Jurie-Jan Botha
LinkedIn
GitHub
Software Architect/Engineer
About
I'm a Software Architect and Engineer with more than 20 year experience. I got into software development
at the age of 10 when games captured my imagination. My first jobs in the industry were as a Technical
Specialist, but I made a point of learning everything I came into contact with and quickly made a career
as a software architect and engineer. I've most recently been a founder and manager of my own small
company, but will be winding it down to join another team.
Experience
Founder and Lead Software Architect/Engineer - Culture
Systems
January 2019 - Current
South Africa | Remote
Leading design and development on a variety of projects. Mostly involved as a full stack
engineer, product owner and project manager, but comfortable with with whichever role is
required at the time.
Managing day-to-day operations of business including accounting, marketing and
engineering.
Analyzing requirements for client business solutions and authoring
proposals/specifications.
Deciding on the tools and technologies to use for implementing the defined solutions.
Providing development environments along with documentation for each project to improve
engineer collaboration and minimize time required for setup.
Designing and implementing back-end systems and their protocols with a focus on live
streaming the latest data.
Designing and implementing front-end applications mainly for Web, but also Android and
iOS.
Systematically separating functionality into reusable libraries and components.
Breaking up work into features sets and tasks, then distributing work amongst team
members and external contractors.
Reviewing work submitted by team members and contractors, while providing feedback and
leading discussions on architecture/engineering choices.
Setting up bare metal and cloud instances for running back-end systems and serving
applications.
Designing, building and developing hardware and firmware for communications devices.
Skills: Leadership, Management, Communication, Engineering, Architecture, Product, Analysis,
Documentation, UI/UX, Firmware, Electronics
Tools: Rust, Go, Dart, Flutter, JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, GRPC, AWS, Firebase, etcd,
Docker
Contracting Software Architect/Engineer -
CodeCollective
February 2021 - September 2023
Cape Town, South Africa | Remote
Leading the development effort for on a variety of projects, and building a single team that can
works across them all as required.
Exploring back-end and front-end libraries to be used to inter component communication.
Advising on UI/UX design to maintain coherence and optimize development efforts.
Leading development of reusable libraries and components across projects.
Reviewing work submitted by team members and contractors, while providing feedback and
leading discussions on architecture/engineering choices.
Skills: Leadership, Communication, Architecture, Engineering, UI/UX
Tools: Dart, Flutter, C#, Azure, SQL, GraphQL, OpenAPI, Firebase
Contracting Software Engineer - OpenUp
June 2020 - January 2021
Cape Town, South Africa | Remote
Consulting during the planning stage of the next iteration of the Municipal Money
(http://municipalmoney.gov.za/) project, assisting with documentation, and implementing changes
across the entire stack of the platform.
Skills: Communication, Architecture, Engineering, UI/UX
Tools: Python, Django, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, MySQL
Lead Software Architect/Engineer - Finlight
January 2019 - May 2019
London, United Kingdom | Remote
Restructuring the entire technology stack to improve productivity and platform scalability.
Leading project management, specification and development.
Skills: Leadership, Communication, Architecture, Engineering, UI/UX, Product
Tools: Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Nginx
Contracting Software Architect/Engineer - VML
May 2017 - December 2018
Cape Town, South Africa | Remote
Worked on the Old Mutual South Africa Transformation project as a developer, architect,
consultant and team leader for a variety of browser based applications.
Skills: Leadership, Communication, Engineering, Documentation, UI/UX
Tools: JavaScript, HTML, CSS
Software Architect/Engineer - Lightstack
March 2015 - March 2017
Cape Town, South Africa | Remote
Leading specification and development for the browser based application component of the
Firstrade Navigator project. This role especially involved the exploration and application of
scalable patterns and optimisation techniques.
Skills: Leadership, Architecture, Communication, Engineering, Documentation, UI/UX
Tools: JavaScript, Node.js, HTML, CSS, OpenAPI
Chief Technical Officer - Ashanti Help
March 2014 - February 2015
Klerksdorp, South Africa | Remote
Working towards streamlining internal business processes and increasing scalability. Also
exploring the development of various products in the insurance sphere and building the flagship
product that focused directing insurance claims to service providers.
Skills: Leadership, Architecture, Communication, Engineering, Documentation, UI/UX, Product
Tools: Go, Node.js, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, MongoDB, Android
Chief Technical Officer - NumberPicture
September 2013 - January 2014
Sofia, Bulgaria
Leading development, managing team and advising on product direction for an info-graphics
generation platform.
Skills: Leadership, Architecture, Communication, Engineering, Documentation, UI/UX, Product
Tools: JavaScript, Node.js, HTML, CSS
Lead Software Architect/Engineer - Edge Campus
January 2012 - March 2013
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Leading development on the Qurio platform that was aimed at providing assessment tools in the
education sector. Involved with managing the project, building the team and improving
development processes.
Skills: Leadership, Architecture, Communication, Engineering, Documentation, UI/UX, Product
Tools: JavaScript, Node.js, HTML, CSS
Contracting Software Engineer - Unomena
April 2011 - December 2011
Cape Town, South Africa | Remote
Working on a variety of projects ranging from micro-sites for marketing campaigns to user
generated content portals.
Skills: Communication, Engineering
Tools: Python, Django, JavaScript, HTML, CSS
Senior Software Developer - XO Africa
March 2010 - February 2011
Cape Town, South Africa
Selecting development tools, patterns and platforms while also building the
flagship product aimed at creating and managing bespoke tours.
Skills: Leadership, Communication, Engineering, Documentation
Tools: Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, MySQL, SQLAlchemy
Founder and Lead Software Architect/Engineer - OCO Mobile
January 2009 - February 2011
Johannesburg, South Africa
Managing all aspects of the company in the development of mobile sites, applications and games.
Notably designing and developing 4 award winning mobile games for corporate clients.
Skills: Leadership, Architecture, Communication, Engineering, Documentation, UI/UX, Product,
Game Design
Tools: Java, Java ME, Java EE, Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, MySQL
Intermediate/Senior Software Engineer - Helm
April 2006 - December 2008
Johannesburg, South Africa | Remote
Building custom content management systems for a variety of clients in the broadcasting and
publishing industry.
Skills: Leadership, Communication, Engineering, Documentation, UI/UX, Product, Game Design
Tools: Python, Django, Java, Java EE, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, MySQL
Technical Specialist - Vodacom
July 2005 - March 2006
Johannesburg, South Africa
Development, support and systems administration for the Vodafone Live platform and adjacent
services.
Skills: Communication, Engineering, Documentation
Tools: Java, Java EE, Oracle Database, SQL, Unix
Technical Specialist - BP
May 2004 - December 2004
Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
Automation of maintenance tasks for point of sales systems and credit card authentication
terminals and 3rd line support.
Skills: Communication, Engineering, Documentation, Support
Tools: C++, SQL, TCP/IP
Publications
Grunt.js Cookbook - Packt Publishing
June 29, 2015
Grunt Cookbook offers a host of easy-to-follow
recipes for automating repetitive tasks in your web
application's development, management, and
deployment processes. This book will introduce you
to methods that can be used to automate basic
processes and your favorite tools. By following the
recipes, you will soon be comfortable using Grunt to
perform a wide array of advanced tasks in a range of
different scenarios.
Education
Grade 12 (A-Levels) - Klerksdorp College - 2001