Publication
Keep Calm and Transition to a New Development Team
https://www.toptal.com/developers/software/onboarding-a-new-development-team
Carlos is currently unavailable
Carlos Ramirez III
Verified Expert in Engineering
Full-stack Developer
San Rafael, CA, United States
Toptal member since December 6, 2014
Bio
Carlos is a professional software engineer and full-stack web developer specializing in the Ruby on Rails framework. He has worked with tech companies for over a decade, helping to build technology-based businesses from the ground up. He has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Williams College.
Portfolio
HealthSherpa
Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), React, Redux, RSpec, Heroku...
Standard International Management, LLC (Contract)
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Heroku, PostgreSQL, CSS, Bootstrap, Haml, Capybara...
BiG Media (Contract)
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Heroku, Bootstrap, Capybara, RSpec...
Experience
- Test-driven Development (TDD) - 12 years
- JavaScript - 12 years
- Ruby on Rails (RoR) - 12 years
- Heroku - 12 years
- Full-stack - 12 years
- Ruby - 12 years
- RSpec - 12 years
- Bootstrap - 10 years
Preferred Environment
Git, Vim Text Editor
The most amazing...
...thing I’ve developed recently is a livestreaming product to allow video production companies to continue shooting remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Work Experience
Web Developer
2021 - 2022
HealthSherpa
- Worked as part of a team consisting of 3 other engineers, an engineering manager, and a product manager using Agile methodologies.
- Built an integration with a third-party identity verification solution to ensure that agents on the platform are verified and no fraudulent user accounts are created.
- Migrated from a legacy single-role-per-user system to a multi-role permission-based authorization system.
Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), React, Redux, RSpec, Heroku, Test-driven Development (TDD), Agile
Web Developer
2016 - 2022
Standard International Management, LLC (Contract)
- Implemented a site-wide redesign and front-end overhaul targeting both desktop and mobile devices. Incorporated responsive image best practices to maximize performance and page speed ranking for SEO.
- Enhanced the CMS to allow new page types to be created, including a careers portal for job listings, promotional campaign landing pages, and a radio page with the embedded player.
- Enabled multi-language support for both static and user-generated content coming from the CMS using i18n localization.
- Built a Shopify store using a customized theme to ensure cohesive branding between the shop and the main hotel website.
- Performed maintenance, performance tuning, and code refactoring to improve the quality of the codebase.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Heroku, PostgreSQL, CSS, Bootstrap, Haml, Capybara, RSpec, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby
Lead Web Developer
2017 - 2021
BiG Media (Contract)
- Created a live streaming product allowing video production companies to shoot remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Delivered collaboration tools, supported multi-camera shoots, and addressed latency challenges using multiple streaming protocols.
- Designed and implemented an industry-specific product for digitally signing, storing, and managing contracts for video production companies. Supported both web browser and iOS clients using an internal API using JSON:API specification.
- Built an AI-powered tool for detecting and confirming the presence of faces and other data in a piece of video footage. Used this data to dynamically generate Excel reports used by the industry for compliance and reporting.
- Managed a team of internationally-located freelance developers. Responsible for code reviews, feature scoping, and project management.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Heroku, Bootstrap, Capybara, RSpec, Ruby on Rails (RoR)
Web Developer
2015 - 2016
Nafasi (Contract)
- Completely redesigned the visual user interface using a custom Twitter Bootstrap theme.
- Designed a LinkedIn-like profile page with in-place editing and updating using Ajax and server-side rendered templates.
- Implemented a downloadable custom PDF report using HTML-to-PDF rendering techniques to ensure proper formatting and layout of the final document.
- Instituted an automating testing policy and implemented a complete integration test suite to provide full coverage of new features.
- Added analytics tracking to the web application using Segment, Mixpanel, and Google Analytics.
- Used modern methods of social engagement such as commenting, up/down voting, etc., to allow users to engage and collaborate on application-specific items.
Technologies: Capybara, RSpec, Heroku, PostgreSQL, Bootstrap, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby
Lead Web Developer, CTO
2013 - 2016
eDivv, Inc. (Contract)
- Implemented an online marketplace and bartering platform for trading beauty products.
- Provided technical leadership to the executive and development team, including reviewing code, generating business flows and wireframes, and other consultation services.
- Identified performance bottlenecks and opportunities for optimization on the Heroku hosting platform.
Technologies: Stamps, Algolia, Stripe, Heroku, jQuery, Sass, X (formerly Twitter), Capybara, RSpec, Ruby on Rails (RoR)
Web Developer
2015 - 2015
Curated (Contract)
- Built a custom Zapier app with triggers and actions specific to the Curated software service to allow integration with hundreds of other Zapier-supported software services.
- Created a system for triggering and subscribing to webhooks for various application events.
- Implemented time-based, recurring, and event-triggered transactional emails containing summary reports and user-action reminders.
- Optimized the performance of click- and open-rate statistics reports using counter caches and denormalized tables rather than ad-hoc SQL queries.
- Implemented a legacy REST API's next-generation (v2) with updated conventions, best practices, and code improvements.
Technologies: REST APIs, PostgreSQL, Mandrill, Zapier, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby
Web Developer
2015 - 2015
Buster, Inc. (Contract)
- Helped launch a fully redesigned second generation of this product over three months.
- Created a custom, rules-based engine for scheduling and sending customer leads to qualified vendors within the system to maximize profit.
- Implemented custom front-end designs and user experience flows using SASS/CSS and JavaScript.
Technologies: Heroku, Sass, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby
Lead Web Developer
2013 - 2015
Map-tac LLC (Contract)
- Designed and built a custom itinerary building tool and marketplace for travel professionals and clients.
- Created a custom search algorithm for indexing and finding tours based on user criteria using Elasticsearch.
- Integrated dozens of third-party data feed on suppliers, normalizing the data to allow the search engine user experience to be consistent regardless of the content's source.
- Developed a custom tagging tool for marking trip destinations using Yahoo!'s GeoPlanet API.
- Built a white-labeled search engine front-end featuring fully data-driven theming, branding, and content curation.
Technologies: Google Maps, jQuery, CoffeeScript, Sass, Heroku, Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, Ruby on Rails (RoR)
Lead Web Developer
2011 - 2012
Affirmify, LLC (Contract)
- Designed and implemented a response management software-as-a-service system for HR professionals.
- Created a custom Wufoo-style form builder using JavaScript.
- Implemented a custom-designed user interface using Object-Oriented CSS principles.
- Built a multi-tenant account system with custom subdomains for each subscriber.
Technologies: Chargify, jQuery, OOCSS, Sass, Heroku, PostgreSQL, Ruby on Rails (RoR)
Senior Software Engineer
2008 - 2011
Total Computer Software
- Designed and implemented a system-wide data searching algorithm and accompanying user interface.
- Architected and implemented an inter-agency data sharing system using C#, the .NET framework, and Windows Communication Foundation, emphasizing interoperability, distributability, and security.
- Created a mapping system integrated with ESRI ArcGIS web services to display maps, locate addresses, and retrieve geo-data.
- Discovered and corrected architectural design flaws to improve program efficiency and performance. Maintained a data-driven user interface validation system to enforce good data input.
- Asked to be a guest speaker at the EMEA international public safety conference in Barcelona, Spain, for an audience of over eighty people to discuss cloud computing.
- Invited to collaborate with project managers and developers to improve and test software for the .NET 4.0 framework at the Microsoft Technology Centers in San Francisco and New York City.
Technologies: .NET
Experience
The Standard Hotel
A custom Ruby on Rails content management system for an International boutique hotel with properties in the US, UK, and Maldives. I am the primary developer responsible for building and maintaining all web content for the company. This includes the main hotel site as well as other non-hotel initiatives.
ME Suite (BIG Media)
A set of Ruby on Rails products designed for video production companies and creators that enables remote production and automates common workflows in the industry. I am the primary developer who built the initial product, and I now manage a small team of developers while continuing to lead the product design and development.
Tripwing
An itinerary builder and online marketplace for travel professionals and their clients. I was the lead developer responsible for the initial build the product, including building out the API integrations to aggregate data across multiple itinerary providers.
Buster
https://www.buster.comAn Uber-style marketplace for group transportation. Allows consumers to book limos, buses, vans, etc., and provides back-office tools for transportation providers to manage inventory, accept bookings, and charge customers. I was responsible for building out the consumer-facing portion of the product during a successful sprint of just 3 months.
Curated
https://curated.coA software-as-a-service platform for creating, managing, and sending beautifully curated newsletters. I was responsible for creating a custom Zapier app integration as well as optimizing click tracking and analytics.
eDivv
An online marketplace for trading beauty products. I was the primary developer and CTO responsible for building out the initial product, implemented the logic for swapping, integrating with USPS for shipping and labels, and other core functionality. I managed a small team of remote developers.
Affirmify
A response management system for HR professionals to send and track internal documents and affirm that employees have read them. I was the primary developer and architect for the product, implementing the form builder, core workflows, and custom front-end design.
Nafasi
A platform to facilitate engagement, collaboration, and discovery between innovators and talented job seekers. I was brought on to execute a front-end overhaul using a new Twitter Bootstrap Theme. I also built out the core profile and social media platform features.
Education
2004 - 2008
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Williams College - Williamstown, MA
Skills
Libraries/APIs
REST APIs, Ruby on Rails API, Vue, TensorFlow, Yahoo! API, jQuery, Segment.io, Stripe, Ruby Page Object, Chargify, Google Maps, React, Facebook API, GitHub API
Tools
Basecamp, Trello, Cluster, RSpec, Zapier, Bitbucket, GitHub, Git, Slack, Vim Text Editor, Pivotal Tracker, Sublime Text, Campfire, Apache Solr, VirtualBox, Vagrant, Asana, Mailchimp
Languages
Sass, SCSS, HTML5, Ruby, PHP, HTML, JavaScript, Haml, CoffeeScript, SQL, CSS
Frameworks
Bootstrap, Bootstrap 3, Slim, Ruby on Rails (RoR), minitest, .NET, Capybara, ZURB Foundation, Redux
Paradigms
Unit Testing, Plain Old Ruby Object (PORO), Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Test-driven Development (TDD), Agile Software Development, REST, Responsive, Model View Controller (MVC), OOCSS, Functional Programming, Agile
Platforms
Mixpanel, Heroku, WordPress, Amazon Web Services (AWS), MacOS, X (formerly Twitter), Algolia, Mandrill
Storage
JSON, Elasticsearch, SQLite, Media Queries, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB
Other
Product Development, Back-end Development, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Front-end, Technical Project Management, Lean Startups, Full-stack, User Interface (UI), Front-end Development, Software Engineering, User Experience (UX), Web Development, Full-stack Development, Webhooks, APIs, Team Mentoring, Ajax, Stamps
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