Cristiano Almeida

About Me

Full-stack developer with over 10 years in the industry. I build and maintain web and mobile applications end-to-end — from cloud infrastructure and database design to interfaces. I'm driven by building solid, lasting solutions.

I use social media to share my projects and to follow interesting discussions and insights, which has given me a grounded understanding of how online communities form, grow, and need to be looked after — something I've put into practice building Biriba.io (30,000+ visitors) and running The Base Camp (150+ members), where I handle community guidelines and moderation first-hand.

I care about building tools that help keep online spaces safe and I'm drawn to Bluesky's mission of making social media more open and user-first. I value clear communication, active listening within teams, and writing software that works reliably at scale.

Technical Skills

Languages: PHP, Ruby, JavaScript, TypeScript (5+ years, extensive daily use), SQL. Exploring Zig, Rust and C.

Frameworks: Laravel, Ruby on Rails, React, React Native, Next.js, WordPress.

Data: PostgreSQL, MySQL, GraphQL.

Infrastructure: Docker, Linux (Ubuntu), cloud servers, CI/CD.

Tools: Git, Bash scripting, CLI development. Obsidian for project notes and progress tracking. Experienced with ticket-based workflows in Jira, Trello, Asana and Linear — writing tickets, managing dependencies, tracking status across sprints.

Design & Creative: Prototyping, UI design, critical thinking. Figma, Affinity Suite, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere.

Work Experience

Ongandu Limited, Founder & Developer

04/2020 — Present

Built and maintained full-stack web and mobile applications across a range of products and teams.

Lead developer on Contactzilla.app from inception — a large-scale contact management system built with TypeScript and React throughout. Built custom components from scratch integrating a broader design system. Managed state across the application using Context API, MobX stores, and Inertia for server-driven component updates. Features complex import/export systems, multi-platform sync integrations, and propagation of large datasets to iOS, Android and other devices.
Built queued jobs with batched data processing for handling large datasets efficiently.
Developed iOS and Android applications with React Native, managing releases on both platforms.
Set up and deployed cloud servers via VPNs, maintained Ubuntu-based Linux servers, and used Docker across multiple projects.
Built CLIs for project-specific automation and task management.
Collaborated with graphic and UX designers to deliver high-quality user interfaces.
Communicated progress, surfaced challenges early, and set expectations across long-running engagements with stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
Clients include Tapx (Web3, sunset), Rascal Agency UK, Venice in Peril, CWM Environmental, Nohma.com (formerly Climbingvan), Boardshape.com, Global Careers Tribe and others.

Technologies: PHP, Ruby, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Next.js, WordPress, PostgreSQL, MySQL, GraphQL, Docker.

CookiesHQ, Developer

12/2019 — 04/2020

Developed Stornaway, an interactive video editing and streaming application for producing interactive stories. Built a custom video player in JavaScript and developed views and logic in Ruby on Rails. Some of the video player work was later adopted by BBC Maestro.

Nomensa, Front End Developer

07/2019 — 12/2019

Maintained codebase and introduced features for The Welsh Government (wales.com, visitwales.com), Google's Room Design Guide and internal toolkits. Worked alongside UX and UI design teams to deliver accessible, high-standard websites.

codeWest, Product Manager

09/2018 — 07/2019

Oversaw development and delivery of Freshspring Junior, an educational platform focused on STEM and maritime life. Established communication between the team and client. Created Hozokit, a WordPress component framework, to streamline the team's development workflow. Learned that actively listening to the team's feedback and trusting their contributions was essential to delivering the project to the right quality standard.

Simpleweb, Developer

07/2017 — 07/2018

Developed SaaS mobile and web applications using SCRUM, with React Native, Node.js and PHP. Created UI designs and handled deployment of web and mobile apps. Built internal prototypes including facial recognition experiments.

Personal Projects

Biriba.io

Designed and developed from scratch. A capoeira song archive built for the global practitioner community, with fact-checked information sourced from Mestres and teachers, attracting over 30,000 unique visitors. External contributors can create accounts and submit songs. Includes English translations of Portuguese lyrics, making knowledge accessible worldwide.

Systems Programming

Exploration of C, Zig and Rust. Built Envo, a .env parser from scratch, and Gazetteer, a country codes library. Focused on writing fast, reliable low-level software.

The Base Camp (thebasecamp.gg)

Built and grew an online gaming community from scratch to 150+ members. Founded and manage the Discord community, establishing community guidelines and moderation policies. Recruited and onboarded two additional moderators to help enforce standards and maintain a welcoming, safe environment.

Experience running a social space gives first-hand insight into the challenges of content moderation at scale. Developed Bash scripts for server management and custom C# mods. Running two servers funded by community donations.

Other interests

Capoeira Angola — long-time practitioner; built Biriba.io to help students learn traditional songs and to support my own research into the art form.

Music — studied music briefly and self-published a book on learning guitar at 21.

Slow travel — I prefer living in a place over passing through, finding local routines and communities wherever I go.

Exploring AI/LLMs to improve programming workflows.

_cristiano
almeida