They say the first 10 years at a company are the hardest, but for Hanneke Alberts, Ben Louw, Mariska Cubitt and Darrell Cloete the past decade at FarSoft passed in a flash with many highs. To put it in perspective, they each notched up a total of 120 months, which accounts for 520 weeks, 3 653 days, 87 653 hours and 5 260 320 minutes.

Hanneke said every day at the company had been a project and special occasion wrapped in one. ‘The experience of growing with my colleagues as a team has been priceless. And I’m grateful that Freddie and Gerhard have allowed us the space to live out our passions.’

Since joining FarSoft, Ben has worked on countless projects. But he particularly enjoyed working on ViTrax Mobile as his first programming task. ‘It’s now our standard mobile app and we’re continually adding more features. That said, overall I love the fact that FarSoft allows me the freedom to do what I deem necessary.’

Ben considered the most memorable moments with the team when spending time in Kakamas before the table grape season start. ‘It was really hot and hard work, but nonetheless very rewarding. As to the future, I hope to delegate even more of what I do to others. I recently learned that you have to build a black box around you and that black box needs to function even if you go to Bali for a month. I’ve already started this process!’

Mariska echoed the fact that FarSoft’s mobile development had been a stand-out experience – especially ViTraxMobile QC. ‘However, I’m excited about the things to come,’ she said.

‘Over the years, there have been so many happy moments with the team. And I hope for another 20 years at FarSoft (with an office in the attic and a stair lift of course!)’

With fondness Darrell named the sizer integration project which integrated with various systems (MAF Roda, AWETA, GREEFA) on FarSoft’s generic presorter module as the most remarkable during the past 10 years.

‘As for noteworthy occasions with team mates, the road trips with colleagues to visit clients were tops,’ he said. His wish for the future is making a change with every project he does, while continuing to learn and grow.

CAPTION:
10-year anniversary smiles from Hanneke Alberts, Darrell Cloete, Mariska Cubitt and Ben Louw.