My journey started back in 2018 when I joined KMC as an i-hub student. Yes, I know…what is “i-hub?”. For those who don’t know, i-hub is a program within Khabane Majestic Consulting that helps train interns in their respective roles with the hope of hiring them. I progressed from i-hub, to graduate and now, a consultant.

Big question… What was the progression like?

Within our organization, you are exposed to different people with different roles, skills sets and personalities every day. How I dealt with the exposure, pressure and expectation, has been the leading force of my growth as a Majestic dev. 

Working with Majestics can be challenging but it’s one of the greatest things that has happened in my career. It’s equivalent to being in a room filled with only smart people, where there is so much one can learn from them and room for contribution. So just imagine the flakey emotions I had as a grad when I first joined, after being part of i-hub

Below are some of the roles that I got exposed to:

Business Analyst (BA), the people who analyze ‘everything’, not only requirements, but they ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to what needs to be done. Being exposed to our BA’s has enabled me to adapt to analysing my environment, tasks and also a lot within my personal space, apart from professional spheres. The impact it has on my career is that I’m able to execute tasks, the various needs by observing almost ‘all’ possible outcomes.

Product Designers, the guys behind the awesome look and feel of our sites and apps. If you’re looking for people who will challenge your eyesight, these are the guys to go to. As a dev, I write code according to requirements and design (sometimes the designs are quite complex), try negotiating with these guys and they’ll throw their “Let’s test it with the users” card at you. They have contributed immensely to my set of frontend skills and soft eye for web elements. 

Developers, the most challenging people in the room (because I’m a dev). If there’s a set of words I’ve learnt from these guys, at the tip of my tongue, it would be ‘refactor’, ‘quality code’, ‘automate it’, ‘unit test it’ and ‘reuse it’. We are constantly finding sleeker, cleaner, faster and quality ways of delivering software, there’s always room for improvement. These guys have drastically contributed to the knowledge I have today, and the fact that we challenge and believe that the next majestic can do today what they couldn’t do yesterday, this has been the greatest trait I have gained as a dev.

Quality Assurance (QA), as a dev, the piece of code you wrote is not quality until it has been tested and marked as done by these guys. They constantly ensure that our organization delivers the best products (software) and level of quality for the end clients. These guys have helped me understand the purpose of identifying problems in the early process of development.

Ethical Hacker (ETH), understanding the importance of security and attacks against our apps has all come from our ETH. From open endpoints to secured endpoints, databases and also thorough validations. These are the guys who keep us ten steps ahead of the cyber attackers. Not only do devs at KMC write ‘quality code, but we also write ‘secured’ code.

Management, they are the peeps you don’t want to mess around with. Even though we’re on the ground delivering, these are the guys who enable us to do what we do and be great. Through one-on-one conversations with individuals from management, as a first-time employee, those conversations fill the missing pieces which come from questions that aren’t answered through varsity theory.

The roles I mentioned above are just a subset of what you’re exposed to as a majestic, there is so much more. Not excluding our Agile culture, as a part of our key offering.

“I remember my first day at the client as a grad, I was so overwhelmed at the amount of knowledge Majestics had. I questioned myself “Do I have what it takes to be part of this organization?” 

My first client project

I’ll never forget the day I accidentally got rid of a piece of code one of my seniors, at the time, wrote and pretended like I had nothing to do with what had happened. I couldn’t wait to walk out the doors and sleep that mistake off. Ever since that day, I realised that it’s okay to stumble and fumble, the majestic pool, is one of the safest pools to be in. 

If it weren’t for the mistakes I had made, I would not have been able to transition to being a consultant. And yes, it turns out I have exactly what it takes to be part of this organization. Prioritizing has been the key element of how I have dealt with the pressure and expectations that come with being a Majestic.

As a 22-year-old South African female in Software development, I believe there are a huge set of skills I have learnt at KMC which I might not have at another organization. To mention the top three skills I have learnt is, consulting, understanding the different roles within a development team and lastly, understanding who I am and what my capabilities are. 

In conclusion, every factor I am exposed to within our organization has continuously contributed to the growth which has taken place over the past 3 years. Khabane Majestic Consulting is an organization filled with super smart and fun individuals, I am a proud MAJESTIC.

Dominique Lopis