About me
My Story
Two things explain most of who I am: a teacher for a mother, and an engineering technician for a father. One taught me that discipline and curiosity go together; the other taught me that if something is broken, you open it up and understand it. As their only child, growing up in South Africa, I got both lessons in full measure, along with the one rule they agreed on above all others: nothing comes from a handout. If I wanted something, I earned it. That, and a stubborn refusal to quit, has carried me through everything that follows.
I was seriously ill as a baby, ill enough that a doctor once told my mother I wouldn't make it through the night. My parents moved us to London so I could see specialists, and we came back to South Africa when I was five. I started at Holy Cross Primary in Bellville, and in Grade 5 three things happened that shaped me: I won the AMESA National Maths Challenge, earned honours in my UNISA piano exams, and discovered table tennis.
Table tennis took over. I went from Western Province champion to South African national champion at 14, travelled the world with the national team, and balanced all of that with school at CBC St John's, tutors on tour, training camps every holiday, and a mother who made it clear that sport would never come at the expense of my grades.
At 16, just after competing in Vietnam, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Everything stopped. It took months of treatment, the support of my family and a small group of friends I still have today, and years of remission before life felt like mine again. I don't lead with it, and I don't want pity for it, but it's the reason I don't quit, and it's the reason I care about being useful.
I went on to spend seven years at Stellenbosch University in BEng Mechatronics, working around treatment and setbacks and finishing 95% of the degree before COVID-19 disrupted the final practical, lab-based components and took the last stretch away. I then completed a BSc IT (Robotics) at Eduvos and am now doing a BSc(Hons) in Data Science.
All of that has led me to the place I enjoy most: where mechanical, electrical and software engineering meet. Along the way I've programmed PLC's and designed control logic for automated packaging lines, diagnosed and repaired inverters and drones on a QA bench, run CNC mills on a factory floor, and contributed to HVAC and fire-control system designs. Different industries, same thread: something needs to work, and I want to be the one who understands it end to end and makes it work. Solving, building, fixing is the work I want to do.
- Based in Gordon's Bay, South Africa
- Available immediately, open to travel and relocation
- Code B driver's licence with my own reliable vehicle
- Fully set up for remote or hybrid work with backup power and internet