Frontend foundations → expanding into backend systems

Building practical web applications while expanding into backend engineering and system design.

I build clean, user-facing applications with a focus on structure and maintainable code, and I’m currently deepening my backend fundamentals through hands-on projects.

Location
Johannesburg, South Africa · Open to remote
Current focus
Backend development · System design · Stronger engineering foundations

Highlighted projects

Selected work that reflects how I build, structure, and improve real applications.

Personal Project · Backend Systems · In Progress

Blog CMS System

A backend-focused blog platform built to explore real application structure beyond basic CRUD.

  • Designing a modular monolith with clear API, service, and repository layers
  • Building post CRUD flows with validation, structured responses, and error handling
  • Using the project to strengthen backend design and system thinking
  • FastAPI
  • SQLAlchemy
  • Pydantic
  • REST API Design

Team Project · React · Flask · ML

Career Recommendation Web App

A platform that generates career recommendations using behavioral input and structured educational data.

  • Collected and structured university and course data used by the recommendation system
  • Designed user research surveys to understand decision-making patterns
  • Supported personality-based recommendation logic using the DISC model
  • React
  • Python
  • Flask
  • User Research

Startup Internship · MVP Development

B2B Marketplace MVP

A startup marketplace MVP built in a fast-moving environment with evolving product requirements.

  • Contributed to frontend implementation, debugging, and feature iteration
  • Worked closely with the founder to shape and refine core user flows
  • Integrated product logic with Supabase-backed data handling
  • FlutterFlow
  • Supabase
  • MVP Development
  • Debugging
Private project

Personal Project · Frontend Application

Mini Marketplace

A React e-commerce frontend built to practice reusable UI, filtering logic, and API-driven state.

  • Implemented product filtering by search, category, and price range
  • Used React hooks for state handling and user interactions
  • Built responsive UI components around external product data
  • React
  • Vite
  • Tailwind CSS
  • API Integration
>

Case studies

Short breakdowns of how I approached selected problems, made decisions, and reflected on the outcome.

Case Study · Blog CMS System

Designing a backend system with a modular monolith approach

A backend-focused project built to move beyond basic CRUD and understand how real applications are structured.

Challenge

I wanted to avoid the typical beginner pattern of building features without a clear structure, which often leads to tightly coupled code and poor maintainability.

Approach

I designed the system as a modular monolith with clear separation between API, service, and repository layers, starting with the content domain before adding more complexity.

What I learned

This project shifted my thinking from “build the feature” to “design the system,” especially around layering, data flow, and maintainability.

Case Study · Career Recommendation Web App

Contributing to a data-driven recommendation system in a team environment

A final-year team project aimed at generating personalized career recommendations from behavioral and educational inputs.

Challenge

The system needed structured data and meaningful logic to make recommendations useful rather than generic.

Approach

I focused on data collection, survey design, and supporting personality-based recommendation logic to improve the relevance of the system’s outputs.

What I learned

I learned how data quality, user inputs, and decision logic directly shape the usefulness of application features in a larger team-built system.

What I’m focused on now

I started with frontend development and am expanding into backend systems to better understand how full-stack applications are built and maintained.

Backend Development

Building a blog CMS system using FastAPI, focusing on API design, data modeling, validation, and clean architecture patterns such as service and repository layers.

System Thinking

Learning to approach applications as systems rather than isolated features, with attention to domains, data flow, and separation of concerns.

Foundations & Problem Solving

Strengthening core programming fundamentals and problem-solving skills through consistent practice, with a focus on writing clear, maintainable code.

Skills & tools

A focused set of technologies and practices I use to build and understand web applications, with growing emphasis on backend development and system design.

Frontend Foundations

  • HTML5 & semantic structure
  • Modern CSS (Flexbox, Grid, responsive design)
  • JavaScript (ES6+)

Application Development

  • React (component-based architecture)
  • State management with hooks
  • API integration and data handling

Backend (Learning & Building)

  • FastAPI (building REST APIs)
  • Data modeling and validation (Pydantic)
  • Understanding of service and repository patterns

Tools & Workflow

  • Git & GitHub
  • Command line
  • Vite and modern frontend tooling

Engineering Practices

  • Writing clear, maintainable code
  • Separation of concerns
  • Iterative development and refactoring

About me

I'm an IT graduate and junior developer who started with frontend development and is expanding into backend engineering and system design.

My early experience has come through academic projects, self-directed learning, and startup work, where I’ve contributed to practical applications and learned how software is built in real environments.

Starting from the frontend helped me build a strong appreciation for structure, usability, and clear implementation. Over time, I became more interested in what happens behind the interface, how systems are designed, how data flows through an application, and how software stays maintainable as it grows.

Right now, I'm expanding my backend capabilities through hands-on projects and I'm looking for opportunities where I can contribute across the full stack, learn from experienced engineers, and continue growing into a developer who can think clearly about both code and systems.

Contact

I’m currently open to graduate and junior software development opportunities. If you’re looking for someone who is actively building and improving, feel free to reach out.

Send a message

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