Hire mid-level Ruby on Rails developers

I am a builder and love it when my creations provide real-life value. I enjoy writing ruby and creating software using rails.

I started my Journey, when i was 18, in computer science with learning c & cpp, the very first subject i taught myself was data structures & algorithms. Since then I loved solving problems and getting interested in it, I was deep into low-level, making cli tools, modifying linux kernel modules, and i also tried to build a basic unix-like os inspired by xv6. Although, I learnt a lot in that year, but i wanted to do something that had real impact, something that provides business values. At that time, it was obvious that only Building WebApps would mean that. So, I started learning webdev from mdn docs, just the basics like html, css, and js. I made some tiny toy projects with it, I wasn't satisfied with them I wanted to do something bigger and more "real". I searched for the answers, and I was told frameworks/libraries like React -> next.js and Vue, with nodejs-express , and db like postgresql and mongodb are to be learned to make good webapps. I kinda felt I wish there was a simpler and faster way than this. So i looked again, and was met with ruby on rails. So I started learning Ruby, and I got it in halfday, the next step was to learn rails, so i went to search for some tutorials that'll explain me the how-to of building with rails, and it felt so intuitive that i went on with it. So simple and fast, although it was not easy to understand in the first time, but as soon as i started building It got easy for me to work with it. and I learnt it in 5 days with 5 projects. From my experience, i just wanted to demonstrate my quick learning skills and fast adapting ability and curiosity to figure things out as you go and solve problems asap. Although, I have not worked as Industry-Standard Dev, which is what i am seeking. In 1 week of involvement with Professionally developing webapps, working to solve business problems, I can just quickly adapt to what is expected of me.

I like to design & build web products for clients. I also like to drink coffee, admire architecture, and look for practical & affordable ways to make things. I'm always looking to collaborate with good people who also want to build nice things.

As an accomplished senior Full Stack developer with 9 years of mastery in Ruby on Rails and Single Page Application (SPA) development using React, Vue.

I became a full-time developer 20+ ago and have worked with a wide variety of languages and frameworks and held many roles. I started using Ruby and Rails in 2005 and it's by far my preferred toolkit. I enjoy working with legacy code bases and upgrading and improving them. I've spent a great deal of time on such tasks. My first project was a publishing solution for a major US shipping magazine called Pacific Shipper using AppleScript as the glue. It had everything: a GUI, import and export modules, networking, database interaction and Web publishing via ColdFusion. It was a wizard-driven conversion tool for porting a digital print file to a Web site. Along the way I got to experience most challenges facing a young and inexperienced developer, including how to interact with end users and product owners, bug fixes, deployment and versioning and more. The classic learn-as-you-go scenario. Since then, I went into ASP, Java (J2EE, JSP), build and deploy tooling, Struts and finally landing on Ruby and Rails in 2006. This has been by far my preferred toolkit since then. I have a passing acquaintance with iOS and Android development as well though would need a refresher. Having worked almost exclusively on the backend of things, with the arrival of Rails 8 I have happily re-entered the frontend domain and find it very rewarding. I consider myself a life-long learner and have over the years picked up useful soft skills, having worked in many diverse situations. I've lived and worked in many geographic location as well and am native in English, Swedish and German, fluent in French. In the past I have contributed to most phases of product development, from concept and wire framing to server setup. I've spent a significant amount of time in e-commerce and content management systems. I enjoy seeing a project from a high level perspective, rather than starting at a database schema level: outside in rather than inside out. I consider myself a pragmatist and will not by default try to build everything myself if a reasonable alternative exists. By the same token, I'm in favour of carefully curating and vetting libraries to include in a project. I prefer to move with a purpose and shipping often rather than sitting on a feature until it's "perfect". I have no bias against working with legacy code, in fact I enjoy it! Spelunking is a a great way to learn and understand.

With solid experience in Ruby on Rails, I specialize in building scalable web applications, ensuring high-performance backend systems, and optimizing SQL databases for efficiency. Proficient in TypeScript and React, I craft dynamic, maintainable frontend components while integrating robust backend services. My development approach is anchored in Test-Driven Development (TDD), fostering reliable and efficient codebases. Passionate about clean architecture and automation, I continuously explore emerging technologies to enhance development workflows.

Who am I? I am Tom Dallimore, a developer originally from the UK but now living in SEA. I currently work as a freelance Rails & React Developer, my 2 favourite frameworks that I thoroughly enjoy using (so far!). Additionally, in my spare time, I am managing a Gen AI platform I launched late last year called Fetch Hive(fetchhive.com) and a typeform alternative form builder called JotJab(jotjab.com). But before we go any further, let’s get to my story and why I think we are a great fit for each other. My story Let’s get started. I am a 35 year old developer who has been developing all kinds of applications and software for the past 17 years. When I started software development (when I was about 16 years old) I learned the basics of HTML, CSS and a little bit of Javascript. After that I moved onto PHP and C# for a small time but then stumbled upon Rails. I became intrigued, since when did writing code become so fun and fast? At the time I was working at Dyson as a C# developer, but in the evenings and mornings I was building my own little applications - a lot of fun. I eventually settled on creating an ecommerce app (yeah, I didn’t know at the time how much work that would be), which eventually grew into Trado - an open source e-commerce application. Fast forward a year or so and I was offered a job to work at an agency in Beijing. It was a contract based job which was primarily on upgrading, managing and debugging Rails applications, certainly an interesting experience. From there I decided I wanted to dive back into the world of freelance. I helped several companies launch apps using a mixture of React and Rails, including an online store for PPE supplies, a charity donation web + mobile app and an app for the Shopify Partners ecosystem. Why me? I love to experiment and build tools which help people’s everyday lives be more productive and fun! I would say the most rewarding part of being a developer is seeing apps I helped create become a rewarding tool for the user. I’m not just a developer Over the years I’ve worked on projects with teams and on my own. The latter meant I needed to take up other responsibilities to ensure the delivery of a product. These included tasks such as, server management, UX/Product design, graphic design (my father ran a graphic design agency) and from time to time marketing/branding. Guess you could call it a swiss army knife of skills! Side projects As I previously mentioned, since a young age I’ve always enjoyed tinkering with stuff in my free time. The most recent project is Fetch Hive. I've been working with a few companies in the past couple of years which want to utilize AI in the business, but quickly became tired of the constant back and forth between developers and project managers. Building prompts, agents and integrating data sources like Google, Website Scraping and Exa just became slow and cumbersome as it was all in the code. So I built a complete Gen AI platform, an all in-one workspace for engineers, product managers, and non-tech teams to explore LLM tools. It runs using Rails, Rust, React, TailwindCSS, Shadcn and Vite, all hosted on Hetzner and Cloudflare using the amazing Dokku engine (seriously, the best open source PaaS out there!). Another project I also built last year is JotJab. At the time I was using Typeform to create forms for communicating with audiences on the web, but I couldn’t stomach their high pricing. So I built an alternative product which is accessible to business of all sizes without breaking the bank. Staying in touch • I keep updated with the OSS community on Github • I follow a lot on Twitter and actively share daily • I follow a few YouTubers. • And I dabble in Reddit, from time to time. Soft skills I like to talk, throw ideas around, and have long conversations about certain topics. I love to experiment with “outside the box” ideas. I do have opinions, I like to discuss and have a conversation about my opinions, but I also love to change and adapt my opinions based on new information. After hours • I’m always keen to learn new technologies, currently experimenting with Go and Flutter • I have a passion for photography and videographer, mostly when taking trips into the countryside • I do enjoy watching a good series now and again, like Shogun There is a lot more I would like to talk about, but I hope I’ve already convinced you enough to start a conversation. I look forward to hearing from you.

My journey as a developer started when I was selected to build internal software for my college to track exchange students. With little more than curiosity and determination, I dove into Ruby on Rails—and I haven’t looked back since. Since then, I’ve worked on meaningful, real-world Rails applications like CancerCare, where I helped modernize a legacy codebase for a national nonprofit. I improved performance, redesigned the UI, fixed long-standing bugs, and restored core features like Elasticsearch—all while learning how to work within the constraints of an active production system that people rely on daily. What makes me unique is that I’m not just focused on writing code—I care about why the product exists, who it's serving, and how to build something that lasts. I'm passionate about clear communication, thoughtful refactoring, and learning new tools that help me do better work. For example, I’ve recently built my own project, Shoe Sensei, which uses Rails, Hotwire, Stimulus, and a full testing suite to provide a fast, dynamic user experience. I approach development with curiosity and care. I like understanding how things work under the hood and making small, meaningful improvements that add up over time.

Hey there! I'm an experienced software developer with a strong background in Ruby on Rails, Hotwire (including Turbo, Stimulus, and Turbo Native), Jumpstart Pro, APIs, Postgres, Tailwind. I'm really passionate about crafting high-quality, efficient, and user-friendly applications. Recently, I completed a contract with inkwire.co, where we developed cross-platform applications using Turbo Native. We optimized high-traffic pages, reducing load times by ~80%, we improved database performance through query optimization, task offloading, caching, and refactoring model associations. I also collaborated with collide.app on a contract basis, where we developed a cross-platform application using Ruby on Rails and Turbo Native (Jumpstart Pro). We implemented intuitive UI/UX designs using Tailwind CSS, ensuring a seamless and visually appealing user experience. Prior to these contract roles, I worked with oblsk.com, where we contributed to remarkable projects like plt4m.com. We solved user stories end to end, conducting testing (Mini & Capy), and implementing responsive CSS (Tailwind). Another notable project was haymakersforhope.org, where we integrated a Strapi API for a headless CMS and designed a responsive interface using Tailwind too. In my spare time, I'm dedicated to giving back to the community through organizations like Ruby for Good. I've actively participated in their CASA project, assisting with both small and large issue resolution. Collaborating with like-minded individuals to make a positive impact is truly fulfilling. I consider myself on being resilient, resourceful, and emotionally intelligent. I possess strong communication skills and always strive to deliver on time. 🇺🇸 English - Professional 🇲🇽 Spanish - Native CASA project: https://github.com/rubyforgood/casa/commits/main/?author=dominiclizarraga Personal blog: https://github.com/dominiclizarraga Resume: https://standardresume.co/r/YcQ-LtWoMGJlQFJz4IvH5

What makes me unique as a developer is the blend of purpose, adaptability, and real-world impact that drives my work. I didn’t get into software development simply to build cool apps — I started coding to solve problems that matter to people. From streamlining administrative systems for local government in Zimbabwe to creating an online marketplace that helps small businesses sell car parts more effectively, my projects are always rooted in tangible value and usability. One of my recent accomplishments is developing a digital change-of-use permit system for Harare City Council using Ruby on Rails. What makes this special isn’t just the tech stack — it’s the fact that I took a bureaucratic, paper-heavy process and transformed it into something efficient, trackable, and accessible. It’s a small but meaningful contribution toward digital transformation in a context where it's needed most. I’m passionate about building platforms that empower communities, particularly in underserved markets. Whether it’s launching PartsToGo, a growing car parts marketplace in Zimbabwe, or conceptualizing platforms like TendersZimbabwe, I love taking on the kind of challenges where impact matters more than hype. I bring not only the technical skills — full-stack development, systems thinking, clean and maintainable code — but also a strong sense of empathy and purpose to every line I write. I thrive where others may hesitate: limited resources, unclear paths, and bold ideas. My strength lies in turning vision into product, especially when the goal is to make life easier, more efficient, and more just for real people.