Australia Government Department of Veterans' Affairs | Veteran Employment Commitment (VEC) | Veteran Employment Program | Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace
When it comes to our team, we value mindset, alignment with our culture and potential, just as much as formal qualifications.
It’s this approach that led us to hire Brett Earle, who has since grown from an entry-level position to become a senior web developer managing his own team.
Before Notitia, Brett served in the Australian Army as part of the Combat Engineers Regiment.
“I served in the Combat Engineers Regiment for a little over five years. It’s taken me another 8 years to find the right career for me as a civilian,” Brett shares.
Building a meaningful civilian career
After leaving the ADF, Brett’s path to a fulfilling civilian career wasn’t straightforward. Like many veterans, he faced the challenge of translating his military experience into something meaningful outside of service.
He decided to retrain in a trade, earning a Certificate III in Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Servicing and working as a refrigeration technician.
“After a few years, I realised that the job didn’t align with my goals or lifestyle,” Brett explains.
“It felt like I still hadn’t found the right career path. It was then I decided to get an ‘office job’ and self-taught myself to become a web developer.”
Learning to code before sunrise
When Brett decided to change careers, he was working in a trade job, waking up at 4am every day to teach himself web development.
“I’d get up at 4am and study for three hours, go to work, come home and study again – for eight months,” he says.
“And that’s how I learnt the skills needed to become an entry-level web developer – without having to go out and get a formal qualification.”
Instead of enrolling in a university degree, Brett took matters into his own hands.
“I researched industry standards and job requirements and focused on fundamental technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript,” he says.
“I followed a free online curriculum, but nothing that was paid or certified, or university-based. I just worked out what I needed to learn and that was it.”
His self-starting attitude and work ethic immediately stood out to Notitia Managing Director Alex Avery.
“Brett stood out for us as an ideal candidate for a number of reasons, but we immediately knew that he was a ‘culture fit’ and had the drive and ability to be a successful web developer,” Alex says.
His service in the ADF played a huge part in his values, determination, problem-solving abilities and drive to continuously upskill, Alex says.
“It didn’t matter that he didn’t have the ‘on-paper’ qualifications – we saw his potential and were happy to provide formal mentorship, training and a career progression plan to support his growth.”
Notitia has been recognised by the Australia Government - having joined the Veteran Employment Commitment (VEC) as part of its inclusive hiring practices. Read more on the Veteran Employment website.
From entry-level tech position to team lead
Today, Brett leads the development team at Notitia and continues to thrive.
“Looking back it's crazy to think that, within two years, I’ve gone from getting my first entry-level role, to where I am today, with real-life technical expertise in a senior management position,” Brett says.
Even though he’s now writing code instead of building infrastructure or servicing equipment, Brett says the same values and motivations carry through.
“My work at Notitia allows me to continue to contribute to projects that improve public services or help Australians in some way,” he says.
“Solving problems is something that I really enjoy… To be able to build products for clients that help them to get better results and access more funding has been pretty wicked.”
From Aboriginal child and family centres to health services, Brett has worked on digital products that have a tangible impact.
“Each hands-on job I did in the army – wasn’t just a task that needed to be done, it was part of a bigger picture,” he says.
“It comes back to the same thing as why I enjoyed fixing someone's fridge or serving in the ADF.
“It's not because I’m there fixing a fridge, it’s because now they get to keep pushing on in their cafe, with their cold room working.”
Culture, flexibility and growth
When asked what drew him to Notitia, Brett says the culture.
“I feel really lucky that I landed with Notitia – it’s the perfect blend of casual and professional, the people are awesome and it’s flexible, I mostly work from home in my hoodie,” he says.
That flexibility is important for Brett, especially now that he’s a parent.
“Earlier this year I took extended paid parental leave to support my new family which was invaluable,” he says.
“We also get perks like our annual company offsite – as a whole team, we’ve travelled to Hobart and Cairns and have spent our end of year celebrations in Melbourne and Adelaide.”
At Notitia, we’ve built policies around supporting career-changers, return-to-work parents, visa sponsorships, and veterans transitioning into civilian roles—because we know firsthand the value they bring.
Advice for others on the same path
For veterans considering a career change, Brett says: “Put yourself out there – you don’t have to get it right the first time.”
“From my experience it took learning lessons from my intermediate job to figure out what lifestyle I wanted and what goals I wanted to reach,” he says.
“From there I was able to work towards a career that was better suited to me and my family.”
Committing to learning new skills with a positive attitude is important, Brett says.
“You need to be willing to put in some work, but your attitude and willingness to learn will get you to that next step,” he says.
And Brett has no plans to slow down. “My goals are to continue to develop my technical skills and experience in my career as a web developer.
“I won’t ever feel as if I’ve reached the ‘height’ of my ability because it's a constantly evolving field and there is always a more challenging or meaningful project to work on.”
Notitia proudly supports the Veteran Employment Program.
As part of our diversity and inclusion workplace culture, we have joined the Veteran Employment Commitment and working towards becoming a Veteran Employer of Choice.
What we do
Notitia is a wholly owned and operated Australian analytics, design and web development consultancy. We’re local, across Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, and Brisbane and help our clients – from both public and private sectors, through to not-for-profits, government and healthcare – with data and digital transformation.
Our Culture
We achieve industry-leading results because of our people. In a short amount of time, we’ve grown operations across Australia– with the priority to create a talented, diverse and inclusive team who align with our values, and complement each other's strengths, ways of thinking and approaches to solutions.
