From tiny Klapmuts to Wall Street and back
Aaron Fuchs is CEO at iXperience, a tech boot camp that provides intensive eight-week coding courses. He tells Margaret Harris he is a strong proponent of striking a healthy work-life balance
change by finding solutions to the social problems facing South Africa. What was your first job, and what important lesson did you learn from it?
On Wall Street, working as an analyst at a very large hedge fund.
I learnt very quickly how to deal with intense pressure in a calm and clinical way.
Risk management was also a fundamental lesson that I learnt throughout my career on Wall Street: always know what your exposure to risk is and how to manage that if things don’t go your way. What did you study, and how does that help you do your job?
I studied mechanical engineering. I learnt skills that have helped me. Innovative design thinking and complex problem solving have been the two most valuable that have enabled me to create a forward-thinking company. What did you want to be when you were a child?
I wanted to be a brain surgeon. I always thought I was going to go into medicine. I think I liked the idea of helping people. Unfortunately, I later realised that I didn’t really like blood and so had to rethink my career ambitions. What would you most like to outsource from your job?
Although I love speaking to students, recruiting at the American colleges can be quite draining. It is an exhausting journey from South Africa to the US, and you have to keep your wits about you speaking at all the schools. It would give me quite a lot more free time if I could outsource that. What is the best thing about the work you do?
Getting to see the positive effect that iXperience has on our students. It is truly satisfying to see our alumni’s success stories and how much they have achieved after our programme. I also enjoy creating a workplace where the staff push the boundaries of what we can create. It is amazing to see their growth and dedication to our mission. If you were to choose another career what would it be?
It would definitely be that of a professional athlete. I have always been very involved with sports and played squash as a junior. The challenge to succeed and the feeling of success are unparalleled. What character traits do you need to do your job?
You have to have self-belief and motivation to build something from nothing. It takes discipline to ensure that you continue to create value with the work that you are doing every day. Forward thinking helps you to drive the company in the direction that it needs to go.