Hi, I'm Petrus and I build web applications for a living.

While studying electronic engineering at Stellenbosch University, I built an online music store that sells mp3s. As the sole technical founder, I was plunged head-first into the startup world.

We made plenty of mistakes and I learned a lot, but it turned out okay and we've been profitable from day one. Since 2007, I have designed, built and marketed several software products from start to finish, and failure.

I have never held a "real job" in my life and I don't plan to any time soon. Running a startup is much more rewarding and challenging.

Last year (2011) I ceased all freelancing activities to focus on running my startup, write more and build a developer community in Cape Town.

The Long

I love the Internet. I barely slept in high school, browsing late into the night to learn about programming.

I became interested in network programming at age 16 when I wrote the network protocol for our game, SOLDAAT: Men of War, a 2D side-scrolling shooter that became so popular it caused some computer science students to fail the subject.

In matric, I built a pretty good chess engine called Chessmate for computer science in Java that won a regional programming prize. I've never beaten it, despite the lack of an opening book.

In 2003, I got paid for my first website. Fortunately, 99% of websites are horrible, so there's a big market for good developers.

In 2006 I commenced studying Electronic Engineering with Computer Science at Stellenbosch University and built the biggest digital online music store in SA over three months in my first year of full-time study.

In 2011, I graduated.

For 14 years, I've been honing my craft. I now choose my projects from Cape Town, where I live and work with a mountain view.

If you want to talk code, you should get in touch for a beer any time.