Ali is available for hire
Hire AliAli Zahid
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Location
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Toptal Member Since
March 2, 2021
Ali's passion for web design began when he was eight and since then, he's worked with large enterprises, government organizations, Academy and Emmy award-winning filmmakers, e-sports teams, student groups, and everything in between to help realize their ideas. A few facts about Ali are that he loves open source, enjoys developing with a range of tech—JavaScript, TypeScript, Prisma, Apollo, GraphQL, React Native, Next.js, and Tailwind CSS—and develops all of his side projects publicly on GitHub.
Portfolio
NockNock
React, Next.js, Node.js, React Native, Expo, Stripe, JavaScript, TypeScript...
Blacklane
React, Next.js, GraphQL, Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Apollo, JavaScript...
Blacklane
React, Next.js, GraphQL, CSS, Apollo, JavaScript, TypeScript, Full-stack...
Experience
Availability
Full-time
Preferred Environment
GitHub, Slack, MacOS
The most amazing...
...thing was rebuilding a WordPress blog with 20 million page views per month with Node.js, Ember.js, and AWS to reduce their monthly costs from $3,000 to $200.
Work Experience
Tech Lead
2022 - 2023
NockNock
- Built the flagship mobile app. It was a two-in-one app: one for customers to book their spaces and the other for space owners to view and manage incoming bookings.
- Worked in a remote team with members across multiple time zones. Participated in grooming sessions and sprint planning.
- Worked on the design system with the design team for the mobile app.
Technologies: React, Next.js, Node.js, React Native, Expo, Stripe, JavaScript, TypeScript, Full-stack, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Front-end, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX)
Tech Lead
2021 - 2022
Blacklane
- Mentored my team of several engineers. Brought in new technologies and processes to improve efficiency and codebase quality.
- Involved heavily in recruiting for my team. Interviewing candidates and reviewing them.
- Co-led a major initiative to move to a new analytics provider. Was heavily involved in designing and implementing our new event tracking plan.
- Managed sprints and our Jira board. Led grooming sessions for tickets and documented solutions in Confluence.
- Mentored a junior engineer and groomed them to a promotion.
Technologies: React, Next.js, GraphQL, Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Apollo, JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, Full-stack, Front-end, User Experience (UX)
Senior Full-stack Engineer
2021 - 2021
Blacklane
- Worked in the web team with several other members, building features and fixing bugs on several Next.js apps.
- Built a separate app for the Blacklane partnership with Silversea, a cruise company, that allowed Silversea customers to book their rides with Blacklane.
- Participated extensively in grooming sessions for tech problems. Used Jira and Confluence to manage tickets and document solutions.
Technologies: React, Next.js, GraphQL, CSS, Apollo, JavaScript, TypeScript, Full-stack, Front-end, User Experience (UX)
Tech Lead
2019 - 2020
AYM Commerce
- Designed the architecture and oversaw the construction of the next generation of warehouse tech for Danube, the largest chain of supermarkets in Saudi Arabia.
- Managed my team and dealt with stakeholders to figure out requirements.
- Performed code reviews, ensured our multiple app repositories were consistent, and ensured that various teams from different time zones worked well together.
Technologies: Microservices, MongoDB, GraphQL, Node.js, Prisma, Apollo, React Native, React, JavaScript, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Full-stack, Data Visualization, Front-end, User Experience (UX)
Back-end Lead
2017 - 2020
AYM Commerce
- Built the back end of the P&G Pampers loyalty program with Node.js, MongoDB, and Azure Functions to bring crashes and downtime to zero for several million monthly active users.
- Designed the architecture, wrote the code, and created coverage tests for 100% code coverage.
- Launched the new back end in eight markets in a single year—each with its own set of features and behavior, all driven by configuration from the same codebase.
Technologies: JavaScript, Node.js, MongoDB, Azure, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Functions, TypeScript, Full-stack, Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Full-stack Engineer
2017 - 2018
AYM Commerce
- Built operations apps for Danube, the largest chain of supermarkets in Saudi Arabia.
- Increased fulfillment capacity by ten times by automating processes, collecting useful data to drive business decisions, and bringing everything from paper to mobile.
- Built apps for pickers, drivers, and store managers with functionality that cut the time by 90% for all tasks.
Technologies: Ruby on Rails (RoR), PostgreSQL, React Native, React, JavaScript, Ruby, Full-stack, Front-end, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX)
Full-stack Engineer
2016 - 2017
JadoPado
- Localized the app into Arabic with support for RTL layouts.
- Improved RTL support for React Native by sending pull requests to popular libraries.
- Researched and created tricks to better support RTL and localization for React Native.
Technologies: React Native, Redux, React, JavaScript, Full-stack, Front-end
Full-stack Engineer
2015 - 2016
Pixel Twist Media
- Built mobile apps with Ember.js and Cordova and a back end with Node.js and MongoDB.
- Engineered a last-mile delivery app allowing users to book a rider to take their items and deliver them somewhere. It was a two-in-one app; one side for customers and the other for riders.
- Worked remotely with a small team across multiple timezones.
Technologies: Ember.js, Node.js, MongoDB, Express.js, Cordova, JavaScript, Full-stack, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Front-end, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX)
Full-stack Engineer
2013 - 2015
TallyMarks Consulting
- Developed apps for enterprise clients with Ember.js and Cordova and native apps with Android; used SAP as the back end.
- Built the SAP mobility business presence for TallyMarks in Dubai.
- Created apps for various clients, including Dubai Healthcare City, Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi National Hotels, and Engineers Office in UAE.
Technologies: Ember.js, Android, Node.js, MongoDB, SAP, SAP Mobile, JavaScript, Full-stack, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Front-end, User Experience (UX)
Full-stack Engineer
2006 - 2013
Freelance
- Engineered websites for Academy and Emmy award-winning filmmakers, esports teams, video game sites, and other businesses.
- Spoke about technology and entrepreneurship at different events.
- Built products for web and mobile using Node.js, MongoDB, PHP, MySQL, Ember.js, Cordova, and other technologies for various clients.
Technologies: Node.js, MongoDB, PHP, MySQL, Ember.js, Cordova, JavaScript, Full-stack, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Front-end, User Experience (UX)
Experience
FlyFly
https://flyfly.devFlyFly is a SaaS product that offers a headless form API. Instead of storing data from your app or website in your database or using Typeform or Google Forms, you can use FlyFly's API. This allows you complete control over your form's design without worrying about the headache of where to store the responses.
Mittens
https://mittens.appMittens is a React Native app that brings you to push notifications from GitHub. Sign in with your GitHub account, and a cron job built with Firebase functions checks GitHub for any new notifications every minute and sends them to your device.
Willa
https://willa.appWilla is a simple and beautiful expense-tracking app written in TypeScript and built with Node.js, Prisma, PostgreSQL, Expo, Next.js, Supabase, and React Native. It has features like collaboration and data visualization with graphs and charts.
Workcraft
http://workcraft.aiWorkcraft is an AI recruitment platform that allows customers to speed up their recruitment processes by eliminating slow and manual tasks from their prep work, candidate evaluation, and interview scheduling.
Skills
Languages
TypeScript, JavaScript, GraphQL, PHP, CSS, Ruby
Frameworks
React Native, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Ember.js, Express.js, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Redux
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, React, Stripe
Tools
Prisma, Slack, GitHub, Expo
Platforms
MacOS, Firebase, Azure, Azure Functions, Android, SAP Mobile
Other
Full-stack, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Front-end, User Interface (UI), Apollo, Fintech, User Experience (UX), SAP, Data Visualization, Cordova, OpenAI, OpenAI GPT-4 API, Radix UI
Storage
MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, MySQL
Paradigms
Microservices
Collaboration That Works
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