About me
Hey, I'm Mateusz – a Ruby on Rails developer with 12 years of experience building web applications that people actually use.
What I Do
I've spent over a decade in the trenches of web development, working across the full spectrum – from scrappy startups to massive corporations. I've built e-commerce platforms handling millions in revenue, scaled APIs serving tens of millions of requests daily, and migrated legacy systems without breaking production (well, mostly).
My specialty? Taking complex problems and turning them into simple, maintainable solutions. I believe the best code is code that doesn't need explaining – it just makes sense.
The Technical Stuff
I primarily work with:
- Ruby on Rails (my bread and butter since 2013)
- PostgreSQL (because relational data is still king)
- Redis (for when you need things fast)
- Hotwire/Turbo (modern Rails is incredible)
- Docker & Dokku (simple deployment for complex apps)
But here's the thing – I don't fetishize technology. I care about solving problems, not collecting buzzwords on my resume. Sometimes that means Rails. Sometimes it means JavaScript. Sometimes it means a well-placed spreadsheet and a conversation.
What I've Learned
After 12 years, here's what matters:
Performance isn't about fancy architecture – it's about understanding how databases work, where to put an index, and when to cache. I've optimized pages from 8 seconds to under 1 second not by rewriting in Go, but by understanding PostgreSQL EXPLAIN and fixing N+1 queries.
Simple beats clever – I've written "clever" code. It broke in production. Now I write boring, predictable code that works at 3 AM when I'm half asleep trying to fix a bug.
Teaching is learning – The best way to truly understand something is to explain it to someone else. That's why I write, mentor junior developers, and recently started blogging again after 15 years.
Technical debt is inevitable – You can't avoid it. But you can manage it. Every codebase I've inherited was a mess. Every codebase I've left was better than when I found it. That's the job.
Why I'm Blogging
I stopped writing publicly around 2010 when social media took over. For 15 years, I learned, built, and grew – but I didn't share.
Now I'm back, writing about:
- Real experiences from building production systems
- The messy reality of legacy code
- Rails after all these years (spoiler: it's great)
- Things I wish I'd known earlier in my career
- Honest takes on tools, frameworks, and industry trends
I'm not interested in hot takes or LinkedIn motivation posts. I'm writing the articles I wish I'd found when I was stuck at 2 AM debugging a production issue.
Beyond Code
When I'm not writing Ruby, you'll find me in my garage.
I love tinkering. There's something deeply satisfying about fixing things with your hands – whether it's restoring old furniture, building custom shelves, or diagnosing why something mechanical isn't working. Programming is abstract; a wrench in your hand is real.
Motorcycles are my escape. There's a purity to riding – just you, the machine, and the road. No Slack notifications. No production alerts. Just the mechanical symphony of an engine and the focus required to navigate curves at speed. I ride when I need to think, and I ride when I need to stop thinking.
Some of my best debugging insights have come on long rides. Something about the meditative state of riding clears the mental clutter.
What I Believe
Code is a means, not an end. We're not writing code for the sake of elegant abstractions. We're solving problems for real people. If a "hacky" solution ships value to users faster than the "perfect" architecture, ship the hack and refactor later.
Experience beats credentials. I don't have a CS degree. I learned by building things, breaking them, and figuring out why. Some of the best developers I know are self-taught. Some of the worst have PhDs. Credentials open doors, but execution keeps them open.
Sharing knowledge matters. The Ruby community taught me everything I know. Random blog posts from strangers saved me countless hours. Open source projects gave me tools I could never afford to build. I want to give back.
Simplicity is underrated. The industry worships complexity – microservices, event sourcing, bleeding-edge frameworks. Sometimes you just need a monolithic Rails app, a PostgreSQL database, and a $6/month VPS. Don't let anyone shame you for choosing simple.
Tools should serve you, not the other way around. I don't care if React is popular – if Hotwire solves the problem better, I'm using Hotwire. I don't care if everyone's using Kubernetes – if Dokku works, I'm using Dokku. Pragmatism over dogma.
What I'm Working On
Right now, I'm building Dokku UI – an open-source web interface for managing Dokku applications. Because I got tired of SSH-ing into servers to run the same commands over and over.
It's built with Rails 8, Hotwire, and Tailwind CSS. No React. No webpack. No complexity. Just a simple tool that solves a real problem.
I'm also writing more. Documenting lessons learned, sharing experiences, and hopefully helping other developers avoid the mistakes I made.
Let's Connect
I'm not trying to build an audience or become a "tech influencer." I'm just a developer who likes building things and occasionally writes about it.
If you're working on similar problems, want to discuss technical approaches, or just want to chat about Ruby, motorcycles, or why your perfectly good legacy code doesn't need to be rewritten in Rust – I'd love to hear from you.
- GitHub: github.com/iammattco
- Email: matt@iammattmroz.pl
Thanks for reading. Now back to code (or the garage, depending on the day).