Na-iem Dollie

Experience

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  Telkom

  Mar 2000 - Aug 2001

  Central Systems Administrator

  I was the Business Objects company expert. My other duties included:- Administering Oracle databases- Administering the HP systems that it was running on.- Writing C scripts to do maintenance work on databases.- Unix Shell scripting for system admin.- Database Maintenance- Assisted with Java GUI and backend development for an application used to access an Ingres database.

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  E-Commerce Marketing

  Aug 2001 - Jun 2002

  Software Engineer and Mathematician

  C++ developer: created various online gamesMathematician: determined theoretical parameters for the games and ensured they are within acceptable range

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  Software Futures

  Nov 2002 - Jun 2003

  Software Engineer

  - Designed and Developed ETL applications- Chosen by the Architect to research certain technologies on his behalf

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  Prism Transwitch Services

  Aug 2003 - Sept 2004

  Senior Support Engineer

  - Slashed the runtime of a daily payments recon service from >24 hours to 7 seconds.- With several more checks added, the process ran in under 2 minutes.- Mentored junior developers on software engineering best practice

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  Cybicom Specialised Solutions

  Oct 2004 - Sept 2005

  Senior Software Engineer

  - Successfully completed and delivered military simulation system to client (C++)

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  Swisttech Solutions

  Sept 2005 - Oct 2007

  Senior Software Engineer & Team Lead

  - Maintained and improved an ETL data processing system (C)- Researched, implemented and guided team on best practice- Slashed the error rate by championing extensively documented testing for the team

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  Autochartist

  Nov 2007 - Nov 2013

  Senior Software Engineer

  I was the first employee for the startup company Autochartist. * Increased our data ingestion capability by integrating with new data feed APIs (C++) * Created a new product for the company: Fibonacci patterns for instrument trading (C++) * Slashed DB infrastructure costs by 33% by improving DB performance (MS SQL Server)* Saved the company from losing its second largest client.

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  IMQS

  Dec 2013 - Feb 2019

  Senior Java & DevOps Engineer

  Senior Java DeveloperCollaborated within a team to create Java backend software responsible for processing cellular tower status data. * Developed a proof of concept (POC) to monitor passive equipment on cell towers.* Increased client interest in and engagement with the POC by proactively creating more advanced trend analysis predictive reports (in addition to the basic visualisation reports).Senior DevOps Engineer Optimized processes as follows: * Slashed deployment time by 80% through the creation of efficient deployment management tools. (Ruby) * Established monitoring and alerting by deploying and configuring relevant software (DataDog, loggly, Prometheus) * Built out and managed CI process (Jenkins-based)in collaboration with Dev Team Leads * Dockerized some of our services and orchestrated them using Docker Swarm Show less

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  Matri-C

  Mar 2019 - Feb 2020

  Head of Software Engineering and Co-founder

  - Co-founded Matri-C - Company mission: to minimize time and cost for accessing legacy data stored in offline databases and backups.- Company strategy: 10x speed improvement when accessing archived data. By implementing a C++ backend we achieved 30x time reduction (15 days to 12 hours) - Target market: Insurance companies - Role: In charge of Software Engineering - Achievements: Architected and Developed, from scratch, a product to index and read offline DBs and backups of DBs Product Layers* Backend: C++ Multithreaded boost server app for file reading with ReST interface and command line interface.* Middleware: Elixir Server app with ReST interface, accepting SQL-like commands for generic database access. * Front-end: React PWA with functionality for users to visually build SQL-like commands.LearningsThe company was not successful. Hereafter I read the book "The Lean Startup" by Eric Dries and realised the shortcomings of our business approach: we should have built an MVP to test our value and growth hypotheses. Show less

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  MILKOR

  Feb 2020 - Oct 2021

  Software Engineering Manager

  Process Management* Company strategy was to leapfrog competing drone developers by utilizing technological advancements. I presented the microservices architecture to upper management, as implemented in open-source drone software (PX4), and explained the advantages, e.g. maintainability, upgradability, etc, as well as physical benefits, e.g. using a network comms bus instead of p2p connections reduces both complexity and physical weight.* Introduced and Championed Agile/Scrum for the team and the company. * Introduced and Championed TDD and CI for the team and the company. People Management* Screened CVs and interviewed candidates* Managed performance and growth via weekly one-on-one meetings* Scaled the team from 3 engineers to 8 engineers. Cost Management* Slashed (MATLAB) tool costs by 50% by restructuring the workflowTechnical Management* Hands-on in introducing TDD to the companyIT Management* Procured servers and supervised on-site server room installation. * Managed sourcing, installation, and operation of physical security systems. * Enforced software security through RBAC implementation. * Boosted engineer performance by optimizing computing resources based on role-specific needs, achieving efficiency without cost escalation. Show less

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  Kyosk.app

  Apr 2022 - Apr 2023

  Director of Software Engineering

  Process Management* Company strategy was to improve software architecture to handle 15x scale by centering our architecture on "Data Products".* Orchestrated the successful transition of InfraOps, Data, and 3 Dev Teams during vital architecture scaling:* Ensured clear understanding of technological changes by Engineering Managers, Technical Leads, and Developers. * Provided vital resources for the transition: presentations, structured documentation, and illustrative sample implementations.* Collaborated with Product Managers to create and maintain the development roadmap, effectively managing stakeholder expectations and strategically allocating resources.* Drove delivery using Agile Scrum & Kanban* Created/updated IT policies w.r.t to insurance, laptop specifications, laptop usage and security for the company.People Management* Defined JDs, screened CVs and interviewed candidates* Established clear KPIs for my teams and managed performance and growth via regular one-on-one meetings* Scaled teams from 10 to 20 staff (engineers, tech leads and engineering managers)Cost Management* Slashed Anti-Virus cost by 33%* Slashed cost of a key service provider (Confluent Kafka) by 8%* Slashed BigQuery costs by 50% by driving cost optimisation exerciseTechnical Management* Eliminated performance bottleneck on live DB that had caused multiple business incidents by introducing a read replica to service the heavy read requests.* Hands-on in the data team’s BigQuery cost reduction exercise Show less

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  Personnel Transit 2 Wellness

  Aug 2022 - now

  IT Consultant

  The company conducts “wellness day events” in which nurses collect medical data on employees at various companies on behalf of medical insurance companies.Strategy Advancement* Formulated a visionary strategy centered on digital transformation, positioning the company for a competitive edge in securing government tenders.* Led a comprehensive business analysis initiative, unveiling key insights into prevailing workflows, potential enhancements, and avenues for digitization.Process Management* Successfully facilitated the transition from a fully paper-based system to a fully digital ecosystem* Proactively conducted comprehensive training sessions to equip the employees with the necessary skills to effectively navigate the new digital infrastructure.Technical Innovation & Implementation:* Demonstrated proficiency in hardware specification, procurement and configuration* Designed and implemented intuitive online data capture forms, enhancing efficiency and data accuracy* Pioneered an automated report generation mechanism, drastically reducing report creation time from weeks to a mere 2 hoursCost Efficiency & Optimisation* Slashed the cost of hosting a wellness day event by, on average, 15%.Tender Application* Prepared the tender application documents for the technical prerequisites* Professionally prepared and delivered a presentation on the technical set up. The client was most impressed by the automated real-time reporting.Through my commitment to process innovation, technological evolution, and strategic foresight, I have significantly elevated the company's operational efficiency, client satisfaction, and market positioning. Show less

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  Sapient Software

  Sept 2023 - now

  Software Engineering Consultant (freelance)

  The company’s main app, Kudukey (Google Play Store), is used as both a ticketing system and for sales of goods at paid-access events, e.g. sports events, circus, zoo, etc.Strategy Advancement* Currently enhancing the Kudukey app by introducing “Child Accounts”. This will massively expand the company’s potential client base to include all schools.* Reduced technical resource utilization for administrative tasks by moving several administrative functions from backend scripts into the admin portal.Process Management* Reduced integration failure rate and number of development iterations per feature set by producing comprehensive and detailed API specification documentation.* Enhanced GIT process with industry best practice of branching and pull requestsProgress Management* Proactively took responsibility for guiding and unblocking developers when the Founder/CTO was not available .Cost Efficiency & Optimisation* Slashed operating costs by moving administrative tasks from a few expensive developers to several cheaper admin staffTechnical Implementation* Designed and developed the backend and database changes needed to facilitate the “Child Accounts” feature.As a result of my focus on continuous improvement, I have significantly reduced (operating) costs as well as expanded the company’s target market. Show less