Posts By: Samantha

Woman in Tech of the Week: Sam Beckbessinger

May 8, 2018 in Entrepreneur, Profiles, tech, Woman of the Week, Women in Tech

Woman in Tech of the Week: Sam Beckbessinger

Name: Sam Beckbessinger
Designation: Writer, Money Dork, Entrepreneur
Company: Phantom Design

What do you do every day?
I am trying to build a world where money isn’t a complex, opaque thing, but is something that we all understand and can use to fund our most audacious dreams. I wrote a book about this, called Manage Your Money Like a F*cking Grownup, and I run a company that helps to build apps and tools that make finances easier to deal with. We’ve built everything from smart credit cards to apps that show you where your money is going to cryptocurrency exchanges, and more.

How did you get into the tech space?
In my heart, I’m a writer, which means that I am fascinated by human beings and how we’re making the world. I started out writing about tech, and then realized that it would be more fun to also start making some tech products of my own.

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?
The stuff that makes you weird is what gives you the power to change the world. Not everyone’s going to like your weirdness, and that’s fine.

What advice would you given someone wanting to get into the tech sector?
Tech is about building a new vision of what the future can look like. It’s far too important to leave to only one narrow type of person. Don’t assume you need to have studied computers at university or have been a gamer since you were 5 to have a successful tech career; you just need to pick a project you care about and start making something. We need people with a background in the humanities, in social science, in biology, in business, in ethics… in everything. We need you: come and join us!

What motivates you to get out of bed everyday?
My cat sitting on my face and demanding to be fed. But also, my work is really fun, so getting out of bed is easy.

Who do you want to be when you grow up?
No idea. Only boring people make long-term career plans.

Twitter: @beckbessinger
Website: http://likeafuckinggrownup.com/
Blog: https://medium.com/@greenhamsam
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sambeckbessinger
FB: https://www.facebook.com/likeagrownup/

Do you know an inspirational women in tech? Please get in touch with Robyn (robyn@kato.global) to get her featured!

Do you want to sponsor Women in Tech ZA (our research, website and events around South Africa)? Please get in touch with Robyn (robyn@kato.global).

Do you want to advertise to the  Women in Tech ZA network? Please get in touch with Robyn (robyn@kato.global).

Woman in Tech of the Week – Mikovhe Ramawa

Apr 30, 2018 in IT, Profiles, Woman of the Week

Woman in Tech of the Week – Mikovhe Ramawa

Name: Mikovhe Ramawa
Designation: IT Support Technician
Company: Sage HR & Payroll

What do you do every day? My day starts with a lot of phone calls and emails, unfortunately the early morning calls are not all good morning calls,as most of the colleagues calling are either unable to work or just don’t understand how whatever IT software or resource they are suppose to use works.I attend to different IT queries,I ensure that my colleagues are able to use their IT equipments and softwares.
Somedays I become a teacher,an d an advisor,I mean I have realized that sometimes a user does not call IT support because something is not working,sometimes they do not know how this works then I have to educate,sometimes they want advice on which system/software to use then I become the Advisor,

How did you get into the tech space? Growing up I knew what a computer was but I use to think computers are for playing games, when I got to high school,I was surprised that school assignments are done through the computer and my fellow learners had something called USB’s to save their work (this baffled me and I had no idea how this thing can save all your school work). My high school teacher asked us to type our assignments and hand them in, because I did not know the difference between typing, printing and photocopying,I wrote my assignment and went straight to the internet café and made a copy…That was my typed and printed assignment according to me.This scenarios made me feel like I was living in ancient times and the was something completely wrong with me, that’s when I decided to study IT after Matric.

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you? Do not be afraid to fail. Mistakes should not make you want to quit. You have to learn from them, let them challenge and inspire you to do more ― to take some risks and to step outside of your comfort zone.”

What advice would you give someone wanting to get into the tech sector? Get educated and always be willing to learn, the Tech world grows each day and there is so much to learn,There is definitely a room for every hard working individual.The Tech world is missing the balance and support that Women has

What motivates you to get out of bed everyday? I am the only women in my department, this gives me so much courage and that “YOU CAN DO ANYTHING” bell keeps ringing in my head and I just see myself someday being a IT Director ,So I jump out of my bed with a smile and dress like a IT Director……remember the saying: always dress the way you want to be addressed?

Who do you want to be when you grow up? If I can always have my mothers courage, strength and the it is ok mindset,I will be a very happy adult.

Twitter handle: Mikovhe Khangale
LinkedIn: Mikovhe Ramawa

 

Do you know an inspirational women in tech? Please get in touch with Robyn (robyn@kato.global) to get her featured!

Do you want to sponsor Women in Tech ZA (our research, website and events around South Africa)? Please get in touch with Robyn (robyn@kato.global).

Do you want to advertise to the  Women in Tech ZA network? Please get in touch with Robyn (robyn@kato.global).

Woman in Tech of the Week – Jade Abbott

Apr 23, 2018 in Engineering, Profiles, Software, Woman of the Week

Woman in Tech of the Week – Jade Abbott

Name: Jade Abbott
Designation: Senior Software Engineer and Data Scientist
Company: Retro Rabbit

What do you do every day? Developing software and analysing data. I mostly develop backend systems, in a variety of languages, for a variety of sectors – golang is my current favourite programming language. In the past couple of years, I’ve been able to focus on machine learning – my true passion. I’ve been lucky enough to take a machine learning project from beginning to end – from wrangling data, to building machine models, analysing data, to building the scalable infrastructure. I love seeing my work in use! It’s the best feeling ever. When I’m not doing that I’m trying to teach people about machine learning – whether doing guest lectures, showing a CEO the impact it can make or sometimes helping enthusiasts get their hands dirty.

How did you get into the tech space? My dad, as a musician and general nerd, always had computer parts lying around. I was very young when he built me my first computer. I remember puzzling over the registry and wondering why my dad told me not to touch it and fiddling in hex editors to make the cat in that one game extra fluffy and pink. He also introduced me to science-fiction – everything from Star Trek to Isaac Asimov. My mother was a software developer before I was born so she always encouraged me to go into software anyways. I think I was 12 and I knew that I wanted to build my own artificial intelligence friend. I’d say I am one of the lucky ones

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you? I was at an Anita Borg Retreat at Google a couple of years back and I was stressing about whether to pursue a career in academia or to carry on in industry. So I asked a Google developer a panel about which to do and she said “Don’t stress when making a decision between two good choices”. I can’t remember her name, but I’ll always remember what she said.

What advice would you given someone wanting to get into the tech sector? In software development at least, the philosophy is to fail early and fail often. Try many things (ALL the things). Don’t be afraid if you don’t get it right the first time. Failure is part of the journey.
Surround yourself with people in tech. Go to meetups, hackathons and join the ZaTech slack. They are fun and friendly and there is loads of opportunity to learn
It’s possible to begin a degree in technology part-time while you’re working. Do it! If a degree is not an option – pick up a couple of courses.
Blog about your learnings: https://medium.com/@racheltho/why-you-yes-you-should-blog-7d2544ac1045

What motivates you to get out of bed everyday? The opportunity to learn something new and the opportunity to build something cool.

Who do you want to be when you grow up? AAAH! hard question. These 3: Grace Hopper, Rachel Thomas, Patti Smith

Twitter: @alienelf
Blog: https://medium.com/@alienelf/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jade-abbott-5b3a692a/

 

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Satellite and Drone Analytics Company, Aerobotics is Hiring

Apr 20, 2018 in Opportunity

Satellite and Drone Analytics Company, Aerobotics is Hiring

Aerobotics is a data analytics company which uses aerial imagery and machine learning algorithms to optimise crop performance for farmers around the world through its cloud based web application, Aeroview. The company is setting the standard for tree crop analytics globally. Aerobotics is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

The are hiring the following: 

  • Senior Full Stack Developer: link
  • Data Science Manager: link
  • Data Scientist: link
  • Tech Intern: link

 

Bernelle Verster

Apr 18, 2018 in Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Engineering, Profiles, Research, Woman of the Week

Woman in Tech of the Week – Bernelle Verster

Name: Bernelle Verster
Designation: Water Maverick, Shit Stirrer
Company: indiebio
What do you do every day?
Writing, mostly. Sometimes growing things – bacteria, algae, plants, fungi, animals (like flies, worms). I am trying to learn how to play with hardware like Arduino and getting better at data driven visualization to help communicate my work.

I work in beneficiation of diffuse pollution through biology. This includes wastewater treatment, but I’m also moving into urban waterbodies like urban estuaries. I like interfaces, connecting the dots to fill in the gaps. So much of my time is spent translating between what, for example, engineers say and what ecologists say and try to find a way that both can be accommodated. Or, what the public perceives and try to communicate all the trade-offs and complexities. At the moment I am trying to see how to coordinate bottom-up, DIY type behavior with the efficiency and economy of scale that engineers prefer but that comes with environmental trade-offs.

How did you get into the tech space?
I wanted to become a vet, but then fell in love with biochemistry in first year of university and stuck with that. Then I realized the cost of biotech is way too high and needed to learn some tech and engineering to make the biology work better. I’ve sortof just stumbled along with things, there wasn’t ever much direction or specific support.

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Do what you can with what you have; and you will always be someone’s dog (in other words, don’t expect to come out ‘on top’ and then all your issues are over. That just doesn’t happen). The advice I never listened to was ‘it’s time you stop dreaming and get a proper job’.

What advice would you given someone wanting to get into the tech sector? Dream. Big, small, doesn’t matter, but don’t lose sight of reality. Prototype, play, fail fast. Look at what is – the current reality, even if it is uncomfortable. Ask the tough questions, listen to what people say. You don’t have to believe them, but they are coming from somewhere, interrogate what they say. Don’t underestimate the value of incremental change.

What motivates you to get out of bed everyday?
Frustration. Having a big goal is nice, but really it’s the frustration of ‘if only this small thing can work better!’ Generally I wake up thinking, I’m going to go at it from this angle, maybe that works today. I think the real value I add to society isn’t through my big dreams and passions, but the little itches and irritations I try to smooth out along the way. Connecting people who can help scratch 😉

Who do you want to be when you grow up?
A whole person. Not a whitewashed darling on a pedestal.

Twitter handle @indiebio
Website: indiebio.co.za
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/indiebio/

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Female Devs Wanted in Cape Town

Apr 13, 2018 in Uncategorized

Female Devs Wanted in Cape Town

Cape is a Silicon Valley backed startup based in Cape Town and San Francisco. Last week we were acquired by Aruba (a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company) for our first of its kind Wi-Fi monitoring product, and for our team! As a result of this deal we’re growing our Cape Town office (currently 12 people) so that we can scale our systems to meet an expected surge in demand as our product is marketed through Aruba’s sales channels.

A bit about Cape:

– Small team (15 people across ZA and USA), founded in Cape Town (2014), backed by Silicon Valley venture capital
– “Full stack” startup: we design & build our own hardware, firmware, back-end and front-end software
– First product of its kind in the world — a device + dashboard that helps companies like Apple, Marriott, Dimension Data make sure their Wi-Fi and SaaS performance is excellent 24/7
– Awarded “Best Startup 2017” from Wi-Fi Now (international industry body)
– Acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise last week(!) for the team and technology (plus huge market)
– Expecting 100X scale in next 18-24 months
– We’re investing significantly in our Engineering & Design team in Cape Town
– We’re hiring senior software engineers (front-end, back-end, iOS, ML, embedded), and a senior UI designer

Cape offers a unique opportunity as a truly full-stack startup. We design our hardware in-house and manufacture in Cape Town. Our back-end and front-end systems and software are built entirely in-house using Python, ReactJS, Java, InfluxDB, and AWS Kinesis among other technologies.

Experience in any of the technologies mentioned above would be a big plus for the engineering roles.

Please contact victor@capenetworks.com if you’re interested in working for us!

If you want to advertise job opening or anything else to our network please get in touch with Robyn Farah.

Yes, We Have Changed Our Logo!

Apr 10, 2018 in Uncategorized

Yes, We Have Changed Our Logo!

You may have noticed that we, Women in Tech ZA, have changed our logo. We have done this as we have connected with several Women in Tech Chapters around South Africa and Botswana, so we wanted to use a logo that can easily be altered to suit each chapter as well as clearly be associated with their umbrella organisation, US!

About the logo: In 2016 Women in Tech Cape Town ran an online competition for the community to submit designs for the community. After receiving over 20 designs we got the public to vote for their favourite design and the winner was the below by Samuel Molahloe.

 

Women in Tech Chapters:

As of March 2018, Women in Tech ZA is grown from being an online platform to being connected to 4 Women in Tech Chapters around Sub Saharan Africa. (Thank you to Mishal Weston for editing all the logos from Samuel Molahloe’s original design)

 

Women in Tech ZA Goals: In February 2018 Robyn Farah became chairperson for Women in Tech ZA. Her aims are:

  • To have active women in tech communities all over South Africa connected to Women in Tech ZA
  • A “Woman in Tech of the Week” feature on the Women in Tech ZA website weekly.
  • Have active Social Media platforms
  • Get sponsorship to collect data on females in Science, Tech, Engineering and Maths (STEM) in South Africa

Get Involved:

Did you know that Women in Tech is registered as an NPC this means that donations to our organisation are tax deductible!

 

Deirdré Fryer

Apr 9, 2018 in Business development, Digital, Operations, People management, Profiles, Women in Tech

Name: Deirdré Fryer

Designation: Product Management Africa

Company: SYSPRO

What do you do every day?
Lots of meetings…
Industry and product Research to understand our positioning in the market as well as our strengths with a focus on looking for improvements.
Customer and sales engagements to understand and solve business needs with software and technology.
Product messaging and positioning to drive enablement of the product across our employees, partners and customers.
Collaboration with marketing and sales teams to drive collaboration around our product and the value features add

How did you get into the tech space?
By chance, while writing my final exams I took a temp job in reception at a software company, SYSPRO, and never looked back.
What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?
If people are not adopting or buying into what you are proposing, change your approach. You need to show people the value in what is being offered specific to them, not how you see it, solve their pain and they will embrace what you are offering without question.
What advice would you given someone wanting to get into the tech sector?
Learn, read, learn, read and never say no to an opportunity, even the smallest and most insignificant task will teach you something.

What motivates you to get out of bed everyday?
The thought that today I could be part of something that will make someone’s life easier. Making a difference little bit by little bit
Who do you want to be when you grow up?
A wine taster 😉
The best role model to my two daughters, showing them that having a career and good life balance is possible, you can have the best of both worlds.

Twitter: @FryerDee
Linked In: Deirdre Fryer

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