Who Am I?

I am a software developer. My language of choice is currently Java.

I am originally South African. And old enough to have done 2 years of compulsory national service. When I idly mentioned this to someone at my last place of employment, they looked at me, gasped and backed away with "You're a trained killing machine!". I started to tell them that no, I am not that at all when I realised that I may have just missed the point of national service.

Before national service I spent six months working as a court orderly - my father thought that law was a good solid career move. This experience convinced me that my father might know a good career but that I would rather not spend my life arguing about the meaning of words.

So I graduated with a dual major degree, one major in Physics with Electronics, and the other in Computer Science. I loved Physics, but given that there is a widespread need for Physicists I chose a career in that real life soap opera called software development. I must be a good employee: I have only worked for three companies to date (this may also even mean that I am a good software developer).

At the first company I developed embedded software for systems designed to analyse naval radar emissions. It was fun, and I made some great friends, but it wasn't very well paid. So after a number of years I set myself up as an independent contractor.

My first contract turned out to be my only one - it just kept on being extended. The company I worked for had just won a tender to make pension payments in the townships around Cape Town. They chose to do this with cash dispensers mounted on trailers. Attached to each cash dispenser was a PC and a fingerprint scanner. The beneficiaries would swipe a card, put their finger on the scanner, and collect their cash. Clean, simple and something that cut out fraud on so many levels.

I was the person who developed and was responsible for the software that ran the computer network on the trailers. From the cash dispensers to the fingerprint scanners - I tied it all together and made it sing. Not only was this work well paid, but I also managed to make a difference to people's lives. And mine: I now always count the money a cash dispenser gives me.

But then political interference started to cloud the picture. My wife was pregnant and we wanted to travel. So we decided to come to New Zealand before my wife gave birth, as it is so much easier to travel with a baby this way!

In New Zealand I was recruited to work for a company that developed legal practise management software.  There is irony here, given my early career advice from my father. The company was eventually acquired by American venture capitalists, who proudly boasted "we know software". They certainly didn't know people, and when they chose to relocate the development of the product to Auckland the entire team opted to part company and to stay in Wellington, despite transfer offers. Thus dooming the product. But if you truly knew software, you would have realised this before enforcing the move. It was a great pity, as I believe that the legal market is poorly served by their software vendors - our product had an architectural foundation that could have changed that.

Since then I have been doing some more independent contracting. And running the Wellington Java User Group.

Our baby is now a beautiful ten year old girl, with a younger sister. And we are now planning an Australian adventure!