I'm Andres Varela

PioneerProduct and Ops ProfessionalSafe pair of hands
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About Me

Andres Varela

Hello, I’m a digital veteran most easily aligned with senior Operations, Transformation and Product -joining your team through my own consultancy or directly. I’m Project Management Professional (PMP) and Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) certified.

I’m a generalist who has been working in digital since the pre-mobile, pre-Google era. In the 90’s I built the UK’s first online mall and later was Yahoo’s first UK advertiser. In a career of genuine ‘firsts’ I came to Singapore in 2010 working mainly in web and mobile development, but also entirely offline handling operations for a series-C biotech.

Bridging the gap between technologists and other stakeholders, I bring a track record of successful customer-centric leadership in a wide range of environments. Like the first-of-its-kind fintech platform in Myanmar, the mult-million dollar gaming site(s) and that time I built an elephant satellite tracking system for Nelson Mandela…

I’ve been around long enough that I probably have experience of the verticals and skills you’re looking for -and the sense to honestly tell you if I don’t.

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Interview Q&A

So you think I might be a good fit but you’re quite not ready to commit to a call, coffee or email.

Here’s some background on me, as standard interview questions.

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Skills

These tend to be the most commonly sought-after skills. You’ll find plenty more

in my lengthy LinkedIn profile or just by letting me know what you’re looking for.

Consulting

Setting up my own consultancy in 2018 I’ve been able to share and expand my experience – for example establishing a Singapore software studio for a UK client, due diligence (multiple angles included commercials, management, tech) on behalf of VCs and deliver new premises, teams and processes to a biotech.

Communications

Whether it’s CRM for the world’s first online lottery, giving regular OHS training to >150 lab personnel, developing social media campaigns, or keeping stakeholders aligned throughout an international project I know how to talk, and listen, to your audience.

Startups (Employee, Advisor, Investor)

When we pivoted our 30-person software skunkworks into a Singapore-based venture builder I was able to work with all kinds of startups in the region and which grew to a team of over 150 in the UK and Asia.

Leadership

Taking responsibility for people and outcomes, whether as first-hire or next-hire, I’ve been delivering successful projects and developing talent for almost 30 years.

Product / Project Management

I got my PMP (Project Management Professional) Certificate more to demonstrate my skills than anything else. Similarly, I got my PSPO (Professional Scrum Product Owner) certification to show the folks I was mentoring that I know what I’m on about.

Agile, Scrum, Lean

These frameworks and approaches are widely used, and often abused, as waterfall with extra steps. I take a pragmatic approach to align my way of working with the organisation to get the best outcome -whether that means learning ‘your version’ of helping you move towards with industry standards.

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Recent Blog

Blogpost header image showing the opening scene from Cleanerbot Rescue
Cleanerbot Rescue, part 1

Using AI to simplify game logic and build the code at the same time. Free code and lessons learned.

Cleanerbot Rescue goes online!
Cleanerbot Rescue, part 2

Build and play an AI-driven text adventure game using Flask and Google Cloud App Engine. Links to the game, source code and challenges faced.

Audio from NotebookLM paired with AI-generated talking heads from Hedra
How I used NotebookLM for an elevator pitch

I used NotebookLM to review my site and create a podcast highlighting what it found interesting. Then I added lip-synced AI faces to my cheerleaders....

Cleanerbot Rescue, part 3 - serving the whole game from within an LLM
Cleanerbot Rescue, part 3

The next step in AI-driven game development: running a text adventure game entirely from within a Large Language Model (LLM). Tutorial gives examples...