Page 29 - Future Leaders 2018-2019

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ALUMNI 10TH
ANNIVERSARY
SPOTLIGHT

JEANSY MOLANZA Engineering & Maths

SORTING OUT SOFTWARE

Jeansy Molanza was a Future Leader in 2014. How did he make the leap
from full-time study into the world of work? And what lessons can he pass on?
Here he talks about his experiences.

A Alternatively, you could exercise discipline
few months after my Future Leaders
to solve a specific problem, given predefined
feature, I had to make a difficult decision.
Do I persist with the well-worn track that
conformance to a particular environment.
laid out for me, or take a leap into the unknown? constraints such as performance, size, latency or
At times, the reassurance that comes from making I spent the rest of my summer teaching myself
a “safe decision” can paralyse the opportunity for C# from scratch. The pinnacle of my learning
lateral thinking and self-reflection. experience was creating Breadcrumb, an
After my industrial placement at a large company, impression-management mobile app that allowed
I had the opportunity to return as a graduate in users to delete embarrassing social media
the infrastructure division. However, my interest ‘…nurture a content, and helped them control and improve
was piqued by the realm of software engineering. habit of reading their online image.
It presented a compelling intellectual opportunity beyond the Dual-hatting as project manager and front-
depending on the scope of the work presented. scope of your end developer, I led a team of extremely smart
You could have the freedom to build an curriculum. Start individuals to first place in the 2016 ATOS IT
application from scratch with your preferred set conversations Challenge. Brimming with confidence, I then
of tools. and build started a micro consultancy which works with
friendships with early-stage startups to build and improve their
engineering systems in a cost-effective manner.
people outside of After graduating, I took up a role as a software
your community. engineer, creating solutions for an investment
When you start bank. I was constantly faced with things I didn’t
moving outside know, but I opted to expose my ignorance by
of your comfort asking questions. As a beginner, it felt sensible
zone, you start.’ to take a more direct route to obtain required
to expose knowledge. But over time, I have tried to develop
yourself to a the capacity to explore any possible solutions
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many insights before asking a colleague for help.
My advice to others would be to firstly develop
that can one day caption here caption here caption here
become catalysts the discipline required to self-teach. Modern
society is riddled with distractions that diminish
for great ideas.’ our capacity for “deep learning” – an important
precedent for establishing proficiency in any
technical skill. Pursue your genuine curiosity and
passion rather than whatever is popular now.
In time, you can become the best at what you do.
Secondly, nurture a habit of reading beyond
the scope of your curriculum. Start conversations
and build friendships with people outside of your
community. When you start moving outside of
your comfort zone, you start to expose yourself
to a many insights that can one day become
catalysts for great ideas.
Thirdly, understand that life is a process
of continued persistence. All returns in life,
whether in wealth, spirituality, relationships or
knowledge, come from compound interest. When
given the chance, embrace accountability and be
willing to take risks. Your peers will reward you
with responsibility, equity and leverage.

10 ANNIVERSARY EDITION FUTURE LEADERS 27
TH