Stephen Witherden

Product Strategy Manager @ Beca

About

I’ve always been fascinated by the process of decision-making. Why do we do the things we do? How can science and technology help? And where are we headed in the future? As a youngster, my curiosity grew, and at 18, I was determined to study operations research - the science of decision making. My father was adamant there was no money in science and encouraged me toward business, so I went with both. My double major was in operations research (my passion) and information systems (the business side) at the University of Auckland. I didn’t realise it then, but it's really at the intersections between disciplines such as these where some of the greatest insights reside. . I graduated with honours and started working as a lecturer and software dev at the university, admittedly having caught a mild case of academia. After two years, though, I wanted to make a bigger impact. 2005 turned out to be a big year for me. I moved away from the university, joined Beca and came out as gay in quick succession. I was 25, and the whole world was different - it turns out that even studying decision-making for years doesn’t always make them easier! But Beca was a great breath of fresh air, and I felt I was making a real difference with my work. As Product Strategy Manager of Beca, my focus is now on shifting our digital team from services to delivering products and building things with enduring value for our clients. Together, and through innovative technology like our digital twin, FACILITYtwin, we are helping organisations unlock the crucial information for their success and put it into the hands of critical decision-makers. By adding transparency, understanding and accessibility to ALL your relevant data, we create a seamless, interoperable system that works better for all. I feel like my entire career has been driving towards creating systems for decision-making between people in an organisation. I can’t wait to help more companies realise their potential with technology! Connect with me on Linkedin if you would like to talk more.

Country

Australia

City

Docklands

Industry

Computer Software

Skill

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), BEYON Digital Twins, C#, SQL, Architecture, Java, ASP, Visual Basic, Data Warehousing, Software Development Methodologies, Delphi, Decision Support, Software Development, System Design, .NET, Requirements Management, UML, WCF, Requirements Analysis, Visual Studio

Experience

Product Strategy Manager

Beca

2020-4 - Present · 6 yrs 6 mos

I am now looking to shift our digital team from delivering services to delivering products as well. We are building things here that are durable and have enduring value for our clients. Being a software engineer with a great deal of track record in the simulation, integration and analytics domains, my first love is supporting decision-making. Through our digital twin tech, BEYON, I believe we have the perfect tools to bridge systems for decision-making between people in an organisation. This new role also marks a shift in how we think of ourselves at Beca. For the last decade and a half we have increasingly been building software tools and solutions for our clients. Up until now, we have been very modest about how we think about these as "products" and have focused this work on helping our existing clients rather than selling to new clients. With Digital becoming ever more crucial to our success and the success of our clients, we've recognised we need to put some focused thinking around our products. This role gives me a mandate (both internally and externally) to further the cause of digital products at Beca. We're just getting started.

Senior Principal Software Engineer

Beca

2020-4 - Present · 6 yrs 6 mos

Technical Fellow - Software Engineering

Beca

2015-10 - Present · 11 yrs

I am very pleased and humbled to have been appointed Beca's highest technical honour. The title of "technical fellow" recognises excellence in a technical discipline within Beca and "fellows" are held accountable for the practice within their discipline. This appointment also highlights the recognition within Beca that software engineering is one of Beca's core disciplines and competencies, something we have worked hard to develop over many years.

Principal Software Engineer

Beca

2013-4 - 2020-4 · 7 yrs 1 mo

Auckland, New Zealand

Senior Software Developer

Beca

2007-11 - 2013-4 · 5 yrs 6 mos

Software design and implementation including managing project teams to deliver software solutions to customers.

Software Developer

Beca

2005-3 - 2007-11 · 2 yrs 9 mos

I started working for Beca in early 2005 and was almost immediately sent abroad to work on the P-3K2 Orion project in Texas with L-3. Before leaving for Texas I worked on a number of internal projects including deliverable status register and optimisation of warehouse location.

Supervisor & Industry Liaison

University of Auckland

2008-2 - 2008-12 · 11 mos

In my spare time, I supervise final year students for the University of Auckland, in their INFOSYS.342 project paper. The project is a capstone paper, giving the students much needed exposure to the software development industry and real-world projects.

Software Engineer

L3 Technologies

2006 - 2007 · 1 yr

Contract work for L-3, upgrading the software for New Zealand’s P3 Orion aeroplanes. My particular area was integrating a MIDS terminal to the Orion’s data management system.