About

willem-van-zyl
Hi! My name’s Willem, I’m a 25-year old software developer, database administrator, open source advocate, Apple geek, UNIX admin, Linux evangelist, crayfish diver, autodidact, spearfisher, archer, Mensan, japanese student, samurai-in-training and bibliophile from the Western Coast of South Africa.

My main areas of expertise are software project management & analysis, web development, Linux Web Server Administration, MySQL Database Administration & Optimization, and PHP-based Server Management (WHM, cPanel), CMS (Joomla, WordPress), CRM (SugarCRM), LMS (Moodle) and eCommerce (Zen Cart) framework maintenance & module development.

My software development skills include PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript (content, presentation and behavioral layers), Bash Scripting (UNIX Server Scripts), Python, AppleScript (Macintosh automation) and Objective-C (iPhone and Macintosh applications). As of January 2009 I started blogging and gained an interest in Search Engine Optimization and Web Analytics.

My other interests range from usability and productivity to quadbiking and diving. I’m an avid reader of biology, physics and psychology (Daniel Dennett, Malcolm Gladwell, Richard Dawkins, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, Steven Pinker), science fiction (Frank Herbert, Sheri Tepper), horror (Scott Sigler, Stephen King) and fantasy (JRR Tolkien, RA Salvatore, Robert Jordan).

Currently reading:

  • Daniel C. Dennett – Kinds of Minds
  • Edward Gibbon – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • Malcolm Gladwell – The Outliers
  • Neal Stephenson – Quicksilver
  • Richard Wiseman – Quirkology
  • Robert Jordan – The Wheel of Time Series
  • Steven Pinker – The Stuff of Thought
  • Umberto Eco – The Name of the Rose

 
If you’d like to contact me, leave a comment on geekology.co.za, write on Geekology’s Facebook Fan Page Wall, message me on Twitter, or send me an email.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

- Robert A. Heinlein

Afrigator