Thabani TakwenaStudio

Software Engineer — Germiston, South Africa

I build software, end to end.

I'm Thabani. I build full-stack software.

Get in touchSee the workCV
thabani@dev — whoami

$ whoami

role
software engineer
based
germiston, south africa
focus
full-stack · ai · systems
building
cerebro novus — software engineer
hamba nathi — training system
shipping
symbiolearn · yttg
edu
bsc it — cum laude

$

BSc IT — cum laudeSoftware engineer @ Cerebro NovusSymbioLearn — AI voice tutoringYTTG — $40 MRRNext.js · TypeScript · Gemini · ConvexGermiston, South AfricaBSc IT — cum laudeSoftware engineer @ Cerebro NovusSymbioLearn — AI voice tutoringYTTG — $40 MRRNext.js · TypeScript · Gemini · ConvexGermiston, South Africa

Products

Software I own and keep building

Software I build and maintain outside my contract work.

symbiolearn.com
SymbioLearn interface
01
Edtech · my product

SymbioLearn

Students study from textbooks nobody sits down and explains to them. Tutors are expensive; generic AI chat doesn't actually know their material.

It started as my final-year project — a simple RAG PDF chat app — and became a voice-first tutoring platform on the Gemini Live API.

Students learn through natural conversation against their own study materials. I use Gemini embeddings and pgvector for retrieval, then generate quizzes, flashcards, summaries, and notes from each session, with study planning around exams and available time.

Dec 2025 — PresentVisit
  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Supabase
  • pgvector
  • Gemini Live
yttg.app
YTTG interface
02
Creator tools · my product

YTTG

Creators burn hours in Photoshop for one thumbnail, or pay a freelancer and wait a day for something that might not even test well.

A platform for generating, editing, and managing YouTube thumbnails with AI — prompt-based generation and refinement using Gemini image models.

I built auth, project management, billing, and the full generate-edit-export flow. It launched with paying customers.

Nov 2025 — PresentVisit
  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Firebase
  • Gemini Image API

Work Experience

Where I build professionally

The companies I currently work with, and what I do at each.

Customer communication & automation

Cerebro Novus

Software Engineer

May 2025 — Present

Contract · Remote

Building an AI-enabled customer communication and business messaging automation platform.

  • Shaping the product, architecture, and MVP alongside the founders.
  • Customer communication platform with CRM, shared inbox, and WhatsApp messaging.
  • Visual workflow builder and execution engine for conversational customer journeys.
  • WhatsApp onboarding, messaging, templates, and conversation management.
  • Multi-tenant architecture with role-based access control and customer management.
  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Convex
  • Clerk
  • WhatsApp API
  • Gemini
Training management system

Hamba Nathi Training Centre

Software Developer

Sep 2024 — Present

Contract · Germiston, South Africa

Artisan training centre — skills development provider and trade test centre.

  • Training management platform for student administration, finance, and operational workflows.
  • Modules for student administration, learning management, finance, and day-to-day operations.
  • Digitized enrollment, certification, document verification, and compliance to replace paper-based admin.
  • Connected admin and finance through enrollment, quotation, invoicing, payment approval, and operational workflows.
  • Migrating the platform from Laravel to Next.js with a Convex backend.
  • Laravel
  • Next.js
  • Convex
  • GitHub Actions

Timeline

How I got here

The short version, in order.

  1. Started BSc IT at Richfield

    First year, first exposure to programming.

  2. Richfield hackathon — Entrepreneurship Hub

    Led the backend on our team; we didn't win, but it was my first time shipping something under deadline with others.

  3. First version of SymbioLearn

    A RAG PDF chat app for my final-year project — an idea I kept coming back to.

  4. Won the Richfield hackathon

    Built and trained an AI stock market prediction model with a UI to run it.

  5. BSc Information Technology, cum laude

    Graduated from Richfield Graduate Institute of Technology.

  6. Joined Hamba Nathi Training Centre

    My first job out of university, building the platform that runs their training operations.

  7. Joined Cerebro Novus

    Started building an AI-enabled customer communication and business messaging automation platform.

  8. Launched YTTG

    My first product to reach paying customers.

  9. Rebuilt SymbioLearn

    Rebuilt it from scratch into a voice-first AI tutoring platform.

Toolkit

What I reach for

Languages

  • TypeScript
  • JavaScript
  • SQL
  • PHP

Frameworks

  • Next.js
  • React

AI & Data

  • Gemini API
  • Gemini Live
  • RAG
  • Vector Search
  • AI Agents

Backend & Databases

  • Supabase
  • PostgreSQL
  • Convex
  • Firebase

Tools

  • Git
  • GitHub
  • GitHub Actions

My work spans the full lifecycle — front end and back end, databases, APIs, authentication, and AI integrations, from requirements and design through deployment and maintenance.

Need something built?

This site is me. The studio is what I build for you.

Business websites, internal tools, dashboards, and custom systems — designed, built, and shipped end to end.

Visit the studio