Kia Orana — welcome

Inano Knowles

Software engineer, student leader, and proud Cook Islander. Each line of code a stitch; each community a pattern.

🏆
Award winner
🎤
Public speaker
🌺
Community leader
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01 / About Who I am

Rooted in the Pa Enua, reaching into tech.

The Pa Enua are the outer islands of the Cook Islands; fifteen specks of volcanic rock and coral in an ocean of blue. That’s where my family comes from. It’s what I carry into every room I walk into.

I’m Inano, a proud Cook Islander in her final year of a Bachelor of Information Technology at QUT, majoring in Information Systems and minoring in Computer Science.

There aren’t many Polynesians in tech, and that’s exactly why I show up the way I do; founding communities, mentoring emerging coders, and carrying my culture into every room I walk into.

Soon I’ll be joining Westpac’s Next Wave program as a Software Engineer. Until then I’m still shipping, still learning, and still stitching together a career like a tivaevae; one deliberate pattern at a time.

  • Soon

    Software Engineer

    Westpac

  • 2026

    Bootcamp Graduate

    She Codes Plus

  • 2025

    Rising Star of the Year

    Women in Digital

  • 2025

    President of the Year

    QUT Guild

  • 2024

    Founding President

    QUT The Emerging Coders Hub

  • Current

    Bachelor of I.T.

    Queensland University of Technology

02 / Work 4 pieces · stitched together

Work I’m proud of.

Code, community, and leadership; each one stitched together like a tivaevae.

02 2024

Policy · Student Advocacy

QUT Guild Initiatives

Led student-experience initiatives as Guild President — translating big ideas into shipped programs. Recognised as Guild President of the Year.

  • Leadership
  • Strategy
  • Advocacy
03 2023

Full-stack · Bootcamp

She Codes Plus Capstone

Graduated the She Codes Plus bootcamp with a full-stack web project — a reminder that women belong at every layer of the stack, especially the foundations.

  • React
  • Node
  • Postgres
04 2026

Incoming · Software Engineer

Next Wave at Westpac

About to join Westpac’s Next Wave graduate program as a Software Engineer — carrying my island, my community, and everything I’ve built into enterprise-scale code.

  • Graduate Program
  • Engineering
  • Fintech
See every project
03 / Contact Meitaki ma’ata

Kia Orana

Let’s make something beautiful.

The door is open for collabs, mentoring, or coffee. I’m especially keen to hear from other Pacific folks finding their way in tech.

Or send a message

Stays on this tab — I’ll read it on the next coffee.