Feb 2020 – Mar 2022 · 2 yrs 1 mo · Remote

• Over was acquired by GoDaddy in February 2020. I worked on the GoDaddy Studio app (formerly Over) as a Principal Android Engineer (GoDaddy SDE 5) and the Guild Lead for Android (See Over experience below). https://godaddy.com/studio
• The App was selected as "Editor's Choice" in July 2021.

Mar 2018 – Feb 2020 · 1 yr 11 mos · Remote

• Over is a popular mobile design tool for users to create social media graphics, flyers, posters, videos. I am currently responsible for shipping new features, supporting old features and involved in product design decisions as well as heading up the Android Guild and supporting the Android Developers.
• Currently coding in Kotlin with RxJava, MVI (Mobius) and MVVM, Architecture Components, Dagger.
• The Over Android app was featured in the "Early Access" Category on Google in the beginning of November 2018. The Over Android App featured on Google Play in the "New and Updated" category on 30 November 2018 after launching on the 26th of November.
• From launch the app reached the #5 Top Grossing app in Art & Design within 1 month of launching. It is now ranked #2 in Art & Design in 102 countries.
• In October 2019, Over won the award for the Best Consumer Solution at the MTN App of the Year awards hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Some of my personal achievements at Over include: building out the graphics picker, the font picker and the initial template feed in the application. I was also heavily involved in building the persistence process of the designs to disk and the way in which the design templates are created and stored. I've also contributed to building out some of the complex Canvas tools - such as image effects (vignette, sharpen filters) using practical image processing techniques such as Renderscript and ColorFilters, the color picker tools and font adjustments such as kerning and line height tools. Working with OpenGL (migrating our render pipeline to use this), working with MediaCodec APIs to deliver the latest video feature.
• My biggest achievement to date is the completion of the Mask Tool, that allows you to erase parts of a layer with your finger (allowing you to extract backgrounds, erase bits of text etc). This was particularly challenging but very rewarding.
• The company was acquired in February 2020 by GoDaddy.

Jan 2018 – Jan 2022 · 4 yrs · Remote

• As an author on Pluralsight, I create online courses for developers to learn new skills from.
• My first course, Android Fundamentals: ConstraintLayout has been viewed numerous times with a rating of 4.9 out of 5 out of 52 ratings.
• I enjoy teaching and helping people become better at their jobs, so I really enjoy creating this kind of content online.

Mar 2017 – Mar 2018 · 1 yr

• Responsible for leading the Android development teams at DVT. This includes setting up training for new graduates to introduce them to mobile concepts, conducting interviews, speaking at events and promoting best practises within the organisation with regards to Android development. I am also involved in training programs for other staff members.
• Achievements:
• Trained and mentored over 25 graduates in different skills to get them well equipped with facing a job in a corporate environment. This included hands on training in how to use git, how to write clean code with tests, how to implement the SOLID principles in mobile development and more specific topics related to Android development such as the basics of Android development, Grade, CI /CD systems, Unit Testing, UI testing with Espresso and ConstraintLayout etc. 100% of these graduates were then successfully placed at different clients after this training.
• I was involved in the recruitment process of new developers into the mobile teams, including the filtering through CVs, conducting technical interviews and reviewing submitted code for potential candidates.
• I was also involved in some of the R&D done at DVT including building out projects with IoT such as a Smart Candy Dispenser that dispensed candy when a smile was detected.
• I was also involved in some initiatives for planning and conducting internal staff events which included organising speakers and attendees and planning of developer events.
• I headed up the internal training initiatives for the Android developers within DVT including running a ConstraintLayout workshop multiple times and other internal talks.

Apr 2014 – Feb 2017 · 2 yrs 10 mos

• Contracted to DStv as an Android Developer.

May 2014 – Feb 2017 · 2 yrs 9 mos · City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

• At DStv, I was responsible for the implementation of features within the DStv Now Android application. I provided technical guidance to team members and mentored junior developers. DStv Now focuses on providing DStv users with the ability to stream and download content such as movies, sport etc. The app won an award in 2015 for Best Consumer App at the MTN App of the Year awards. Since the app launch, we increased the app rating from 3.79 to 3.95 out of 17 700 reviews. The app has over 2 million installs and 400 000 monthly active users.

Dec 2012 – Mar 2014 · 1 yr 3 mos · Melrose Arch, Johannesburg

• Responsible for designing and developing software for clients such as Discovery, Deloitte and Microsoft. Key roles include development, testing and deployment, mentoring and training of team members, writing of technical specifications, presenting of mobile training and communicating with clients.

Jan 2011 – Nov 2012 · 1 yr 10 mos

• I tutored Computer Science 1, Computer Science 3 and Informatics 3 at the University of Johannesburg.
• This involved helping with practicals and theory work that students may struggle with in class.