BREVITY PEOPLE: MEET HARLEY CRONIN

He says one of the biggest differences is technology; it’s not part of life in Samoa the way it is here in New Zealand. While it makes life more convenient, there’s the odd exception like the absence of parking metres, he laughs, which isn’t a bad thing.

Beaches and Tennis

Harley spent his childhood in Samoa, moving to Aotearoa at 18 on a University scholarship. Up until then, much of his life was dominated by tennis. He started at 5 years old and was a natural. By the age of 9 he was training almost daily and competing internationally. Harley first represented Samoa at a competition in the Cook Islands, progressing through the next level to represent his country in Fiji, and then made it into the third level of competition, here in New Zealand. From age 9-18 he represented Samoa, which included travelling to Aotearoa regularly for competitions, so by the time he arrived for University, it was like a second home.

A Scholarship Opportunity

His stardom was not limited to tennis. Harley worked hard at school, winning one of just two scholarships to attend Engineering school in NZ. “I wasn’t sure what engineering was about” he confesses, “but I was keen on the scholarship”. Luckily for Harley, when he began in engineering there was a lot more to it than he had first imagined. He knew about construction, but was excited to find there were plenty of other specialist areas to study.  Harley chose mechatronics because he was keen on technology and building robots sounded like a pretty cool way to spend time. He also liked the idea of being one of the first Samoan mechatronics engineers.

Not long into starting engineering, Harley was welcomed into South Pacific Indigenous Engineering Students (SPIES), a group supporting Māori and Pasifika students studying engineering. He credits the club with helping him get through Uni. Volunteers organise and run weekly study groups and social events to provide support. SPIES provided a home away from home – a place to hang out, connect, support, get help. In his 3rd year Harley was keen to give back to the organisation and took on the role of secretary and then Vice President. He met with team members from Brevity during this time, as Brevity was a partner company with SPIES. A meeting that eventually led him to his current role.

A Journey to Brevity

Following his studies, Harley was offered an internship with Beca, which involved working in a technology driven subdivision. At the completion of his internship Harley was required to return to Samoa for a year as part of his scholarship commitments. During this time he helped his parents run their business and returned to tennis, representing Samoa once more at the Pacific Nations Cup in Fiji in 2022.

Returning to New Zealand, Harley saw an opening at Brevity, and checked in with an old SPIES friend who was working there (meet Phoenix). With his interest in software, Harley was keen to learn more about Brevity and the development going into their engineering software solution, Prenguin.

Since starting at Brevity, Harley loves every minute of it! He says the size of the company makes it very different from working in a large organisation. The smaller size and lack of hierarchy makes for an easy going culture and a fun place to work. Being smaller also gets you closer to the workings of the organisation. He loves the trust that is put into each employee and the  transparency that’s given as a result. He says being able to see things like the company financials gives a sense of empowerment, seeing how your actions and ideas can influence the overall success of the organisation. Harley loves the way everyone is encouraged to share ideas and implement them. He also enjoys the variety of work – “every day is different as each build has its own requirements, and it’s rewarding coming up with solutions that fit the client and the architect’s needs. ”

A Great Fit

Most of all Harley enjoys the people and the culture at Brevity. Team members are encouraged to take part in volunteering work, and recently Harley loved his part in the Wonder Project. Harley supported a class of Year 5 boys in a rocket building exercise over 5 weeks. He explains while it was challenging keeping a group of exuberant  10 year olds on task, it was also really rewarding seeing their faces as they launched their rockets.

Harley is an incredibly humble person. However, his sporting and academic success speaks for itself. His achievements have come from huge amounts of determination, sacrifice and hard work. He now puts the same passion into his work at Brevity and thrives on learning new ways of working, solving complicated engineering issues and mostly on getting it right for our clients.