Meet Updater: Stu Hume, VP of Engineering
Please say hello to Stu Hume, Updater’s VP of Engineering and a man of many homes. Stu grew up all around the world, has moved more than 10 times (kids and all!), and most recently arrived in the United States from Australia.
Stu, let’s dive straight in with two things most people don’t know about you.
I love science fiction and anything to do with space, rockets, and physics. I really wish I had my private pilots license.
You may not be able to fly planes, but you’ve definitely moved via plane. You’ve lived all over the world – do you have any moving horror stories?
When I moved into my house, we messed up the water connection dates. The utility company turned off the water the day after we moved in, and it took 3 days to get it back on!
Wow, that’s a terrible date typo! What’s your best piece of moving advice?
Make a list of everything to do. Have a plan with dates on it.
Touche. What would you make sure to never do again?
Not prepare an “open first box.” It makes setting up on arrival SO much easier.
With all that moving you’ve done, Updater seems like a great choice to continue your engineering career. What made you join Updater?
When I decided to join Updater, it was three things: the people, the challenge of building scaled teams and software, and the vision. Moving is painful. There are so many aspects that should be easy, and the vision from the leadership team on how to make it fun was inspiring for me. I have a passion for building scaled software that takes the chore out of everyday things – Updater’s moving technology is all this and more.
What technology are you most excited about right now?
Quantum Computing. This will be as big a leap for IT as the move from valves to silicon chips. The realms of possible advancements in so many fields from medicine, to AI, to automation – it’s boggling. My goal for 2021 is to do one of the online quantum programming courses, as we are seeing the first quantum SaaS services come online.
Having said that, who do you admire most as a business leader?
Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. They never lost sight of the value of humanity and the importance of making life better for everyone. They have done things no one else has done, and yet they are humble, real people who make life better for everyone they interact with.
Last question – it’s the zombie apocalypse. Where do you hide?
There is no hiding.
More Updater Life
Changes to Updater’s team
16 August 2022
Updater raises $215M to accelerate product, design, data, and engineering
19 May 2022
