Foundations in IT & Business
Every career has a foundation period, and mine spans more than a decade — from 2000 to 2011. These years combined two parallel tracks: building deep technical expertise in IT infrastructure and gaining hands-on experience in retail business ownership. Together, they created the platform for everything that followed in my software career.
Early Technical Years (2000–2003)
My journey began at Incredible Connection, fixing hardware, troubleshooting networks, and supporting customers. By 2003, I took a bold step into entrepreneurship by running a Nerds on Site franchise, providing IT services to small businesses and home users. This gave me my first direct taste of business ownership — managing operations, serving clients, and handling finances.
Building a Retail IT Business (2003–2008)
At iThemba Solutions, I operated an IT retail and support business:
- Delivered IT support and infrastructure services
- Oversaw sales of computers, notebooks, and servers
- Handled marketing, advertising, and client relationships
- Managed finances, suppliers, and stock
This period honed my skills not just as a technician, but also as a business owner, balancing technology with real-world commercial operations.
Franchise & Retail Ownership (2008–2011)
From 2008 to 2009, I owned and operated a Matrix Warehouse Computers franchise. In 2009, I founded iThemba Computers, taking full ownership of IT services and retail operations until 2011. These ventures required me to:
- Manage staff, suppliers, and logistics
- Handle accounting and financial reporting
- Design marketing campaigns and local promotions
- Deliver infrastructure projects (servers, CCTV, POS, networks)
- Build and maintain business websites and e-commerce systems
Transition into E-commerce & Websites (2009–2011)
During these years, I recognized the growing importance of online presence and e-commerce. While still managing IT and retail businesses, I began:
- Building and maintaining websites
- Developing basic e-commerce systems for retail clients
- Experimenting with PHP, MySQL, HTML, and CSS
- Teaching myself software concepts ahead of formal training
This was the bridge between my IT/business career and my future in software development.
Why This Foundation Mattered
Many developers start coding without understanding the broader technology ecosystem. My background in IT infrastructure gave me advantages that proved invaluable:
- Understanding the full stack — from server hardware to application code
- Appreciating reliability — knowing what happens when systems fail
- Business perspective — seeing technology as a business enabler, not just code
- Client empathy — understanding the stress of technical problems
Setting the Stage
This foundation period wasn't just about learning technology — it was about developing a professional identity based on reliability, clear communication, and business understanding.
These values, established during more than a decade of hands-on IT and business ownership, became the cornerstone of everything that followed: WooCommerce expertise, Codeable success, independent consultancy, SaaS architecture, and ultimately, Villiers Vision Works.
Every late-night hardware repair, every retail decision, every network configuration, and every client conversation was preparing me for a career I didn’t yet know I would have.