Mr Jason Botha graduated with a BSc Honours in Computer Science summa cum laude. His honours research focused on the automated detection of spam and poor quality content on the web. A web page was scanned for adverts and the area and location of the adverts was calculated. The page was judged to be of poor quality if the adverts were too numerous and detracted from the reading experience.

He described COVID-19 as a huge upheaval that ‘forced everyone to adapt’. He added that, having completed his undergraduate studies at UKZN, it was natural to proceed to an honour’s degree. He was also attracted by the modules offered by the Discipline of Computer Science on machine learning, image processing and cybersecurity.

Lecturer Mrs Rosanne Els said: ‘Jason was an engaged and interested student from the moment he started University and was well-liked by his classmates, many of whom he assisted.’

Botha worked part-time during his studies creating web applications. ‘I wanted to experience some practical work and solve real-life problems, and Computer Science and programming lends itself very well to this. This experience supplemented my studies and prepared me for the industry,’ he said. He recently completed an internship as a software development engineer at Amazon Web Services and plans to work in the software industry for the foreseeable future. However, ‘a master’s degree is not out of the question down the line’.

He is grateful to his long-time lecturer and supervisor, Els, the Computer Science department and his family and friends for their continued support.

Words: Leena Rajpal

Photograph: Rajesh Jantilal