Team
Issa Kalonji
Senior Software Engineer @ Nerdma · Co-founder & CTO @ AtlisPay · Blockchain Developer
Issa is a Senior Software Engineer and Blockchain Developer based in Johannesburg — combining deep full-stack engineering experience with blockchain expertise gained at the Polkadot Blockchain Academy and through hands-on work in Rust, Substrate, and Solidity.
About Issa
Issa currently serves as Senior Angular and Java Engineer at Nerdma (December 2022 – present), where he leads an application upgrade and rewrite across Angular, Node.js, and a proprietary Java-based framework — managing CI/CD pipelines and coordinating project delivery. He previously co-founded AtlisPay as CTO, driving the company's technical strategy, development goals, and go-to-market plan.
Before entering software engineering, Issa spent eight years in property finance and banking — progressing from a service consultant role to team management at FNB South Africa — before pivoting into tech through WeThinkCode_, where he graduated in Software Engineering in 2022 and served as both Tech Mentor and Team Lead. He went on to work as a Junior Software Engineer at BBD before his current role at Nerdma.
Issa is a Polkadot Blockchain Academy alumnus (May–June 2024) and holds Expert Solidity Developer credentials from Encode Club. His top technical skills span Cryptography, Rust, Substrate, Java, Angular, Solidity, and C#, with a BCom in Banking from Milpark Business School grounding his commercial instincts.
Focus Areas
- Blockchain development — Rust, Substrate, Solidity, Polkadot ecosystem
- Full-stack engineering — Angular, Java, Node.js, C#
- CI/CD pipeline management & application architecture
- Technical leadership & early-stage startup CTO experience
How Issa Works With You
- Brings production-grade full-stack depth with blockchain credibility — his Polkadot Blockchain Academy training in Rust and Substrate sits alongside years of delivering Angular and Java applications in commercial engineering teams.
- Proven path from enterprise to blockchain: eight years in banking operations and management before re-entering tech gives him a rare commercial lens — he understands business constraints alongside the technical ones.
- Has operated as a technical founder — co-founding and serving as CTO of AtlisPay means he knows how to translate product vision into engineering execution, set development goals, and lead teams through uncertainty.
Find Issa online
Listen to Issa's short audio introduction (coming soon).
Issa's detailed CV and LinkedIn export will appear here.