Be the Connection in Agriculture

I was a stranger to web-development, having specialized in C++ up to that point. I was also quite unfamiliar with agriculture, despite growing up in a farming town. This was perfect. An opportunity to build on my professional skill set and to learn about the inner workings of a vital global industry.

I was referred to Agworld and began work in October of 2021, working entirely remote from my home in Kununurra in far-north Western Australia. Anyone who has worked remotely knows it comes with challenges. The benefits of being able to live just about anywhere with an internet connection are tempered by a sense of isolation.

However, Agworld has embraced this increasingly popular arrangement. As a remote worker, I feel just as much a part of the team as I would in the office. In fact, when I was first flown down to Perth to spend time working in the main office, I was struck by how seamless that transition was. I was meeting most of my colleagues in-person for the first time, but the only thing that felt different was that some were taller or shorter than I imagined. Height is hard to gauge over Zoom!

My time with Agworld so far has been exactly what I was hoping for. I have learnt an incredible amount about software and agriculture from the people I have worked with - from developers to customer success to product managers. Adding to the personal challenges and rewards is that Agworld feels balanced between intimate start-up and established global leader in AgTech. With the partnership between Agworld and Semios being established, it is an exciting new chapter to be a part of.”

I started at Agworld back in 2011 when it was a lean startup with some questionable technology choices in the form of “digital pens”. With the launch and immediate popularity of Apple’s iPad, it made sense to quickly target this emerging platform to build technology for farmers and agronomists to use offline in the field, and this is what attracted me after working on mobile games and applications for the preceding few years.

Agworld in those early days was fast-paced, exciting, a bit stressful... trying to identify and build a common set of features that would attract customers and provide a reliable product that they could trust. It was a time of rapid growth, including expansion into the (very different) US market.

11 years later we have attracted a band of loyal customers who appreciate what we have created and how much it improves their farm, agronomy business or even their quality of life. We have a close relationship with many of our customers and they are not afraid to tell us what they love, or pull us up on the inevitable occasions that we get something wrong.

The fast-paced uncertainty of the early years has evolved into our position now where we’re supporting and improving a set of mature products where we can see how far our day-to-day work goes to improving the lives of farmers and others in the agriculture sector.

We also know how much more we can do as there’s no shortage of opportunities in this huge and varied market. For me, this is a far cry from my previous career making video games - which while great fun was a precarious industry and at its heart the only concern was entertaining people.

Now I feel that I’m making a significant difference to people’s lives and businesses in a sector critical to the survival of each and every one of us, while Agworld has provided stability and career progression as well as a fantastic culture of constant improvement with colleagues that genuinely care about our customers and each other.

As a new employee, I have found Agworld to be extremely welcoming, open and supportive. I love the collaborative and team-based environment, and the opportunity to work with colleagues from around the world. Ideas can come from anywhere in the company and I feel as though what I have shared has been consistently heard. Having the ability to work flexibility and remotely makes a huge difference and allows me to balance family life in a way that previous roles haven’t. It is the perfect combination of agtech innovation with an awesome work culture, and I look forward to a future here!