George Pongracz
About George Pongracz
George Pongracz is a Staff Engineer specializing in Data Engineering and Platforms at Afterpay, where he has worked since 2021. He has extensive experience in data engineering roles at various companies and holds a Master's degree in Business from Victoria University.
Work at Afterpay
George Pongracz currently holds the position of Staff Engineer: Data Engineering and Platforms at Afterpay. He has been with the company since 2021, contributing to the development and optimization of data engineering solutions. His role involves overseeing data platforms and ensuring efficient data processing to support business operations. George's expertise in data engineering is instrumental in enhancing Afterpay's data capabilities.
Previous Experience in Data Engineering
Prior to joining Afterpay, George Pongracz worked at several notable organizations in data engineering roles. He served as a Senior Data Platform Engineer at SEEK from 2018 to 2021, where he focused on data platform development. Before that, he was a Senior Data Engineer at Tabcorp from 2015 to 2018, and a Data Engineer at Toll Group from 2012 to 2015. His extensive experience in these roles has equipped him with a strong foundation in data management and engineering.
Education and Expertise
George Pongracz holds a Master’s degree in Business from Victoria University in Melbourne and a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Science from RMIT, also in Melbourne. In addition to his formal education, he completed a Data Strategy course at UC Berkeley in 2022, which focused on leveraging data as a competitive advantage. His educational background supports his expertise in data engineering and strategy.
Achievements in Data Engineering Projects
George has participated in various significant projects and hackathons that showcase his skills in data engineering. He was a captain in the Google for Data hackathon, focusing on Amundsen by LYFT, an open-source data discovery tool. He also contributed to a global hackathon involving Cockroach DB. Notably, he developed a Salesforce Dynamic Metadata Driven Data Pipeline, which automated the deployment of numerous Salesforce objects and schemas. His work includes implementing a dual Confluent Kafka Cluster and leading the migration of a data processing platform to Spark Microservices, achieving substantial cost and processing improvements.
Professional Development and Conferences
George Pongracz actively engages in professional development to enhance his knowledge and skills in data engineering and AI technologies. He attended the Nvidia Deep Learning & AI Conference in 2020, which provided insights into the latest advancements in artificial intelligence. His commitment to continuous learning is evident through his participation in various conferences and courses that focus on emerging technologies in the data field.