Hi, I'm Nicholas
Full-Stack Engineer — Ruby on Rails & React
I build and maintain production Rails applications — from zero-downtime upgrades on live government platforms to healthcare APIs serving real patients. Based in Zambia, working remotely worldwide.
Let's connect!
ABOUT ME
Building systems that stay reliable under real production load
I'm a Full-Stack Engineer based in Livingstone, Zambia, working across Ruby on Rails, React, and Next.js. I own and scale backend systems for organizations that can't afford downtime — across government, healthcare, and e-commerce.
My core strength is legacy system modernization. I take Rails applications that are multiple major versions behind and upgrade them safely — most recently Rails 5.2 → 7.2 and Ruby 2.6 → 3.2 with zero downtime on a live multi-subsite CMS serving government bodies. I rebuild the deployment and observability tooling around them so issues get caught before they reach users. The same discipline applies to every codebase I touch: understand the failure modes first, fix root causes, automate the boring parts.
Beyond modernization, I've built authentication and workflow architecture for a healthcare platform connecting patients with doctors across in-person, home-based, and virtual care — covering diagnostic image pipelines, payment processing, and video consultation integration. I also led a full WordPress/WooCommerce migration for a European e-commerce store, owning both the technical execution and project management end-to-end.
View my projectsTECHNICAL SKILLS
Technical Skills
Languages
Frameworks & Libraries
Databases
DevOps & Infrastructure
Observability & Monitoring
Security & APIs
Testing
Integrations
E-Commerce & CMS
3
Industries Served in Production
20%+
Query Performance Gains Delivered
70%
Reduction in Operational Toil
Zero-Downtime
Major Version Upgrades Led
Projects
What I've Built
Public Sector CMS — Multi-site Platform
Part-time contract on a high-availability multi-subsite CMS used by government bodies across Europe. Led a zero-downtime Rails 5.2 → 7.2 and Ruby 2.6 → 3.2 upgrade across multiple independently deployed subsites, each with their own staging and production environments managed via Capistrano 3 pipelines. Reduced operational toil by 70% and improved admin query performance by 20%+.
Bluemify — Healthcare Platform
Backend engineering on a live healthcare platform connecting patients with doctors across in-person, home-based, and virtual consultation types. Built as one of two backend engineers on a cross-functional team of four. Delivered the radiology workflow, patient dashboard API, Zoom integration for virtual consultations, Cloudinary-backed document storage, and full authentication hardening including JWT, OTP/2FA, and role-based access control.
E-Commerce Platform Migration
Led the migration of a European e-commerce store from a legacy website builder to a custom WordPress/WooCommerce build — acting as both developer and project manager. Owned theme customization with Elementor, Mollie payment gateway integration, EU VAT/tax and shipping-zone compliance, shipping-provider tooling, and systematic multi-pass UI audits to catch regressions before launch.
Keelfine
A personal finance application built for everyday users. Rails backend, Tailwind CSS v4, Devise authentication, and vanilla JavaScript. Architected with a semantic CSS token system supporting full light/dark theming. Built for the Zambian market with a focus on simplicity and mobile usability.
EXPERIENCE
Experience
Bluemify
Backend Engineer (Contract)
June 2025 – Present
Built backend infrastructure for a live healthcare platform as one of two backend engineers on a cross-functional team.
Confidential Public Sector Client
Backend Engineer (Contract)
April 2025 – April 2026
Led Rails upgrade, deployment pipeline management, and production incident resolution for a multi-subsite government CMS.
