Originally from Belgium and then Napier, Max first moved to Palmerston North in 2012 to study. “It’s a great student city - my first year was one of the best of my life, I met so many cool people.” He worked here for a few years, but relocated to Tauranga so he could stay with family and keep costs down while training to be a pilot instructor. After lockdowns hit and he decided to pivot into tech, Palmy was back on the cards.

“We shifted back partly for my partner Jess’ career as a pilot, but also because there is a decent amount of tech companies in Palmy. I reached out to a few on LinkedIn, and quickly landed a job with Nodero.”

And Max was so glad he did! Nodero specialise in app development, Microsoft technologies, UX design, and data, with a focus on helping organisations harness technology to improve their business. They have a strong focus on relationships, which Max loved. "You can see it in the team culture, it's really authentic - how we work with each other, with our clients, and finding ways to give back to our wider community."

Two years on, Max can see that joining Nodero was the perfect place to start his career. “I was still new to the industry, so Colin, a senior developer, helped me get up to scratch and gave me the support I needed. And that wasn’t just me - we get interns regularly from UCOL | Te Pūkenga and the seniors spend time helping all the interns grow. We've employed many of them afterwards, so clearly Nodero sees the benefit of getting juniors in and helping build their talent.”

Plus, they still get to have fun on their budget. “Along with two of our friends, we’ve started going out to a new place for dinner each month, and we all do a review on it. We’ve done six or seven different places together - Beaver and Bear was the highest scoring, but The Fat Farmer was a favourite as well! That said, our go-to place for a date night is Brew Union, we're big fans.”

“I really love living in Palmy - it's funny because when I first moved here, I had a good time, but I thought ‘Oh, I’d like to live somewhere super sunny’. But when I came back, I was like ‘Wow, I love this - everything’s just easy.’”