Jaclyn Moses is a Technical Lead at Z3 Technologies. She’s also a proud graduate of Dynamic DNA, a Dynamic Technologies group company and an ICT training academy accredited with the MICT SETA. Dynamic DNA provides scarce skill IT training through blended learning while helping to build a talented and driven workforce for the IT industry.
Jaclyn spent years studying psychology and learning how people think and grow, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was meant to do something more tangible. “I was looking for a door into the world of development and Dynamic DNA was the door that opened. It gave me permission to reinvent myself.”
The NQF4 Software Development course that she undertook with Dynamic DNA gave her a stepping stone when she needed one most. “Their courses taught me so much more than only syntax and structure,” she explains. “They handed me the confidence to believe I belonged in this field. And then they went a step further, placing me in an authentic workplace environment where I could test that belief against real problems, real deadlines and real people. That combination of learning the craft and then living it changed the trajectory of my life.”
When she first stepped into the tech space, she felt every bit the newcomer she was. “What carried me through was more than my own effort; it was also the mentoring and belief poured into me by the team at Z3 Technologies. They didn’t just teach me to code; they taught me to lead. That support turned uncertainty into momentum and today I stand as Technical Lead, a title I couldn’t have imagined for myself when I started.”
Jaclyn adds, “Being new to development meant I was often standing at the edge of my own knowledge, staring at problems that had no obvious answer. I overcame that not by waiting for certainty but by chasing it, through research, trial and error, and simply putting in the hours until experience became its own kind of expertise. Every challenge I worked through left me a little more capable than it found me.”
That kind of determination is only part of what makes Dynamic DNA graduates so successful. “They go so much further than teaching you to code,” says Jaclyn, “they teach you to believe you can. So many programmes hand you information and leave you to work out how it applies to real life. Dynamic DNA closes that gap, walking you from the classroom straight into a genuine workplace, so the leap from student to professional never feels impossible.”
For Jaclyn, mentorship was an essential part of that package as well. “What really made a difference was having someone who had once stood exactly where I was standing, uncertain, a little overwhelmed, still finding his footing. Learning from his experience meant I didn’t have to make every mistake myself before I could grow. That’s the quiet power of mentorship – it turns someone else’s hard-won lessons into your head start.”
As Technical Lead, she sits at the centre of an ERP project that touches nearly every part of the business it serves. She steers the architecture, guides the decisions and carries the responsibility of a team of four developers, making sure their work fits together into something coherent, reliable and ready for the real world. But she’s not done yet.
My goals stretch in two directions,” says Jaclyn. “Inward, because I want to keep sharpening my own and there is always another layer to learn. Outward, because I want to open the same door for others that Dynamic DNA opened for me. We’ve already brought two more Dynamic DNA students onto my team and I intend to keep that door open, growing the careers of people coming up behind me at the same time as growing my own.”
Her advice to those following in her footsteps is simple. Persevere. “The road into tech is rarely straight and it will test you in ways you don’t expect. It’s not easy, but it is worth every bit of the difficulty because the version of yourself waiting on the other side of that persistence is one you’ll be proud to become.”