Resume of: Johann L. Botha30 Bisset RoadNewlands Cape Town 7700 South Africa http://www.swimgeek.com/ <!-- Valid XHTML1.0 Strict/CSS2 :: please use a compatible browser --/> <!-- 2002.09.04 --/> |
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Personal Info
Languages Proficiency
Key Skills
Personality and ProfileMotivated and independently thinking, enough so to switch from touch typing on QWERTY to the DVORAK keyboard layout. Full of energy and charisma yet diplomatic and professional. Versatile with a good sense of humour. Successful two-year track record in running small businesses. Current Interests and ResearchDocBookXML/XSLT, DEN, LDAP, BGP, QoS, MPLS, IPv6, Embedded Systems Design, Industrial Design, Jazz Music Networking and ISP Industry Skills
Software Development Skills
GNU/Linux, Unix and Cisco
Free Software and Non-Profit ProjectsI am a strong believer in the principles and values of Free Software. Basically the freedom and liberty of software and the people who use the software. I am a Debian GNU/Linux Developer and I admire Debian's pragmatic idealism, the scale of the project and its success in producing high quality software. I've been running Unix on all my desktop machines for more than 6 years. I am a member of the Western Cape GNU/Linux User Group (CLUG) Committee where I keep in touch with the local Free Software community and give occasional lectures at the group's meetings. For the last two years I've been in charge of the design and manufacture of the propaganda clothing sold by the group at the Cape Computer Fair. Internet InterestsI am a co-founder of The Hub, a group of people working on a project in the interest of better Internet Traffic Exchange or Peering in Cape Town. I am a member of ISOC and it's South African chapter and take a keen interest in general Internet matters like discussions on the NANOG and IOZ mailing lists. Career and General History (reverse-chronological)CurrentlyI am currently working for saproperty.com, in a role ranging from systems and architecture design, building hardware, systems administrator, database administrator and developer to support and project management. The system is an XML, PKI-crypto B2B exchange listing properties for the nine largest estate agencies in South Africa, completely running on free software with an uptime of more than a year, serving an average of more than 10,000 page impressions a day. Co-founded a startup Embedded Systems Company called the Blio Corporation that is currently in the development phase of our first product range of network appliances. I find the challenges of building physical devices rewarding. Lecturing GNU/Linux Training Courses with topics ranging from basic Unix philosophy to Security. I find this a good opportunity to share my knowledge and passion for Unix systems and Free Software. The dot Com Days (2000)I started working for a company in Stellenbosch building the E*TRADE.co.za Online Trading System as Unix Sysadmin and DBA. Personally I found the most interesting parts of this project to be the high availability, and load balancing issues related to mission critical trading systems. I worked for a Java Dev Shop. Co-founded an ISP called Frogfoot Networks where I gained most of my networking experience. Frogfoot is currently running smoothly and growing at a good rate. Worked for the Independent News and Media group's IOL.co.za which currently ships around 9 Gigs of traffic a day or more than 10 million page impressions per month. I gained experience being part of the team managing and building the content management systems and database back ends that serve these sheer numbers of requests using Free Software. Primarily using FreeBSD, MySQL and PHP. University Days (1996-1999)1999 - B.Sc Computer Science at the University of Stellenbosch. Became bored and dropped out partly because of spending too much time playing with TCP/IP over HAM radio, BSD Unix's and gaining knowledge of the wine industry. I was committee member of the University of Stellenbosch Wine Culture Society and became a licensed Amateur Radio (HAM) operator. 1996 - B.Eng Industrial Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch. Became bored and dropped out in my third year party because of spending too much time playing with Unix/GNU/Linux, Networking and Quake. I was a Committee Member of the Stellenbosch University Underwater Club. Played Underwater Hockey for the Stellenbosch University A team. Co-founded a local Linux User Group. School Days (1984-1995)Attended Menlo Park High School in Pretoria completing 7 subjects with a single A symbol, in Computer Science. I was offered two bursaries to study engineering. I chose the one that allowed me to study in Stellenbosch, then moved to the Western Cape where I have been living ever since. ChildhoodI was a creative, inquisitive, Lego-loving kid. I won first prize in a national art competition at the age of 11 but I have been channelling those creative impulses towards my computer interests since I got my hands on my first PC around 1986. References
Abraham Van Der Merwe
Theo van Niekerk
Thomas Andrews
Geoff Payne |