A whole new dynamic

from Bendigo Magazine - Issue 64 - Spring 2021

Natural beauty

The historic Beehive Building is abuzz with excitement thanks to a world class software company deciding to call Bendigo home.

By Tamara Marwood - Photography by AJ Taylor

I feel like I am in New York City when I emerge from the stairs into the first-floor space of one of the world’s leading software startups, founded here in Bendigo. Yet, I am amongst the peaceful leafy tree tops of Rosalind Park. If you grew up in the region, you might remember shopping in the Beehive Building. I was a child holding my mum’s hand, and I distinctly remember the creaking floor under our feet as we browsed. Fast forward 35 years, there is no creaking floor beneath the Clear Dynamics team. This once-bustling retail centre is now a rapidly expanding beehive of programmers and software engineers pushing the possibilities of artificial intelligence to create software solutions for their enterprise customers. Leafy plants cascade themselves between computer screens, couches and bean bags lounging on the polished wooden floor. To the rear of the space is a basketball court and an unusual artwork collection that is ever evolving from cheesy op shop finds by the prolific yet allusive artist ‘J Jackson’. Establishing Bendigo as the location of its head office was a deliberate decision for Clear Dynamics, with additional branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, the US, and UK. Bendigo is the home of the company founder, has all the lifestyle advantages for the company and can attract the right talent locally or further afield. Although Bendigo isn’t yet renowned for its tech capability, Bendigo is well known for its strong history of entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity. Investment into its people and backing local leaders like Manager of Engineering and Development Stef Cola, to thrive in all aspects of her life, is one of Clear Dynamics critical strategies for its exponential success. It wasn’t the lure of tech in Bendigo that brought Stef back to Bendigo, after studying her business degree in the US; it was homesickness. She admits that she accidentally fell in love with digital and web development while working for a desktop publisher.

Led by her entrepreneurial spirit and innate curiosity, she saw the potential of digital and tech. She quickly founded a new business unit in the publishing company and a side hustle to build mobile, website and software solutions. “I didn’t study tech at university or take a traditional path. I have come to be a leader in software engineering because of curiosity and an enterprising spirit.” Stef describes herself as a ‘technologist’ and nurtures her team at Clear Dynamics to understand the business impact of what they are developing. “Software is no longer mindlessly building systems, it’s about meaningful solutions for people. It’s about being led by curiosity – problem solving and creating the balance between this and what works for people. “We have a fundamental philosophy at Clear Dynamics. When people are working on the right thing at the right time with their skills and interests, people are using their superpowers! “What has been important in my life and my career, when you are in a minority, like women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) it is important to be visible and diversity is celebrated.” She encourages other women to take up opportunities to be visible in the community. Stef co-founded the Bendigo Developer Meetup, regularly posts on LinkedIn and shares her story as a female leader in tech at schools and universities. “Don’t be afraid to share your story, it might give another person a fresh perspective on their career opportunities.” “Diversity has so much value. Differences in thinking creates an organisation’s superpower to solve a problem and innovate. There

is power in working for a company where you can bring your whole, true authentic self to work and often it is what people have in their lives outside of work that brings real value into a workplace, especially when building tech to address realworld problems for people.” Outside work Stef is a mum with a toddler and lives with her wife, who is also a business owner in Bendigo. During Victoria’s sustained lockdown in 2020, Stef and her sister founded the subscriptionbased side hustle ‘Teeny Tiny Farmer’ - a curated heritage vegetable and herb seed monthly delivery to subscribers’ mailboxes! Teeny Tiny Farmer is paused right now as Stef continues the art of juggling 50 things at a time. “Being a working mum during a pandemic is tricky, combined with my MBA studies in innovation and technology something had to give. I stay open to change in my personal life too – sometimes you need to know when to drop what you want to do and when the right time is to pick it up again.” Stef has witnessed people’s values shifting, moving from ‘businessas-usual’ to realising and understanding that organisations need to modernise. “It is an exciting time. As a leader, I approach change with an open mind and look for potential in all situations. “Before and even more so during COVID, we have gone through a massive digital disruption. It highlights how adaptive we need to be in our business leadership and our lives. “Bendigo is a perfect location for startups. There are endless opportunities that are presenting themselves in a digital-enabled world. Clear Dynamics is a great demonstration that it can happen and you don’t have to be in one of the big cities to be successful on a global scale.”