When I was about 13 we had to write an essay about what we wanted to be when we grew up. Everyone else wanted to be a doctor, a pilot, a vet. Not me - I wanted to be a programmer, because I was going to write computer games.
Teaching myself out of a textbook
In Grade 10 I asked my teacher to hand me the Turbo Pascal textbook early so I could start figuring it out myself. There was no internet, no Stack Overflow, no AI - it was try, fail, read, and try again. Before long I was bringing examples to class that went well beyond the syllabus.
While I was writing my Grade 12 prelims, my mother drove me to the university to demo a system I'd built in Turbo Pascal as an entry into a development competition. Live demos being what they are, I had to bug-fix during the demo - and still walked away with a prize, placing in the advanced
division against university students.
The side project that became the main thing
Years later a friend asked whether I could build an Android app. I'd never touched mobile development, but I've never been one to back down from a challenge. Armed with Google and sheer willpower, I shipped a proof of concept in a couple of weeks. That app ended up featured in a Vodacom booklet of top apps for small businesses - on the same page as Skype Mobile.
That feeling - seeing a client's eyes light up when software takes away their pain - became intoxicating. It's the whole reason OrganiCode exists.
OrganiCode
These days we've built systems used by Volkswagen SA, Cape Town Stock Exchange, MultiChoice and a long list of SMMEs. There have been crazy highs and brutal lows - COVID battered us, and a big project once ran aground on a global shortage of electronic components.
But being my own boss gave me something no salary could: the freedom to be present for my family through an IVF journey, a high-risk pregnancy, and a month in the NICU. As an employee I'd have been up the creek. As an owner, I could be there.
That's the real reason I went from worker to owner. The software is how I make a living - being there is how I make a life.
For the FULL blog post head over to
https://organicode.co.za/blog/from-worker-to-owner