Explore the inspiring story of Harley Ferguson, from an uncertain start to becoming a successful tech leader. Today we are sharing the inspiring story of Harley Ferguson, a tech entrepreneur who turned setbacks into opportunities, now leading Origen Software.
Over the years, he has advanced from intern to tech lead, created widely used platforms, and helped multiple startups succeed.
Areeba: Hi Harley, it’s great to have you here. Please tell us a bit about your journey into the tech industry and what inspired you to pursue a career in software development.
Harley: Hi there!
Thank you so much for having me.
Since the age of 9, I always knew that I wanted to become a developer. Growing up, someone very close to me was working as a software developer. When they told me that they got to sit in front of a computer all day, solving problems and building things, I was sold.
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From then on, I spent a lot of time learning the basics of code. However, I spent even more time trying to solve high-level problems. If you can put those two together, you’ll make for a great developer.
Areeba: You’ve gone from an intern to a tech lead and CEO in just five years. What were some of the key strategies and decisions that propelled your rapid career progression?
Harley: While I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve accomplished, I’m very aware that I’ve been very lucky (at times) in my career. I met the right people at the right time, and always found the right opportunity for the next step.
In terms of what wasn’t “lucky”, I think my hunger to always improve and learn is a massive attribute to my growth from an intern. I was always wanting to learn more, always wanting to improve and always wanting to see where I could provide more value.
With that growth mindset, I kept pushing boundaries and opened up doors that otherwise would never have opened. I never wanted to be the best, I just wanted to always be doing my best.
A growth mindset is by far the most powerful thing that you can have as a developer, but also as a person. It’s the main reason why I am where I am today.
Outside of a growth mindset, I think my greatest skill is to identify opportunities or help create them. I’m often able to see the larger picture of a problem, role, project, or business, which allows me to draw connections between all the pieces. Early in my career, this skill allowed me to take my career into my own hands by seeking out opportunities to grow, or creating them for myself, which helped to rapidly accelerate my career.
Areeba: You mentioned that you were let go from your first job as a software developer in 2016. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced transitioning from an intern to a tech lead within five years?
Harley: That was a very tough time for me. There were moments when I doubted if this was the career for me and if I should maybe not just pivot to something else. It’s been a long time since then, and I’ve come to realize how bad that company was and how toxic the environment was, but that didn’t make it any easier at that moment.
At that time, the biggest challenge I had was confidence in myself. If others discredit you and bring you down so early in your career, it’s very difficult to know if they’re right or not. I started to strongly doubt myself and my future. Luckily, I stumbled my way towards another company that had an amazing environment and allowed me to grow.
During that growth, which was faster than most, I did struggle with two perception-based things: my age and the rate at which I grew in comparison to others.
Being younger than most of my colleagues, yet more senior than them, was something that a lot of people understandably struggled with. It can create an odd dynamic with a lot of animosity or jealousy. I found it best to move past this, and just continue to focus on growing and doing the best work that I could. I ignored the initial negative outlooks from others who felt that I had climbed too fast, or that age should dictate your position (which is complete BS). Once they all saw what I was capable of, they came to understand why I was in the position I was in.
Areeba: At Origen Software, you partner closely with startups to bring their visions to life. Can you share some examples of how your team has helped startups succeed with custom-built platforms?
Harley: Sure! I’m proud of what we’ve been able to achieve.
We have a lot of founders or young startups come our way with great ideas but with no knowledge of how to build a product or what’s required.
Considering the vast experience in venture building that myself and my team have, we help guide our clients and partners from an idea to a market-ready product. From initial ideation and validation to wireframing and designing, all the way to development and release, we work closely with our clients every step of the way.
We’ve worked on projects in many different industries: EdTech, FinTech, social media, events, and telecommunications. We’ve built a lot of awesome things for a lot of awesome clients, and we’ve got a lot more on the way!
Areeba: You work with cutting-edge technologies like Flutter, React, React Native, and Firebase. How do these technologies provide a competitive edge for your clients?
Harley: We believe in building cutting-edge platforms for cutting-edge companies, so naturally, we require cutting-edge technologies.
These technologies allow for a rapid rate of development, both on the frontend side and backend side of the platforms. The days of having to build everything from scratch are behind us, and it’s time to leverage these powerful technologies to help aid us in building quality software, faster.
Our team believes that just because it’s worked before, doesn’t mean there isn’t something better or faster available now. We’re constantly exploring new frameworks, technologies, and tools, to see how we can use them to better ourselves and what we offer. This practice allows us to stay ahead of the curve, and in some cases, actually help guide it.
Areeba: As an advisor for Startup Club ZA, what trends do you see in the South African tech startup scene, and how does the club support these emerging businesses?
Harley: The South African startup scene is in a very interesting phase right now. We’re seeing more and more startups being launched, with more innovators, providers, and funders helping this happen.
South Africa, much like many others, is a country that has its problems. The amazing thing to see is that there is a wealth of startups looking to help solve these problems on a local and national scale. Startups aren’t being created to solve irrelevant problems or tackle issues that don’t resonate. The founders are driven by a purpose and passion to create a better country for all, where large-scale businesses and government are too slow or ineffective.
The Startup Club South Africa, or SCZA for short, is an organization that I help advise that aims to facilitate the growth and opportunities of all these startups. The club helps to foster connections between startups and those who can help them build and grow, as well as give them a platform to present themselves.
Areeba: While at Haefele Software, you led frontend and mobile development. What were your most challenging projects, and how did you overcome them?
Harley: My single most challenging project was more of an internal issue. At the same time that I stepped into that leadership role, Haefele Software had many ongoing front-end projects. The issue was that all of them were using different frameworks and technologies, and those using the same, happened to be implementing them completely differently.
This meant that developers moving between projects not only had a difficult time learning the domain but also had to learn how each project worked from a code perspective. I saw an opportunity here to not only make the lives of developers easier but also guarantee faster results for clients, as well as a method to increase the knowledge base and value the developers could provide.
I stepped in to create internal standards and templates that could be used across all the projects. This ensured that every project was built in the same way, which made it much faster for developers to be productive on new projects, and increased output for the clients. I constantly tweaked and improved these templates and standards as the collective team gained new insights, which meant that we were never leaving anyone behind, and could rapidly build products.
Areeba: Your experience includes working with multiple front-end frameworks and cloud platforms. What advice do you have for developers looking to broaden their technical expertise?
Harley: Being a software developer is an intimidating career choice. A fun and incredibly rewarding one, but ultimately still an intimidating one.
You’ll find yourself constantly having to learn new frameworks, stay up-to-date with the times, embrace new tools, and even overhaul entire applications to implement new languages. Having a broad understanding of what’s happening in the industry, and what you should be up-to-date with, is an important skill to have.
I’ve always approached this by dedicating specific time to investigating new technologies and learning their basics. As a frontend specialist, I have my fair share of experience with all of the different fun frontend stacks and frameworks. However, I still believe in exploring things outside of the front end so that I keep my skills sharp while increasing the width of my knowledge.
When looking to learn something new, I always suggest that you listen to the market. While writing code is a passion for many of us, it’s still a career, and careers are driven by the market. Make sure that you’re aware of what job listings are mentioning as their most required skill/framework/language/tool. This helps to ensure that you’re always hireable and can provide value wherever you may work.
Areeba: You’ve helped numerous developers accelerate their careers. What common challenges do they face, and how do you guide them to overcome these obstacles?
Harley: I think the most common issue that developers face is feeling like they’re stuck. Maybe it’s something small, like the current task you’re busy with, or something as large as your position at the company, not being able to move forward.
My advice is to always keep taking action. I like to believe that creativity and productivity, two of the most important things for any developer, are a result of three things: motivation, inspiration, and action.
Motivation is powerful, but often fleeting and inconsistent. Everybody is motivated by different things, and at different times. You can’t rely on motivation to keep you moving forward as then you’ll hit slumps that you won’t be able to get out of until your next motivation spike.
Inspiration is also another amazing tool for creativity and productivity. How often do we hear artists say that they were inspired by the work of someone else? Inspiration is great, but you can’t stay inspired every day of your life. Sometimes, things are just difficult, and lack inspiration but still have to be done. If you only work when you’re inspired, then you’re only going to be working for a few days at a time.
Action is the key. Motivation and inspiration drive action, but action can also exist on its own. When developers feel stuck, they should take action.
Feeling like you don’t know enough about React? Good. Go read the documentation and practice.
Worried you’re taking too long on your current task? Good. Don’t waste time worrying. Rather spend time reminding the problem and creating a solution.
Concerned that you won’t be able to get that promotion? Good. Ask your company what the requirements for the promotion are, then make a list of everything that you’re missing and make sure you tick every box and more.
Take action. Even when you don’t feel motivated or inspired to. That’s the only way that anyone regardless of if they are an intern developer or a CTO of a large company can always ensure they are moving forward.
Areeba: How important do you believe WordPress and social media are for startups and businesses today, and how have you leveraged these tools in your ventures?
Harley: Tools like WordPress and Webflow play a key role for many startups. Those platforms allow for the rapid development of websites, which is great for getting your startup’s website out there. However, these platforms are incredibly limited and don’t offer the features required to build incredibly large-scale or dynamic platforms. Considering that many of Origen’s clients are wanting scalable, unique, and unrepeatable platforms, we don’t use tools like this when building our platforms.
That being said, we used Webflow internally to build our public-facing website and absolutely loved the experience!
I believe social media to be the new marketplace for businesses. Social media platforms provide three things to any person or business: information, communication, and validation.
Information is what businesses choose to share about their business, communication through the ability to directly reach out or message, and validation in followers and engagement from users helping to show the strength of the brand.
I have invested a lot of time and energy into not only building Origen’s online presence but also my own personal brand and let me tell you that it’s the single best investment that I’ve ever made. A strong social media presence that provides value to the general user, potential leads, and existing customers is something that just can’t be matched in any other medium.
Areeba: You’ve invested in and helped found multiple startups. What criteria do you use to identify and support promising ventures?
Harley: When evaluating if either myself or Origen should invest time, money, or resources into a startup, I like to say that I’m looking for The Three P’s: Problem, Product, Person/People.
Problem: Every business ever created was built to solve a problem. When evaluating an investment opportunity, the first thing I think to myself is, “Is this solving a problem?”. If it is, then I’ll explore some other questions such as:
“Does this problem need to be solved?”
“Will building a business help to solve this problem?”
“How noticeable is the problem, or would it need convincing”?
I can dive quite deep into analyzing the business opportunity being presented, but the first thing is to always ensure that it’s solving a problem.
Product: After I’m convinced that the idea will help solve a problem, I’ll want to understand the product. This involves understanding how a technology or software innovation could help solve the problem, and what the business model around it will be.
Person/People: Finally, and most importantly for any partnership, it comes down to the people involved. Is the person or people that I’d be working with, or investing in, someone that:
A) Knows how to build a business
B) Has the skills to execute on the business
C) I like and would actually want to partner with
If I can positively answer all of those questions, then I think I’ve found a good opportunity.
Areeba: How do you stay updated with the rapidly evolving tech landscape, and what resources or strategies do you recommend for continuous learning?
Harley: I’m a big fan of the phrase, “Consistently good instead of occasionally great”.
I apply this way of thinking to my learning. Setting aside a little time each day to learn compounds into massive strides over time.
I’m not saying that you have to dedicate time to going through the documentation of the latest framework each day (though that may help), but I mean more simple things like watching a video about a new stack or reading an article about a concept you want to know more about.
All of these exercises help to increase our learning and keep us growing.
Rapid Fire
| Areeba | Harley |
| Describe your perfect workday in three words. | Productive, Creative, Fun |
| What’s your favorite coding language besides PHP? | JavaScript |
| Do you prefer working early mornings or late nights? | Early mornings |
Thank you Harley for your precious time and expert opinion!
