balderdashblog

My life story.

I've been reading Owen O'Kanes lovely book How to be your own therapists. I am inspired by his chapter on writing your own story. As stated by Owen, "Your story has many hidden treasures that help you understand who you are and how you can live a fuller life". I'm further inspired by Simon Western's thought piece on locating yourself through our journey of work. Simon asks the question: what authored the author? I've been reading Owen O'Kanes lovely book How to be your own therapists. I am inspired by his chapter on writing your own story. As stated by Owen, "Your story has many hidden treasures that help you understand who you are and how you can live a fuller life". I'm further inspired by Simon Western's thought piece on locating yourself through our journey of work. Simon asks the question: what authored the author?

I've started documenting my story and reflecting on how specific events frame my meaning-making in the Present moment. This timeline is under development.

The 90's and early 2000's

  • Born and raised in South Africa. I need to unpick this.
  • My mother's side of the family has French and Dutch colonial roots, while my father's has German roots. A lot here to unpick at some point.
  • Achieved a certificate in entrepreneurship from Potchefstroom University.
  • Graduated from Eldoraign High School. There is some bullying trauma to unpick here. There is also that story about the dinner party.
  • Went to university to qualify as an Actuary. I changed direction in my second year.
  • I recall fondly my passion for mathematics, computer science and accounting stands out. By happistance I was also introduced to Economics. I remain super grateful to Ms. Gray, Ms. Jooste, Ms. Schutte, and Ms. Grobler for nurturing these passions in me.
  • Story about justice goes here.

2010 - 2020

  • Identify as LGBTQ. I came out to my mother in at the age of 21.
  • Served on Scientia Academic Student Society and the Academic Student Council.
  • Served with Belfast Lions Club.
  • Completed B.Sc (Hons) in Computer Science, B.Com (Hons) in Economics, B.Com Hons and M.Sc. in Computer Science.
  • Won an award for the best B.Sc. (Hons) Computer Science project.
  • Won an award for the best master's dissertation in the Center for Business Mathematics and Information Technology. The dessertation was is titled The file fragment classification problem: a combined neural network and linearprogramming discriminant model approach 1.
  • Presented papers at INFORS international conference.
  • Started to figure out what friendship looks like. I'm super grateful for the influence that Ansonette had in my cultural upbrining, and Steyn for supporting me as I found my sexual identity. I recall memorable early in my university career with with Lorraine, Ciarne, Wessel, Tessa and Karlien. I also recall memorable memories later in my career with Steyn, Amore, Iona, Michelle. I hold my friendship with Chantal dearly.
  • That story about attempting suicide goes here.
  • Worked a bursary at Telkom South Africa. It shaped me in two ways: My manager, Ryan, was very supportive and allowed me considerable freedom to develop a technical vision that aligned with the problem statement. I was uplifted by the talented developers in my team, Karl and Katlego, who brought the vision to life. Karl is likely still the smartest engineer I have had the privilege to work with.
  • Story about my first coach goes here! Spoiler alert. I worked with Vanessa Carstens
  • That first story about addiction goes here. ;-(
  • Moved to the UK. Spent some time in London and then moved to Belfast. The most fabulous Spanish woman hosted me. I wish I kept in touch.
  • Story about applying to AIG goes here!
  • Joined Deloitte in Belfast to join their Data Engineering Center of Excellence. DE&Me! Lead Deloitte Globe NI network.
  • Worked with Lufthansa on the Smile project. This project was about creating personalized customer experiences on their website, mobile app, and through their email marketing campaigns leveraging machine learning. What did I learn here?
  • Worked with Via project. What did I learn here?
  • Worked on Allen and Avery's NLP project. What did I learn here?
  • Worked on TKMax E-commerce site project. What did I learn here?
  • That story about mental healt and addiction goes here.
  • Worked on the British American tabacoo project. What did I learn here?
  • That second story about addiction goes here.
  • Joined TPICAP. What did I learn here?
  • Started Yebokola! Some nice stuff to unpick here!

2020 - now

  • Survived Covid. My dad didn't.
  • Joined Liberty IT.
  • Became a Friend.
  • Got married.
  • That third and forth story about addiction goes here 2.
  • See my Now page.

Notes

  • See the blog post on Depth Analysis.
  • See the blog post on Passion for Insurance.

Footnotes and references

Footnotes

  1. Wilgenbus, E.F., 2013. The file fragment classification problem: a combined neural network and linearprogramming discriminant model approach. Masters thesis, North West University. ↩

  2. So many addiction stories? We are all addicted to many things. It's sad that society frames the some as more probelmatic than others. ↩

Related tags

authenticityself-actualization and realizationco-creationcoachingwork in progress