The team
The engineers, mentors, and operators behind TechTalk.
TechTalk is built by people who've been on both sides of the hiring table — and didn't like what they saw on either.
Leadership
Naledi Mahlangu
Co-founder & CEO
Former engineering manager at a fintech unicorn. Started TechTalk after two years of trying to hire mid-level engineers and realising the pipeline was the problem.
Sipho Dlamini
Co-founder & CTO
Staff engineer turned educator. Built and ran the platform that powers TechTalk's AI mentorship engine. Believes 'good code is mostly empathy.'
Aisha Patel
Head of Programmes
Learning designer with a decade in technical education. Owns the curriculum across all three tracks and obsesses over student outcomes.
Mentorship
Our lead mentors set the technical bar across the programmes and personally pair with the students leading capstone projects. They're senior engineers who chose to spend a meaningful chunk of their week teaching.
Themba Khumalo
Lead Mentor, Foundation Track
Senior frontend engineer. Spent five years getting better at React so he could spend the next five years explaining it well.
Linda van Heerden
Lead Mentor, Professional Track
Full-stack engineer and former tech-lead. Specialises in TypeScript, system design, and the unsexy art of testing.
Kabelo Sithole
Lead Mentor, Honours Track
Staff engineer. Has shipped distributed systems at three African scale-ups and one global one.
Ruth Adeyemi
AI Mentorship Architect
ML engineer. Designed the retrieval and context engine that lets our AI mentor actually understand a student's project.
Programmes & operations
Pieter Joubert
Head of Partnerships
Spends his weeks turning 'we're hiring' conversations into actual offers for TechTalk alumni.
Zanele Khoza
Head of Student Success
First call for any student who's struggling. Owns wellbeing, accommodations, and the soft side of the programme.
Olamide Bakare
Operations Lead
Keeps cohorts running on time. Genuinely enjoys spreadsheets.
Plus: 60+ rotating mentors
On top of the lead team, more than sixty senior engineers from our partner companies rotate through the programmes — running code reviews, sitting on Demo Day panels, and hosting "ask me anything" sessions on the less-glamorous parts of being a working engineer.
Want to mentor?
If you're a senior engineer in South Africa or working remotely with African talent and you want to give back in a structured, low-overhead way, we'd love to talk. Email mentors@techtalk.co.za.