Logo

Dale Zak

Software developer passionate about using technology for social change

Fullstack Software Developer ​

Senior developer specializing in web apps built with Rails and Stimulus, and mobile apps with Ionic and Vue. ​

Experience ​

I am a fullstack software developer with over 21 years of experience building mobile and web applications.

For the web, I believe Rails is not just a development framework but also a development philosophy teaching principles like MVC, DRY, KISS, and separation of concerns. I’ve carried those same principles into everything I build regardless of language.

For mobile, I began developing apps back in 2003 on the first generation of smartphones, long before iOS or Android existed. Since then I've helped corporate clients, nonprofit organizations, and UN agencies develop mobile apps to gather data, engage their community, and empower citizens.

The same mobile design principles I learned in those early days like utilizing limited screen space and handling unreliable connections still apply today, and continue to help me build world class mobile and web applications.

Skills ​

  • Angular
  • CSS
  • Heroku
  • HTML
  • Firebase
  • Ionic
  • Java
  • Javascript
  • Node
  • Nuxt
  • Postgres
  • Ruby on Rails
  • SQL
  • TypeScript
  • Vue
  • AWS
  • Vitepress
  • Supabase
  • REST
  • GraphQL
  • JSON
  • XML

Past Clients ​

Some of the incredible organizations I've had the opportunity to work with over the years.

Flipgive
Mission
Wayfinder
Ushahidi
UNOCHA
WorldBank

Recent Projects ​

Some recent projects I'm proud to have helped bring to life. Wanna see more? Checkout all my past projects.

Here are some of my popular repos on Github.

Core Principles ​

The following principles guide me in everything that I develop, whether it's my own initiative or for clients.

Words of Praise ​

Kind words from some the incredible people I've had the opportunity to work with.

Dale is hands down one of the most versatile developers I've had a privilege to work with. Additionally, Dale's capacity to empathize with end users makes the output of his work that much more meaningful.

David Kobia, Ushahidi

Dale Zak is quick in learning new technologies and towards the implementation. He attends to details in reliable manner that minimize supervision/management efforts. Excellent team player in terms of development support and keeping the team moral up. Overall very balanced individual.

Adnan Fida, Point2

One of the most enthusiastic colleagues I have had a chance to work with. Brilliant programmer and software designer with massive amount of great ideas. I am so excited to work with Dale on a new upcoming project.

Allan Wolinski, Vendasta

Dale helped keep us laser focused on the core problem at hand while delivering a cutting-edge solution that was simple-to-use and required little maintenance. The experience was a refreshing change and produced results that I wished all digital projects could.

Andrej Verity, UNOCHA

Dale is everything you could ever want in a software engineer: precise, diligent, on time, and uniquely creative in finding efficient, long term solutions to difficult technical problems.

Charlie Harding, Ushahidi

Dale has a unique ability to deliver on complex and time-bound projects. A software engineer with a development hat whom constantly strives to deliver for the client.

Hanif Rahemtulla, Worldbank

Dale has consistently produced excellent results. He is caring, passionate, and a very fast learner! He picked up iphone development in less than a week! great work. We are lucky to have him on our team.

Jacob Colker, Extraordinaries

I feel very fortunate to have worked with Dale -- his commitment to our organization's mission, consistency, congeniality, and software development skills truly set him apart. I highly recommend Dale and his work.

Josh Nesbit, MedicMobile

Dale, is an incredible professional. There was no task to big or small for Dale to tackle. He brought fresh ideas to the table, and always delivered ontime and exceeded expetations. I would hire Dale again anytime, and look forward to working with him in the future again.

Mark Kirstein

I had the pleasure to work with Dale in the development of a mobile application for one of our projects in Latin America. We actually chose an early design he made, and reached out to him to get it production-ready. Dale has a great drive to work in social projects, was very enthusiastic, and stayed engaged during even after the project, with genuine interest in the actual application of his work.

Pablo Destefanis, RTI International

Dozens of us were inspired to be part of Dale's initiative and it brought out the best in us by focussing on a shared aspiration of creating apps with some kind of social return. It was a productive, challenging, fun and unique learning experience for us all.

Tracy Boyer

Contact Me ​

Interested in a past project? Wanting to collaborate? Let's connect, I'd love to hear from you!