Sarah Rajah

Well, it's been quite a journey, having grown up in the eighties I was exposed to computer science from an early age, back in the day when a '286' machine running MS-DOS was WOW! I took up programming in High School and loved it, back then we used Turbo Pascal to learn to program, the curriculum was basic but covered the foundations, added to that, I had a great teacher so I was fortunate that I could understand the logic behind it all.

After high school I did a stint at college studying toward an IT diploma, there we used C++, I was considered the Top pupil by my lecturers and when I decided I wanted to go to university, my college principal wrote me an outstanding recommendation letter. In University I studied towards a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with a specialization in Business Information Systems, in the first year I was introduced to HTML and that started my interest in web development interest.

Finances were always an issue, so I finished my year in Uni and eventually, I started working for Gift of the Givers. At that time Microsoft Publisher was the go-to, but we soon progressed to Mambo, one of the earliest content management systems and eventually to Joomla. At this point, I was living in Pietermaritzburg but soon got headhunted to work for a marketing company based in Durban called Assegai and Javelin. Here I expanded my knowledge and learned how to use PHP tags, XML, databases, email setup, Cpanel Joomla Plugins (well in Joomla we called them modules) to develop customized Joomla Templates, etc.

Another curveball and I ended up moving back to Pietermaritzburg, I got a job and as a Front-web developer working for a company called The BlueBox. They had developed their own CRM with a CMS module coded in PHP. Using CSS, Html, and PHP I developed the various templates required for the CMS module and the look and feel on other modules developed on the BlueBox System.

Two years later I was again headhunted to work for a company named WSI Phezulu a franchisee of WSI, my Director from Assegai and Javelin had recommended me. Here the focus was more on SEO, social media, blogs, content marking, etc. I developed Joomla websites using themes and modifying code according to client requirements and design specifications. After a year I resigned as I felt I wasn't challenged enough and wanted more. I job hunted for some time and eventually decided to just take the plunge and freelance.

My knowledge base broadened considerably here, WordPress, e-commerce, page builders, plugin customization, payment gateways, other platforms such as Wix, domain registration, hosting, backups, maintenance, SSL, security, etc.