Dedicating Valuable Contributions To Improve Ignition And The Community

Nick Minchin’s Ignition journey started in 2014 as part of a fuel filling system for the rail industry. Soon after, he saw an opportunity that would change the course of his career. 

Nick proposed a bold idea to replace the SCADA platform at one of Australia’s largest wineries with Ignition for the same cost as two years of their ongoing support fees. With his reputation on the line, Nick fully immersed himself into Ignition development. It was during this time that he found his people on the Inductive Automation Forum. 

Ultimately, Nick’s proposal would go on to disrupt the technological landscape in the Australian wine industry before doing the same across the continent in manufacturing, utilities, agriculture, transport, and more. 

Nick’s knowledge comes from the sheer amount of time he spends developing solutions and solving challenges in live Ignition projects. Under Nick's mentorship, SAGE Automation has grown from having two Ignition developers to supporting around 90 engineers with Ignition experience.

For a decade now, Nick has demonstrated his passion for the Ignition community by working for SAGE during the day, only to jump on to the IA Forum later that night and help someone halfway across the planet, for no other benefit than because he wants to. 

Nick's contributions to the Ignition community have been truly remarkable. He genuinely wants to ensure Ignition is the best product it can be, submitting more than 200 feature requests and close to 300 bug reports, each accompanied by a detailed story, which he has been willing to discuss with IA’s Support and Development teams.

In 2024, with the help of the Inductive Automation Australia team, SAGE arranged a simple meet-and-greet at IA’s Folsom HQ with Chief Technology Evangelist Travis Cox and Chief Technology Architect Kevin McClusky. Unbeknownst to them, Nick had spent the flight from Australia compiling a 13-page list detailing how Ignition could be better. To their credit, they embraced this feedback and set up sessions for Nick with other leaders from IA Support, Development, and Quality teams, as well as the various product managers.

We’re thrilled to recognize all that Nick has done for this community — for SAGE, for Ignition, and for anyone willing to ask for help.