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Zola Gcayiya

@zolagcayiya

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Senior Software Engineer at FinChoice who cut high-volume report delivery from 2 minutes to under 20 seconds.

South Africa

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At FinChoice, I lead backend and cloud infrastructure development for a SaaS platform, and reduced high-volume report delivery from 2 minutes to under 20 seconds by optimising SQL performance.

I deliver product features in Blazor and ASP.NET Core and manage AWS infrastructure and GitHub-based CI/CD pipelines across client deployments.

Previously, I delivered insurance platforms, financial portals, and claims systems at Momentum and Alexander Forbes. I also led and mentored developer teams while building and maintaining systems with C#, ASP.NET MVC, and SQL Server.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Senior Software Engineer

Current

Openswift Solutions

Apr 2023 - Present (3 years 6 months)

Led backend and cloud infrastructure development for FinChoice's SaaS platform, serving 250+ enterprise clients. Reduced high-volume report delivery time by 85% and delivered new features in Blazor and ASP.NET Core.

C#Blazor ASP.NET Core MS SQL Server AWS GitHub Entity Framework

Senior Full-Stack Software Developer

Openswift Solutions

Dec 2019 - Mar 2023 (3 years 3 months)

Delivered full-stack engineering for Momentum's insurance platforms, financial portals, and claims systems. Migrated legacy systems to modern tech stack and mentored a team of 6 developers.

C#ASP.NET MVC React MS SQL Server REST and SOAP APIs WPF Windows Forms

Senior Analyst Developer

Alexander Forbes

Jan 2016 - Dec 2019 (3 years 11 months)

Owned the full software development lifecycle for mission-critical insurance systems supporting 2 million+ clients. Architected and maintained high-volume systems in C#, ASP.NET MVC, and MS SQL Server.

C#ASP.NET MVC MS SQL Server TFS Agile Scrum

Senior .NET Developer

Alacrity

Mar 2015 - Dec 2015 (9 months)

Built client-facing web applications using C#, ASP.NET MVC, WCF, and SQL Server. Developed WPF and console applications for internal business tooling and automation.

C#ASP.NET MVC WCF WPF SQL Server jQuery Bootstrap TFS

Senior .NET Developer

24.com (Media24)

Apr 2014 - Feb 2015 (10 months)

Built and maintained new features for careers24.com and its expansion into Kenya and Nigeria markets. Delivered Windows and console applications using C#, VB.NET, MVC, WCF, and WPF.

C#VB.NET ASP.NET MVC WCF WPF SQL Server SVN Scrum

Applications Developer

Datacash

May 2013 - Mar 2014 (10 months)

Built and enhanced internal business applications, owning the full testing lifecycle from unit and integration through to load/stress testing and UAT.

C#.NET MS SQL Server

.NET Developer

Strike Media

Mar 2011 - Apr 2013 (2 years 1 month)

Built web applications (MVC, Entity Framework, jQuery, SQL Server), WCF services, USSD and SMS campaign platforms for high-profile brands. Delivered notable projects including RedBull Admin and TFG Sport Admin.

C#ASP.NET MVC Entity Framework WCF jQuery JSON SQL Server USSD SMS

Junior Developer

Pi-Squared

Feb 2008 - Feb 2011 (3 years)

Built and maintained online payment registration systems, web applications, and admin and communication tools.

ASP.NET C#VB.NET NHibernate MS SQL Server

Trainee Programmer

New Clicks Holdings

Jan 2007 - Dec 2007 (11 months)

Maintained web and Windows applications in a large retail environment; provided end-user support across ASP.NET, Java, SQL Server, and Oracle.

ASP.NET Java SQL Server Oracle

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

Cape Peninsula University of Technology

National Diploma, Information Technology

National Diploma in Information Technology from Cape Peninsula University of Technology, completed in 2007.

Rearabetswe Senior Secondary School

Senior Certificate (Matric), General

Senior Certificate (Matric) from Rearabetswe Senior Secondary School, completed in 2003. Recognized as Top Learner in Mathematics and Physical Science.