Hello, welcome to The Ultimate Guide to Jobs in Sport! 👋 

Here you’ll find interviews with (almost) every job in the sports industry.
We ask people living the dream:

“How did you get your job?” and “What does it actually involve?”
So that you can land a dream job in sports too.

Enjoy!

#352: From casual coder to product manager - How to build a career in sport tech with Ryan Patterson

Meet Ryan Patterson, product manager at Premier Data, a fast-growing sports technology startup that's closing the gap between elite-level analytics and grassroots sport.

Ryan's path into sport is anything but linear. From scanning groceries at Woolworths at age 15, to progressively building his university qualifications across three degrees, a Bachelor of Business that evolved into Sport Management, and then a double degree adding Sport Science once he realised data analytics was where his future lay, Ryan has consistently leaned into what excited him rather than following a predetermined plan. Alongside his studies, he represented Deakin University on study tours in India and Chicago, always looking to make the most out of every opportunity in front of him.

Over six years, he's worked his way through four distinct roles at Premier Data from casual coder to Product Manager, while simultaneously spending seven Australian Opens in the Ball Kids Ops team at Tennis Australia. Ryan has sat courtside for Grand Slam finals, worked inside Collingwood's coaches’ box, been featured in a Netflix documentary at the AO, and helped build a startup from 20 games to 250 games a week.

But his real superpower? Saying yes before he knew the answer, starting small, and staying long enough to grow into something bigger than he imagined.

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear exactly how he did it!