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Hi, I'm Gift. A Software Engineer.

I build scalable cloud-native applications and microservices.

About

Gift Banda

Gift Banda - Professional headshot of a software developer I’m a Software Developer with 6+ years of experience, focused on building cloud‑native, event‑driven systems that are reliable, scalable, and easy to maintain. I’m proud of my Computer Science qualifications, but I prefer to define myself by what I can ship: solving real problems, improving performance, and delivering software that users and businesses actually feel.

I currently work as a Software Developer at Standard Bank Group, where I design, build, and maintain full‑stack enterprise web applications used by thousands of clients. My work ranges from adding new features and refactoring legacy codebases, to designing CI/CD pipelines and leading migrations from on‑premise systems to AWS (ECS) to improve scalability and cost efficiency. I also strengthen application security by addressing penetration test findings and ensuring systems stay available and stable through proactive monitoring and troubleshooting.

My tech stack includes Angular, JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML, and CSS on the front end, and Java, Node.js, and Golang on the back end. I build distributed, event‑driven architectures with Kafka, work with relational and NoSQL databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB, and use tools such as Docker, GitLab CI/CD, OpenShift, Terraform, REST, and SOAP services in my day‑to‑day work.

I’m 2x AWS (soon 3x), 2x Azure, and Salesforce‑certified, and I’m consistently expanding my cloud and engineering skills through hands‑on work, personal projects, and technical writing on Medium. I enjoy taking complex problems, breaking them down, and shipping clean, well‑tested solutions.

Outside of coding, I’m into sci‑fi, documentaries, music, podcasts, and studying the Torah, which keeps me grounded and curious about how systems—both technical and human—work. At my core, I’m a fast learner who likes to take ownership, figure things out, and make things better than I found them.

Technical Skills

Frontend

JavaScript/TypeScript Angular HTML5 & CSS3 Bootstrap SASS/SCSS Jasmine

Backend

Java Node.js Golang Spring Boot Express.js Gin JUnit

Databases

MySQL MongoDB PostgreSQL Redis

DevOps & Cloud

AWS Docker Kubernetes OpenShift Terraform Jenkins GitLab CI/CD

Tools & Others

Git GitLab GitHub Linux Apache Kafka Nginx Jira REST APIs SOAP Confluence Swagger/OpenAPI Postman

Resume

EXPERIENCE

Software Developer

Standard Bank Group, Johannesburg

2020 - present

  • Led the migration of on-premises applications to AWS (ECS), improving scalability and reducing infrastructure costs.
  • Built, launched, and maintain 2 enterprise web applications end-to-end using Angular, Golang, and Java (Spring Boot), including online.dinersclub.co.za — ensuring 99.9% uptime and secure operations.
  • Designed and built CI/CD pipelines with GitLab CI/CD, cutting deployment time significantly.
  • Remediated penetration test findings and hardened application security across multiple services.
  • Proactively monitor and resolve production incidents, maintaining high availability for thousands of users.
  • Lead engineering knowledge-sharing sessions to upskill the team on best practices and new technologies.

Software Developer

The Digital Academy, Johannesburg

2019 - 2020

  • Co-developed 'Novelty', a MEAN-stack web app that helps entrepreneurs evaluate business ideas, access ABSA funding insights, and build websites.
  • Developed RESTful APIs and back-end services with Node.js, and designed and optimised a MySQL database.
  • Crafted responsive UI components using Angular with Material Design and MD Bootstrap.
  • Integrated Google OAuth, a domain availability checker, and multiple third-party APIs.
  • Containerised the application with Docker for consistent development and deployment.

SUMMARY

Gift Banda

Software Developer with 6+ years of experience building cloud-native, full-stack applications from concept to production.

  • Phone: 072 943 3017
  • Email: giftmbanda@gmail.com
Download Résumé

EDUCATION

Postgraduate & Adv Diploma: Computer Science

Tshwane University Of Technology

Deepening expertise in algorithms, AI, software engineering, cybersecurity, and cloud computing — complementing 6+ years of hands-on industry experience.

CERTIFICATION

AWS Developer - Associate AWS Cloud Practitioner Azure Administrator - Associate Azure Fundamentals Salesforce Platform App Builder National Certificate: Banking (NQF Level 5)

Projects

A mix of professional and personal projects that showcase my skills across full-stack development, cloud infrastructure, and problem-solving.

Diners Club Online

Enterprise Full-Stack Development

Diners Club Online is a secure, web-based corporate card management portal serving Diners Club South Africa. The platform supports 7 user roles with dedicated dashboards, role-based access control, account and card management, statement downloads, travel abroad notifications, and self-service registration with OTP verification. I developed and maintain this platform end-to-end using Angular, Golang, Java (Spring Boot), and AWS. Key contributions include building CI/CD pipelines, migrating from on-premise to AWS ECS, remediating security vulnerabilities, and ensuring 99.9% uptime. Diners Club Online

Takealot Web-Scraper Price Monitor

Web Scraping and Automation

Enthralled by a spark of brilliance, swiftly I leapt upon the virtual scribe known as VS Code. A dance of creation to embark upon before the fleeting whisper of thought could dissolve into the ether of memory. Okay! I just wanted to experiment with web scraping so I created a web scraper that automatically monitors the price of a desired Dell monitor on Takealot. This cron job not only web scrapes but also sends me an email alert when the price drops to or below my target of R4000 almost in real-time. Initially priced at R4289, the monitor is slightly over my budget. Yet, with this tool, I can capitalize on price drops. It's a powerful, personalized alert system for tracking price changes. I shared this on LinkedIn and received positive feedback from my network; feel free to share your thoughts too. Takealot Webscape Price Monitor

Step-by-Step Guide To Hosting A Static Website On AWS

AWS and DevOps

I recently hosted my giftmbanda.com portfolio website on AWS using S3 for storage, CloudFront for content delivery, ACM for SSL/TLS certificates, and Route 53 for domain name management. Join me in this tutorial article as I walk you through the process of hosting a static website on AWS. A Step-by-Step Guide to Hosting a Static Website on AWS.

AWS CodePipeline and ECS IaC (with Terraform)

AWS and DevOps

This project showcases my use of Terraform to architect and provision a highly available and scalable infrastructure on AWS. The infrastructure includes a CodePipeline for CI/CD and an ECS cluster for deploying containerized applications, with a load balancer, CloudWatch, multiple availability zones, public and private subnets, NAT gateway, autoscaling group, and internet gateway. The CodePipeline automatically integrates and deploys code changes to the ECS cluster through CI/CD. The ECS infrastructure, as well as the rest of the infrastructure, is designed to scale based on demand and provide high availability and fault tolerance across multiple availability zones. If you'd like to read more about this, please visit my article on Medium at giftmbanda.medium.com.

Global Covid-19 Live Tracker

Web Development

A Global Covid-19 Live Tracker app developed in React offers live global covid-19 stats and individual country's stats. The site is accessible here, Global COVID-19 Live Tracker and the source code is available for review on my Github.

Novelty

Web Development

We often have a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start a business with only an idea and have to deal with the complexity involved with starting up a business. Novelty walks the user through evaluating their business idea, helps the user find the right team for their technical tasks and offers marketing strategies and ways to get funding for the business. Novelty is a product of The Digital Academy in partnership with ABSA. The project was developed using MySQL, Express, Angular, and NodeJs.

WhatsappOrder

Web Development

A lightweight HTML5, CSS3, and vanilla Javascript food ordering website allow customers to place food orders and forward the order via Whatsapp to the Whatsapp linked to the site, which is ideal for small fast-food businesses. The site is accessible here, WhatsappOrder.

MyStudyLife

Web Development

A student attendance register system, the web app, allows students to log their class attendance via a GPS-enabled smartphone. The student turns on GPS/Location on their device,logs in, and selects "Attend" for the module being lectured that they present at. The system checks the student's Device GPS Coordinate against the assigned venue's GPS coordinates. It checks the student's Device GPS Coordinate ping time against the Subject's designated attendance time and then processes the attendance. This project is developed with Laravel, Bootstrap, HTML, and CSS and uses the MySQL database. The source code is available for review on my Github.

Contact

Open to new opportunities and collaborations. Whether you have a role in mind, a project to discuss, or just want to connect — I'd love to hear from you.

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Contact

  • Phone: 072 943 3017
  • Email: giftmbanda@gmail.com
  • Location: Johannesburg