Every Friday we’ll profile a prominent figure from Australia’s IT, telecommunications or video gaming industries in the Friday Five.

Jon Tyson is the chief technology officer for startup consultancy Pollenizer. But his resume is littered with high profile positions — senior research engineer at NICTA, VP of engineering at Omnidrive, head of engineering at Kazaa and more. He’s this week’s guest on the Friday Five.

What was your first job ever?

My first job at school was working at a neighbour’s house in a small confectionary business packing candy. It taught me the value of money and hard work early on as well as offering an endless supply of sweets. Coming out of university into my first ‘real’ job I worked at a software company in Aberdeen, Scotland writing GPS and image processing software for use in the oil industry.

What do you most like about working in Australia’s technology industry?

In recent years the web startup scene in Australia has really formed into a vibrant community. The number of people with passionate and fresh ideas is very encouraging and working with these founders to build web businesses is a great way to spend the day. The energy and enthusiasm around is infectious.

What’s your hobby?

I spend time away from work catching up with friends and chilling out with my partner and puppy. A lot of time in the past few months has also been spent planning a rebuild of our rather run down house. I’m very much looking forward to the finished result!

What can Australia do better to help grow a great technology sector?

Confidence within the startup section of the Australian technology sector is at an all time high and we should continue to build upon the momentum that has been fostered. Funding remains one of the biggest challenges within our industry whether it be finding the right Angel or raising a larger round to move a business to the next level. Raising money can take months or even years and can be all consuming for a new CEO whose time would be better spent on building their business.

What/who has been the biggest inspiration in your career?

I tend to draw my inspiration from people around me and that is how I have judged when and where to take each step in my career. Having people around me with vision and the drive to get things done is a great motivator.

Image credit: Pollenizer

Related posts:

1. Friday Five: Connect2Field’s Steve Orenstein
2. Friday Five: Citrix’s Dino Soepono
3. Friday Five: Sophos’ Rob Forsyth
4. Friday Five: Bang the Table’s Karthik Reddy
5. Friday Five: Nuix’s Eddie Sheehy

1. Rob
   Posted 14/08/2010 at 5:36 am | Permalink | Reply

   One of the teachers from his old primary school is very impressed with his career path and is delighted to hear of Jon’s success – its great what a good Scots education coupled with the Aussie lifestyle can produce!!