Hi, I'm Ryan Williams, a software developer, technologist and entrepreneur from Portland, OR. My areas of focus include web application development and maintenance working with Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, Sidekiq/Resque, RabbitMQ, Docker and more. I've been building web applications, systems and exploring data for over 20 years in a variety of industries. I'm always exploring new technologies and tools to develop innovative products. TechCrunch even referred to me as "human capital".

Let's connect

Want to get in touch? You can find me as @ryanwi on twitter or email me at [email protected] You can also check out my blog, Web Things Considered.

Toolbox

• Full-stack web application development with Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, MySQL, PostgreSQL and more.
• Rich, dynamic front-end JavaScript development with and without frameworks.
• Web Services development and integration with WCF/SOAP and RESTful APIs.
• Design and maintain systems on Windows, Linux and cloud platforms.
• Web Application debugging.
• Web Application performance monitoring and tuning.
• Database development with SQL Server, PostgreSQL and MySQL.
• Experience with mobile and responsive web applications, Google App Engine (Python), PHP, Drupal, Java and desktop application development.

Projects

• Effective Rails Updates
  Let me upgrade your Ruby on Rails applications.
  
  
• Hacker News Hiring Trends
  Site for analyzing trends in software development technologies thorugh Hacker News submissions.
  
  
• ScoutZen
  Scout the right people and communities, inform your interests. Use it to easily monitor Twitter hashtags, export twitter followers, Export a Twitter List or search for Twitter Lists.
  
  
• Electoral
  Electoral provided tools to quickly build powerful Twitter Lists to stay up to date on your interests and find the right people to listen to.
  
  
• Twitter List Builder (chrome extension)
  Twitter List Builder helps you quickly build Twitter lists from any timeline view. Great for events and conferences where you want to build list of people tweeting a hashtag to follow them after the event.
  
  
• True Robin
  True Robin is a private group classified platform that enables buying and selling within trusted networks. Developed with Rails 4.0, PostgreSQL, Resque, responsive design with Foundation, authentication with Devise, authorization with CanCan, asset pipeline optimization, image processing with Paperclip and AWS S3 integration.
  
  
• memamsa
  Track topics of interest, digest stories across the best sourcess.
  
  
• Bulk export Twitter profiles with Twexport
  Twexport is a Ruby library for bulk exporting Twitter user profile information from the Twitter API. This tool allows for quick research and analysis of groups of Twitter users.
  
  
• Tweet-a-beer
  Co-developer of this responsive web application that enables people to to send $5 for a beer with a simple Tweet, by linking Twitter and PayPal together through Chirpify. This app was the hit of SXSW 2012 and won industry awards. Implementation with Rails, PostgreSQL, JavaScript and 3rd party APIs (Chirpify, Foursquare).
  
  
• Hawaii Here
  Co-developed this mobile web application for Hawaiian Airlines for finding the best places in Hawaii whether you're on the islands or not. I provided implementation in Rails, PostgreSQL, jQuery Mobile, and 3rd party APIs (FourSquare, Twitter and Facebook). This app also features extensive use of geolocation, mapping, geocoding, distance calcuations and data synchronization.
  
  
• Place Signal
  Track the most popular places in a city near you. Used Google App Engine (Python), Django, Yahoo! GeoPlanet, Foursquare API, Twitter API, Google Maps API, jQuery.
  
  
• VentureMash
  Energizing early stage startups. What does your venture need? Have you listed your venture yet? VentureMash is built on Drupal and launched in 2009.
  
  
• LazyTweet (Sold in 2010)
  Not everybody has thousands of followers, so LazyTweet was created to give everybody a chance to get their burning questions answered. Call it social search, call it a q&a site, it doesn't matter. What matters is finding an answer to your question. LazyTweet was launched in 2008 and is built on the Google App Engine platform (python) and jQuery on the front-end.
  
  
• Local Signal
  Local Signal was a city-based feed aggregrator built on the LAMP stack. With over 50 cities currently available, Local Signal was created to have a single site to visit to keep track of the latest news, events, and social media (blog posts, social bookmarks, pictures, videos, etc.). The core feed engine primarily parses RSS but is flexible enough to work easily with custom formats found in various APIs. Other features include dynamic content display (utilizing YUI library) and click tracking to monitor popular content (using unobtrusive AJAX callbacks).
  
  
• Web 2.0 Innovation Map
  I developed this Google Maps mashup to highlight the explosion of new internet applications generally considered to be Web 2.0. This application was extremely popular, meriting mention by hundreds of bloggers including Tim O'Reilly and also making both the Digg home page and delicious/popular. Technologies and techniques used for development included ASP.NET, XML, .NET XML classes, AJAX, the Google Maps API, and the Yahoo Geocoding API
  
  
• NetworthIQ (acquired by Strands in 2008)
  Co-founder and lead developer for this innovative social personal finance website launched in July 2005. NetworthIQ was built on ASP.NET/MySQL and utilized a number of modern internet technologies and techniques including AJAX, RSS, tags, javascript badges/widgets, and Third Party APIs. NetworthIQ grew to over 19,000 registered users and has been included in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post, Business Week, Dallas Morning News, Boston Globe, and was in many "Top Web 2.0" lists.