After moving to New Plymouth from Chile with his family at age 14, Exequiel discovered his passion for problem solving and programming in high school. Which prompted him to study a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Software Engineering at UC.
“My degree has given me the skills to break down problems and tackle them one by one. It also has taught me the skills to communicate with technical and non-technical people about my work,” Exequiel says.
Exequiel received a message on LinkedIn from Nathan Taylor, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Christchurch startup company Partly. After meeting for coffee and attending a job interview, he was offered a Junior Software Engineer position.
Partly provides a service that brings vehicle parts into an online marketplace. This makes it easier for garage shops or scrap yards to list their items, and for buyers around the world to know which parts will fit their vehicle.
For Exequiel, graduating is the reward of four years of study.
“All the people I met who supported me, and all the work I’ve done will condense into one day. It will feel as if the ‘real’ adult phase of my life is beginning. I am looking forward to officially closing the formal education chapter of my life.”
Long term Exequiel wants to use his degree to help with issues he is passionate about, such as climate change, biodiversity, and human rights.
“I worked on an interdisciplinary final year project to automate the spraying of wilding pines from helicopters, and I love knowing that our work will contribute to improve biodiversity in Aotearoa.”
Exequiel also has ambitions of making the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field more diverse and inclusive.
“I think diversity is important because people from different backgrounds and upbringings have so many different things to contribute. The solutions produced have the potential to be so much better, and ultimately better serve the people they are for.”