Innovative hub of problem solvers
At a glance
- As the Systems Delivery Engineer at the new Digital Innovation Hub at La Trobe’s Research and Innovation Precinct, Andrew McDonald’s job is to set up an array of state-of-the-art digital devices to help solve real-world problems
- The La Trobe IT graduate’s passion for philosophy led him to start an arts degree in his mid-30s, but a surprise pairing of philosophy subjects with “heavy computing” led to a new career in tech innovation
- Mr McDonald expects the hub to be a creative space, with a significant focus on data collection, storage and use, as well as the development of networks and the Internet of Things
Case study
Andrew McDonald admits to feeling like a kid in a candy store. As systems delivery engineer at the new Digital Innovation Hub at La Trobe’s Research and Innovation Precinct, Mr McDonald has access to a dazzling array of high-tech treats with the potential to solve myriad complex digital problems.
A recent La Trobe IT graduate, he’s applying his own love of problem solving to help establish a centre that will enable students, researchers and commercial partners to innovate with the support of hub experts.
Mr McDonald’s path to tech innovator was far from straightforward. He admits that he struggled through high school, completing VCE subjects years later as a mature age student. In his 30s, he found his passion, but it wasn’t tech.
“I’ve always used computers, but never thought of it as a career,” he explains. “I was a tinkerer and hobbyist. Now that I'm in the industry, I know that's common. What ultimately brought me to university – and IT – was philosophy.”
After years as a consultant project manager, Mr McDonald embarked on an Arts Degree at La Trobe, but while he loved philosophy, other humanities subjects left him cold.
“The best advice I was given was to, instead, pair your philosophy study with something technical, because philosophy is so related to all other fields,” he says. “And if you have a technical underpinning to pair it with, it really opens up a lot of doors.”
Following this advice Mr McDonald enrolled in IT, strategically selected computer science electives, and immediately warmed to the link.
“Coding and programming and things like that felt like I was writing essays,” he says. “It was so structured and logical, it just translated easily. I was never very good at maths at school, but then I did statistics, and I'm like, ‘This is just philosophy!’”
By the time he earned his IT degree in 2022, his problem-solving skills had caught the eye of La Trobe’s specialists, and he joined them to tackle projects as a casual worker before accepting a job in the Digital Innovation Hub team.
With La Trobe collaborator Cisco, he worked on a telehealth problem for the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department. It was a proof-of-concept project, where a team aimed to establish how new technologies like cameras and augmented reality devices could be harnessed to benefit patients and practitioners in emergency medicine.
Mr McDonald has helped develop control mechanisms for a myriad of next-gen devices housed in the hub, ready to be deployed to answer tech questions, develop new products and techniques, and test ideas.
Mr McDonald expects the hub to be a creative space, where people are unafraid to take risks, and with a significant focus on data collection, storage and uses, as well as the development of networks and the Internet of Things.
There's a whole ecosystem there that has real-world applications and research applications. It’s exciting to think of the opportunities it opens up and the impact we might be able to have.
The irony isn’t lost on Mr McDonald that, for a student who was relatively late to university, he’s in no hurry to leave.
“Normally, you do your degree and leave – my friends left, but I'm still here,” he says. “It’s a bit weird, but to be honest, my journey is a bit weird, so I take it as it comes. I feel comfortable and I'm enjoying it.”
Developing a partnership with La Trobe can give your organisation access to the University ecosystem of research, training and education, co-location, entrepreneurship and innovation too.
To explore opportunities within the Digital Innovation Hub, visit the website or connect with the team via dih@latrobe.edu.au