a lot of people blurring ICT,” he says, adding that the two sectors should not be referred to as if they were always one and the same. “Discussions need to be clearer.”

There has been a push for innovation in New Zealand, according to Hallett, and the technology industry is “certainly growing”.

“Human resources are necessary to keep up with that growth and drive it forward,” he adds.

“Technology is certainly an attractive career,” Hallett says, adding that he is also pleased to see more women getting into IT. “They are still a minority but it is getting better.” Hallett says he has had discussions about the subject which lead him to believe the stereotype of technology being something for men doesn’t always apply and there are a number of women doing “incredible” things with it.

For those starting a new IT business venture, Hallett says it is crucial to realise that “the point of a business is to make money” and that the IT industry is “rapidly changing”.

“You need a strong proposition and something that scales easily. Do your market research. You may have a brilliant idea but you need to check what else is out there and whether it has already been done,” he adds.

Technology is a big part of Hallett’s life beyond work. All of his hobbies involve a technology component and he says he is fascinated by the idea of applying technology to other realms. He spends a lot of his free time working on what one day will be his “technology garden”. He cultivates tomatoes in conjunction with a horticulturalist in the US and has even managed to get a variety released commercially there. Hallett’s interests also involve around garden automation, soil-sustainability and permaculture and he is interested in greenhouse and hydroponic configurations.

Hallett also collects single malt whisky and holds tastings. “It’s tied to the gardening and also has the whole technology behind distillation and all that. It’s an art form, like gardening, and it involves technology but also a human factor and that crossover is fascinating,” he says. Charcuterie, namely sausage-making and cold-smoking, is also among his diverse range of hobbies. The whole family also loves getting out and about and taking part in geocaching; looking for hidden treasures using handheld GPS devices.

His love of the outdoors is one of the reasons that leads this businessman to remain in the Waikato. He says it is also a great incubator for successful businesses. “Endace, Enlighten Designs [winner of this year’s portals and collaboration solution of the year award at the Microsoft Partner Awards, announced this month] and the Gallagher Group, for example, are all from here,” says Hallett. He says there are great projects being set up by Waikato-based companies, both in New Zealand and overseas. The Gallagher Group, for example, was responsible for installing the electric fence around Buckingham Palace.

For Hallett, the Waikato offers a great environment for entrepreneurs wanting to set up a technology business. “We have a great university here, the University of Waikato,” he says, adding that it offers a “premier computer science degree in New Zealand”.

“Technology is not geographically constrained,” he says. Plus, there are all the other advantages that come with living outside of a big city. “There is nothing like not having to fight traffic to get to work and back.”