Darren Poulton

NZ Tech Hiring – July 2025 A quick pulse check for anyone recruiting in the current climate. 📉 Perm hiring remains slow across a lot of the tech space — particularly mid-senior delivery, engineering and leadership roles. Most businesses are being cautious, prioritising BAU over transformation unless it's tied to revenue, risk or compliance. 🛠️ Contracting is ticking along, especially in areas like cloud, cyber, data, and large regulatory programmes. We're seeing demand for flexible resources, often scoped to shorter terms. 📊 The good news? There’s solid talent on the market. Some high-calibre PMs, developers, BAs and architects are open to work following restructures and programme wrap-ups. These aren’t the “active candidates” from job boards — these are proven operators who are open to the right opportunity. 🎯 But that’s the catch: they’re being selective. People are looking for clarity — hybrid expectations, meaningful work, and engaged leadership. The days of vague briefs and unclear pipelines won’t cut it. 🔍 From a recruiter’s view, the market is: Candidate-rich but opportunity-lean Fast-moving in contracting Quietly competitive for top-tier talent If you're hiring and not seeing results, it may be time to reassess how the role is positioned, or how you're approaching the market. Always happy to talk through what we're seeing firsthand. #techrecruitment #nztech #contractingnz #digitalhiring #talentmarket #techjobsnz #marketinsights

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🛩️ While everyone was criticising the NZ Government’s national AI strategy, MBIE’s Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses flew under the radar. Despite several shortcomings, the guidance provides a useful introduction to Responsible AI for Kiwi businesses. 👷 But a key challenge is moving from high-level principles and “tips” to practical, proportionate actions that reflect our local environment. Because while the risks of AI are clear (well, not in the guidance unfortunately…), ultimately it’s how you address them that matters. As discussed in our recent Simply Privacy newsletter article (link in comments), we recommend taking action now to embed responsible AI practices. That includes: ✳️ Understanding your AI activities, including shadow AI ✳️ Confirming your AI strategy and risk appetite ✳️ Clarifying accountabilities and responsibilities ✳️ Having clear policies and guardrails around acceptable use of AI ✳️ Training your teams Real progress in driving trust in AI will come not from waiting on government or global standards, but from businesses putting proportionate, workable practices into place. #responsibleai #aigovernance #privacy #trust Simply Privacy Emma Pond Daimhin Warner

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The question isn't whether AI will transform software engineering. The question is whether you'll lead this transformation or become its casualty. We're witnessing the death of incremental progress in software engineering—and the birth of computational dominance. The AI revolution in software development isn't evolution; it's systematic obliteration of legacy paradigms. While competitors debate optimization, visionary operators are architecting the future—and the Windsurf Acquisition Saga serves as our tactical blueprint for seizing this inflection point. This isn't just about faster coding; it's about redefining the very nature of the development cycle. My latest analysis dissects how industry titans executed a sophisticated resource allocation war—positioning this acquisition not as a transaction, but as a future-focused land grab that creates an unbridgeable chasm between neural-augmented organizations and traditional development shops. The Windsurf Acquisition Saga isn't just a business story; it's a systems-level blueprint for the future of AI-powered software engineering's architecture. I try to dissect the recent Windsurf acquisition, revealing it as a pivotal case study in distributed AI development. This "future-focused land grab" signifies a competitive chasm separating organizations that embrace neural-augmented development from those clinging to traditional workflows. Here is the link to it: https://lnkd.in/ehYPvWFy In my latest analysis, I unpack: - The Multi-Party Optimization: How OpenAI, Google, and Cognition executed a sophisticated resource allocation strategy, valuing IP, human cognitive capital, and operational infrastructure differently. - Agentic IDE Architecture: The profound technical sophistication of Windsurf's AI-enhanced coding environment, where autonomous agents execute complex tasks, fundamentally shifting developer productivity. - The Productivity Multiplication Effect: The exponential velocity unleashed by integrating AI into end-to-end software delivery pipelines, moving from syntactic tools to cognitive architectures. - Strategic Implications: The evolution of software engineers from imperative programmers to declarative AI orchestrators, navigating new cognitive complexities and a tiered automation model. Are you ready to lead the charge in this new computational era?

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When AI “assists” but doesn’t verify even the biggest names can stumble. Deloitte Australia has agreed to refund the government after a $440,000 report was found to contain AI-generated errors including fabricated quotes and references that never existed. The report, prepared for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, used generative AI (GPT-4) for drafting but without full disclosure. When reviewers found hallucinated citations, Deloitte had to revise the document and issue a refund. This incident reminds us that: AI can accelerate work but it cannot replace accountability. Verification and human oversight remain non-negotiable. Transparency in how AI is used is essential for trust. As organizations embrace generative AI, the lesson is clear speed and innovation must never come at the cost of integrity and accuracy. AI should augment human intelligence, not replace it. #ArtificialIntelligence #Ethics #Leadership #AIinBusiness #Deloitte #AIMistakes #Habilelabs #GenerativeAI

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