Curriculum Vitæ

Bird (formerly MessageBird)

• Required to work on many different products both customer facing as well as internal tooling.

• Due to my adaptability and ability to get up to speed quickly, I moved between a number of teams within the Engineering department. Often the only developer working on frontend related tasks.

• Sought after by the teams I had previously worked with. I was able to rekindle existing relationships which resulted in faster ramp up times for new initiatives or projects.

• Provided developer as well as operations responsibilities depending on the team I was with. This included answering support questions as well as on-call duties.

• Successfully conceptualized & deployed a number of solutions from loose business requirements, often under tight timelines.

• Successfully executed a number of projects from start to finish. This included: bootstrapping new micro-frontend frameworks for existing systems, decoupling internal systems from larger code bases to allow for faster development cycles as well as many new features to existing products.

Absa (formerly Barclays Africa Group Ltd)

• Responsible for projects from concept through to deployment across Africa.

• Successfully turned around several crisis portfolios & projects with a great record of delivering core requirements on time.

• Consistently given & delivered high risk or technical briefs considered too risky for other teams or members.

• Helped establish work flows & pipelines for different portfolios.

• Established best practises & support for other developers & their teams.

• Contributed to a multi-disciplinary team on the practical application of the new corporate brand.

• Introduced the bank to React & helped to integrate React into Adobe Experience Manager before there was native support.

• Motivated for & established the bank's first virtual reality capability across Cape Town, Johannesburg & Pretoria.

• Established a relationship with the University of Pretoria to better explore virtual reality, its capabilities & different forms of user engagement.

• Managed three interns remotely to produce augmented reality proof of concepts.

McCann Worldgroup South Africa (Pty) Ltd

• Was the only developer in a newly created digital department.

• Single-handedly built, deployed & maintained many of the projects I was involved with.

• Provided technical direction & insights into numerous technologies & tech-stacks.

• Interfaced directly with clients to unpack & define their core objectives.

• Provided scopes of work, functional specifications as well as process pipelines for projects.

• Successfully deployed projects within the tight time & budget constraints of the client.

• Supported the project managers, community managers & designers in the execution of their tasks.

• Conceptualised, successfully motivated, built & deployed a cross-device, cross-platform, mobile based augmented reality solution.

• Clients include: McCann Nestle Waltons Kauai UIP Chevrolet Isuzu Zurich Econet

Freelance

• Assisted clients to narrow down & define their core objectives.

• Provided technical direction on key technologies & realistic timelines required to achieve objectives.

• Successfully conceptualised, scoped, developed & deployed a number of projects.

• Utilised time to expand knowledge base, streamline development processes & investigate emerging technologies.

Gloo (merged into Ogilvy South Africa)

• Responsible for taking high-pressure individual & team briefs from concept through to deployment.

• Successfully & consistently deployed projects within the given time-lines & budgets.

• Called in to assist with crisis or time-critical projects, as well as interface with difficult clients.

• Able to identify process bottle-necks or potential pitfalls & possible ways to mitigate or resolve these issues.

• Provided technical direction for technologies not in the company portfolio.

• Supported & up-skilled the junior developers & creatives.

• Clients include: BMW FNB MINI RMB Samsung SA Tourism

LXi

• Was the only developer in the company.

• Reverse engineered application development for existing & new devices.

• Successfully planned, developed & deployed touch, multi-touch and motion capture applications.

• Researched & implemented technologies for the company.

• Interfaced directly with clients to unpack & better understand their core requirements & objectives.

• Clients included: Paragon Group PWC Sanofi Aventis SAP

iLogic

• Responsible for taking high-pressure briefs from concept through to deployment.

• Successfully planned, developed & deployed projects on desktop, social media & web.

• Deadline driven, consistently delivered projects in the given timelines.

ILA Vietnam

• Provided IELTS preparation, as well as custom classes for business & educational English.

• Commended on my innovative teaching style, vibrancy of my classes & the variety of media used in my lessons.

• Worked with various PC based learning packages with my students & helped evaluate the effectiveness of these resources.

• Responsible for planning & presenting English classes for a full range of students from young learners to adults.

• Developed teaching resources and presented workshops to my peers around the topics: “Film & video in the classroom” “Interactive software in an educational setting”.

Aston Schools

• Co-managed a school of 200 students, 2 foreign teachers, 2 Chinese teachers & a number of Chinese staff.

• Responsible for orientation, development & continuous assessment of the teaching skills of the foreign teachers.

• Developed teaching schedules & provided spread sheet templates for payrolls.

• Responsible for planning & presenting English classes for a full range of students from young learners to adults.

• Planned and delivered promotional activities for the school including: curriculum development designing advertisements delivering promotional classes (all ages) promotional field work judging English competitions creating public English corners.

Aston Schools

• Responsible for planning & presenting English classes for a full range of students from young learners to adults.

• Developed school resources including: flash-cards posters authentic materials.

AfrikaBurn

• 2019: Build team lead for the 'Sweet Love Gateway' art work.

• Successfully proposed the project & motivated for grants.

• Participated in fundraisers for the project.

• Planned, prototyped, budgeted & successfully executed the project.

• Oversaw & coordinated the transportation of equipment to the build site.

• Solely responsible for the lighting of the project, which was made up of 40m/ 2400 individually addressable LED lights.

• Invited to present & share my experiences with a number of interested parties.

• 2010: Assisted with the development & revision of the original website theme.

University of Pretoria

• Played a pivotal role in industry push towards a focus on virtual reality at the University of Pretoria.

• Invited to present guest lectures to post-graduate & prospective students.

• Invited to join workshops & panels to the benefit of students.

OppiKoppi

• Successfully conceptualised, motivated for, prototyped & led/ co-led the construction of a number of structures.

• Part of the core team which coordinated efforts between participants.

• Responsible for sourcing & transporting the equipment.

• 2017: Assisted with the construction of the final tower.

• 2015: Led the construction of the tower & assisted with the construction of the catapult.

• 2014: Led the construction of the tower & assisted with the construction of the shade dome.

• 2013: Led the construction of the solo tower.

• 2012: Led the construction of the medic tower & assisted with the construction of the primary tower.

• 2011: Led the construction of the newer, bigger tower.

• 2010: Led the construction of the first tower.

Frontend Masters

• Deeper understanding of modern development trends

• Opportunity to explore various topics around multiple languages and technology stacks.

Coursera: Machine Learning

• Provided a solid base for future machine learning projects.

• Better understanding on how to leverage machine learning techniques for computer vision & augmented reality applications.

Coursera Specialisation: Python for Everybody

• Enjoyable introduction to Python showcasing many features of the language.

• Aimed to use Python for future projects or studies.

Coursera Specialisation: Functional Programming in Scala

• Exposed to new concepts & principles in programming.

• Provided alternatives for many contemporary principles & practices.

• Provided a deeper insight & appreciation for React.

• Introduction to Apache Spark & large scale data-processing.

CELTA

• Passed with a 'Grade A'.

• Focused around effective & practical methods for English teaching.

• Empowered me to communicate effectively with elementary English learners.

• Deeper & richer understanding of what 'communication' really is.

Bachelor of Information Science (Multimedia)

Major in Multimedia

• Concerned with the practical application of different communication mediums & paradigms in a digital setting.

• Explored gamification & visual communication via basic design, layout, colour & interaction principles.

• Provided glimpses into what would later become the digital design process including graphic, product, interface, customer & user experience design.

Major in Computer Science

• Concerned with the theory & best practises of computer programming & software development.

• Explored core concepts including data-structures, design-patterns, programming languages, real-time 3D rendering, networks & security.

Major in English

• Concerned with the history, composition & use of the English language.

• Explored notable periods of literature & their effects on modern English.

Soft Skills

• Substantial communication & interpersonal skills, with a sensitivity to cultures & contexts.

• Strong leadership skills without sacrificing the ability to collaborate or follow.

• Confident presentation skills allowing easy & natural interactions with audiences.

• Good motivator able to establish meaningful RAPPORT within a team.

• Proven problem solving skills complimented with effective application of design thinking processes.

• Excited by a challenge & curious by nature.

• Self-motivated with an aptitude to rapidly upskill myself in a new technology or framework.