Welcome
About Me
Hello! I'm Kraai Du Toit, born in May 1979 in South Africa, now living in the Netherlands since 2021. I'm a Solutions Architect with extensive experience in the Insurance and Financial industries. My expertise lies in Microservices Architecture and making solutions cloud-ready and vendor-independent. I have a strong technical background with hands-on programming experience in C#, HTML, Front-end web development , and SQL, and I am well-versed in cloud-based development and deployment practices.
In my spare time I also like playing around with different technology stacks. NOTE If you are on laptop/pc:Visit the 3D interactive Portfolio
here
if you want to experience augmented reality (AR)augmented reality (AR) scan this QR Code:
Beyond my technical expertise, I've had the unique experience of performing stand-up comedy alongside Trevor Noah, an adventure that taught me the power of storytelling and humor. You can learn more about this chapter of my life on my IMDB page.
In 2018, I won the Grab the Mic open mic competition and was selected to perform with Trevor Noah on the Nationwild tour. My work has been featured on television channels like Comedy Central, Kyknet, and Vuse Amp, as well as on radio stations such as Jacaranda FM. I also write and direct comedy for radio and starred in the Telkom Free Me Radio advert.
I’m passionate about staying at the forefront of AI, particularly in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) AI, and continuously seek out new learning opportunities. Fluent in English and Afrikaans, I’m currently expanding my language skills in Dutch at an A1 level. Whether in technology or on stage, I bring creativity, enthusiasm, and dedication to everything I do.
Work Experience
Solutions Architect/ AI engineer
Lionsville B.V. · Full-time
Apr 2023 - Present ·
The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands · Hybrid
- Design and developed Digital Twin application for offshore logistics Company , developed in React for frontend and Python as an api layer , using Azure digital twin. Loading cad files using Three.js and interacting with IOT data, showing real time data ingestion.
- Delivered AI Proof of Concepts (POCs) for retail industry with RAG AI models, Neo4j, and React.
- Created AI Vision POCs for the farming industry, detecting cows using Python and YOLO.
- Created AI Promotional video as Proof of Concept for future products (see video below)
- Skills: Azure DevOps · Azure · Neo4j · React.js · Terraform · Gitlab · Amazon Web Services (AWS) · Bitbucket
- Architecture Designs C4. Containerized PHP and React applications on AWS using ECS Fargate, S3, API Management, and full VPC setup.
- Automated deployment pipelines using Terraform and GitLab.
- Transformed Bitbucket from on-premise to Bitbucket Cloud.
- Designed and implemented Azure API Management solutions using Terraform.
Software Architect
CGI
Oct 2021 - Apr 2023 · 1 yr 7 mos
Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands
- Skills: Azure devops, Powershell, Power Automate
- Developed Azure Functions in C# and Powershell to integrate Azure DevOps with PagerDuty and Dynatrace.
- Used Azure Power Apps to support IT4IT projects, integrating them with Power Automate (Flow).
Solutions Architect
Telesure Investment Holdings (TIH) · Full-time
Jan 2020 - Apr 2023 · 3 yrs 4 mos
South Africa
- Skills: .NET Core
- Working on Microservice architecture using Azure Functions (C#), RabbitMQ, and MSSQL containers locally on Rancher, and in the cloud on Azure Containers.
- Using Azure DevOps for continuous deployment and integration.
- Applied TOGAF (BDAT) from the ADM framework, collaborating with business analysts, SQL developers, and C# developers to create POCs and architecture designs.
Developer
Telesure Investment Holdings (TIH)
Jul 2016 - Jan 2020 · 3 yrs 7 mos
- Skills: .NET Core
- Developed applications using C#, VB.NET, and Angular 6.
- Worked extensively with T-SQL, DB2, and SharePoint development for enterprise solutions.
- Built backend APIs and integrated them with the ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) layer for seamless communication between systems.
- Designed and developed front-end web applications for user-facing functionality.
Web Developer
HR-Focus Holdings (Pty) Ltd
Jun 2008 - Jun 2016 · 8 yrs 1 mo
Sandton
- Working in .net.
- Writing and maintaining web and windows applications.
- Successfully written and maintained Web Payroll at African Bank: https://www.africanbank.co.za
- Developing web-based Payroll and HR Software for Clients.
- African Bank: https://www.africanbank.co.za Financial Institution
- Edcon: http://www.edcon.co.za The leading clothing, footwear and textiles retailing group
- Alan Gray: http://www.allangray.co.za Financial Institution
Database Developer
MBD Attorneys
Oct 2007 - May 2008 · 8 mos
Johannesburg Area, South Africa
- Database developer working on financial systems
Analyst Programmer
Cornastone Consulting – Department of Water affairs
Sep 2006 - Sep 2007 · 1 yr 1 mo
Pretoria Area, South Africa
- Work as an Analyst Programmer, working at the department of water affairs.
- Working on Engineering software, that involve the planning and distribution of water across the country based on statistical information.
Delphi Programmer / Interface Manager
HR-Focus Holdings (Pty) Ltd
Jul 2003 - Aug 2006 · 3 yrs 2 mos
Sandton and based at Client Edcon
- Worked and maintained the Delphi Applications at the main office including the install packages, HR-focus main software, Custom Capture, Casuals system and Various interfaces.
- Later was located to Edcon and promoted to Interface manager, where I was in charge of all interfaces at client Edcon: http://www.edcon.co.za, the largest textile retail group in Southern Africa.
- I had a team of 2 developers under me, and was in charge of maintaining various interfaces from various 3rd party vendors mostly financial eg, Standard Bank, Nedbank, Discovery and many more.
Application Developer
ATM Solutions
Aug 2003 - Jan 2005 · 1 yr 6 mos
Sandton
- Writing Postilion office plugins
- Writing the backoffice system called backoffice manager to reconcile all the transactions from the financial institutions involved.
- Applications involving ATM related balancing and reconciling
Web Developer
Techikon Pretoria
Nov 2001 - Jun 2002 · 8 mos
Pretoria Area, South Africa
Technologies
HTML5
CSS3
JavaScript
React
Node.js
Git
Azure
AWS
C#
Python
Terraform
SQL
Qualifications
Diploma computer engineering
University of Technology | Graduated: 2004
- Specialized in Web Technologies and Software Engineering
Certifications
- Azure AI Engineer (AI-102)
- Azure AI fundamentals (AI-900)
- Bentey systems Digital Twin developer
- AWS Certified solutions architecth Associate
- MCSD Web development
- Azure solutions architect
- Azure Developer
- Azure Devops engineer
- Azure databases
- Togaf
- Azure Administrator
- Terraform Associate
- Neo4j profetional
GitHub Repositories
Applications
Cross‑platform Standalone Tools
Blog
Stop Hardcoding URLs in React Builds
Avoid absolute asset URLs; use relative PUBLIC_URL, CI guard scripts, and runtime config for slot-safe builds.
ReadDefinitive Guide to SQL Connection Strings
Pooling, retries, timeouts, TLS; patterns across APIs, Functions, Blazor, and mobile for reliable performance.
ReadInteractive Portfolio
Interactive Portfolio - Work in ProgressNote: The Interactive Portfolio is currently best viewed on desktop.
