Dawie Strauss Email & Phone Number

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

As a key member of the Different Technology team, I played an instrumental role in the development and growth of our Life Insurance platform and subsequent expansion to multiple tenants.I was a founding member of Different Life's development team in 2014; we fluctuated over the years between 3 and about 7 members.As a member of the team:- I played a key role in establishing best practices for continuous delivery and automated testing- I was responsible for… Show more As a key member of the Different Technology team, I played an instrumental role in the development and growth of our Life Insurance platform and subsequent expansion to multiple tenants.I was a founding member of Different Life's development team in 2014; we fluctuated over the years between 3 and about 7 members.As a member of the team:- I played a key role in establishing best practices for continuous delivery and automated testing- I was responsible for implementing large parts of the backend in Java and PHP- I also contributed to the frontend (HTML and TypeScript)- I was instrumental in automating deployment using ansible- I automated the tedious, error prone process of reproducing a production issue locally- I drove a project to continuously ensure data integrity of the production system- I initiated a change in the development process to a kanban/flow-centric approach as we transitioned from building a new system to maintenance and enhancement of an existing system- My rigor and tenacity contributes greatly to the ongoing robustness of the systemStarting in April 2014, we built a Life Insurance platform:- In partnership with Hannover Re and OMART we were able to launch a Life Insurance business by March 2015- It is a full-featured Life Insurance platform supporting the sale and administration of policies- Our platform was unique in that we had a fully automated web based application process (in less than 15 minutes online you could have a valid policy document in your inbox)- We also stood apart in that we allowed a donation of one premium per year to a charity via our crowdfunding platform different.org (which we also built in 2014)As the platform matured:- We were able to support a second tenant by July 2017- In August 2019, we spun out a new company, Different Technology, to focus on the platform- Subsequently we expanded our offering, adding products like Funeral Cover- We have also been able to add more than 5 new tenants since Show less

Centurion, South Africa

FINWorks provides hosted software solutions mainly to the financial industry.I bring valuable experience in the financial industry - specifically with LISP (Linked Investment Service Provider) systems - in an agile software development environment.In my time at FINWorks I helped improve the acceptance testing process. We increased collaboration and streamlined automated testing. I helped improve, maintain and support the company's GemStone Smalltak based trading system.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

PSG Asset Management is an investment management company.My previous employer (EFS Investment Solutions) was acquired by PSG Asset Management and I was kept on in my role.Active investments on the EFS platform were converted onto PSG's administration; and all historical data was exported from an Object-Oriented database into a relational database. I played a key role in managing and executing this project successfully.

Equinox provides online unit trust trading services and market information.I started as developer on the in-house developed online trading system where I gained experience in Linux, GemStone/S, Smalltalk and Python. After about three years I was promoted to product manager. In this role I oversaw a number of big projects: - we launched our own retirement funds after enhancing the system to support these heavily regulated products - we launched two differently branded front-ends… Show more Equinox provides online unit trust trading services and market information.I started as developer on the in-house developed online trading system where I gained experience in Linux, GemStone/S, Smalltalk and Python. After about three years I was promoted to product manager. In this role I oversaw a number of big projects: - we launched our own retirement funds after enhancing the system to support these heavily regulated products - we launched two differently branded front-ends to the trading system and - we doubled our assets under management by taking over the retirement investments from another company Show less

SCION was an incubator to develop innovative business ideas and the supporting technology.I was in charge of development on a Java and Microsoft SQL Server based e-Procurement system. We customized this third party product and integrated it with other systems. I introduced tools to better manage deployment and porting of customizations to new releases of the platform.

Rubico developed an enterprise software system, which was deployed and supported at customer sites.I started as a developer on the "service objects" team for the in-house developed ERP system. I coded services in C++ and Java. I was moved to the middleware team and was responsible for the technical architecture of the stable version of the Rubico system. I introduced automated testing for core system components. I improved the APIs used by the "service object" developers.

The Telkom Development Laboratory develops hardware and software solutions for other divisions in the company.As Engineer and later Senior Engineer, I developed software mainly in C and C++ on various projects. On an itemised billing system for analog telephone exchanges, I worked on automated dial-up communications software, a configuration GUI and a post-processing tool. I was often asked to assist colleagues with C++ and other programming issues. I was also involved in strategic… Show more The Telkom Development Laboratory develops hardware and software solutions for other divisions in the company.As Engineer and later Senior Engineer, I developed software mainly in C and C++ on various projects. On an itemised billing system for analog telephone exchanges, I worked on automated dial-up communications software, a configuration GUI and a post-processing tool. I was often asked to assist colleagues with C++ and other programming issues. I was also involved in strategic planning related to network monitoring technologies. Show less

B. Eng (Hons), Computer Engineering

B. Eng, Electronic Engineering