Louis Kotze

Senior Full-Stack Engineer · Linux Kernel Contributor

Ten-plus years shipping production software across FinTech, automotive, and pharmaceuticals. Currently delivering enterprise platform engagements through iOCO Digital. Patches land upstream in the Linux kernel, NetworkManager, and the wireless regulatory database.

Open-source & upstream

• Linux kernel (linux-wireless): authored the RTL8922AU USB RF-calibration fix (v3 on lore) merged into Ping-Ke Shih’s rtw-next tree in April 2026, with five independent Tested-by tags across USB WiFi chipsets. Also a cfg80211 MLO group-key error-message grammar fix (Accepted by Johannes Berg).
• NetworkManager: authored Wi-Fi 7 MLO awareness for the daemon’s background-scan logic (MR !2405, merged July 2026): parses the AP-MLD address from the Multi-Link element so a single-AP MLO association keeps the relaxed scan cadence, eliminating scan-induced traffic stalls. Landed after a five-revision review with the core maintainers.
• wireless-regdb audit: five country regulatory-database patches (ZA, HK, RU, KR, UA) verified against primary sources (ICASA, OFCA, MSIT, SCRF, ETSI), all merged into wens/wireless-regdb in April 2026. Plus a Reviewed-by on a community-submitted RU 6 GHz 320 MHz patch, applied to wens/wireless-regdb master on 2026-04-30: six total commits across five jurisdictions in one month, including first review credit on someone else's regulatory analysis. Patch series on lore. Includes an audit script for ongoing monitoring.
• morrownr/rtw89: PR #76 backports the in-kernel RF-calibration fix to the out-of-tree DKMS driver (merged April 2026).
• Fedora bug 2458629: filed a reproducer and root-cause analysis for a wpa_supplicant MLO reassociation race; assigned, in triage.
• In review: 7 further patches across wpa_supplicant (hostap) and linux-wireless, covering Wi-Fi 7 MLO association fixes and EHT capability advertising. All submissions on lore.

Mentorship

• University of Pretoria Mentorship Programme (2026 – present): mentoring graduates on CV, interview prep, and the current South African software job landscape.
• Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator (at BMW IT Hub SA, 2021 – 2025): mentored three graduates through their placement on the team, supporting their transition into first engineering roles.

Elsewhere

• louis@louiskotze.dev
• LinkedIn
• GitHub
• Kernel patches (lore.kernel.org)
• Prolific Studio (small consultancy)