Skip to content
palashbera.

Open to interesting problems

Palash Bera

Full-stack Software Developer · 8+ years

I build web products end to end — and then make them fast. Currently at Cisco, where my job is turning proofs of concept into systems that actually ship.

Get in touchRésuméKolkata, India
years shipping
8+years shipping
projects end to end
4+projects end to end
POCs into production
100%POCs into production

01About

I've spent 8+ years building and optimizing web applications, mostly in Ruby on Rails and React. Three companies, one consistent thread: taking something ambiguous — a rough spec, a slow page, a prototype nobody trusts yet — and turning it into something a team can rely on.

The work I'm proudest of usually isn't the feature itself. It's the page that got 2.4× faster once the hot paths were rewritten, the access control that let a team stop worrying about who could see what, the proof of concept that reached production instead of dying in a demo.

I work best close to a cross-functional team, where I can follow a problem all the way from the first conversation to the thing running in production.

Education

B.Tech, Electronics & Communication Engineering

University of Engineering & Management, Jaipur

Jul 2013 — Jun 2017 · 73.25%

  • End-to-end delivery

    From an ambiguous spec or a rough prototype through to production. Every proof of concept I've built at Cisco has made it into production.

  • Performance work

    Profiling, rewriting hot paths, and cutting the work each request does. 2.4× faster pages at Kreeti; 78% faster at Involio.

  • Rails & React depth

    8+ years in one core stack across three engineering teams and very different stages of product maturity.

02Experience

  1. Software Engineer · Cisco Systems (India)

    Jul 2021 — Present

    Internal engineering platforms, from concept to production.

    • Built proof-of-concept prototypes under tight deadlines and carried every one of them through to production — a 100% conversion rate from demo to shipped system.
    • Owned work across the full software lifecycle on 4+ projects, three of which are live and delivering value today.
    • Partnered with cross-functional teams to raise the quality bar, keeping delivery continuous rather than lumpy.
    • Ruby on Rails
    • Python
    • React
    • PostgreSQL
    • AWS
    • CI/CD

  2. Rails Engineer · Involio LLC

    Jul 2020 — Jun 2021

    A social investing platform, shipping on short cycles.

    • Delivered core product features against very tight deadlines while closing out 200+ bugs.
    • Made the application 78% faster by attacking the slowest paths first, which turned a sluggish experience into a smooth one.
    • Ruby on Rails
    • RSpec
    • PostgreSQL
    • Sidekiq
    • Redis

  3. Web Engineer · Kreeti Technologies

    Sep 2017 — Jun 2020

    Custom business applications for enterprise clients.

    • Led development of custom applications in Ruby on Rails and React, automating manual steps for a 30% gain in operational efficiency.
    • Made pages load 2.4× faster by refactoring hot paths and applying targeted performance optimizations.
    • Rebuilt mobile responsiveness and shipped role-based access control, contributing to a 21% lift in user engagement.
    • Ruby on Rails
    • React
    • JavaScript
    • MySQL
    • SASS

03Skills

Backend
  • Ruby on Rails
  • Ruby
  • Python
  • REST APIs
  • Node.js
  • Sidekiq
Frontend
  • React
  • JavaScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • SASS
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Bootstrap
Data & infra
  • PostgreSQL
  • AWS
  • MySQL
  • Redis
  • Git
Testing & delivery
  • RSpec
  • CI/CD
  • GitHub Actions
  • CircleCI
  • Datadog
  • Code review

Highlighted pills are where I'm deepest.

04Projects

05Writing

  1. Streaming an LLM response through Rails and React
  2. The infinite scroll that broke the back button
  3. Sizing containers: threads, CPU limits, and bin-packing
  4. The migration that ran fourteen hundred times
  5. The form that dropped keystrokes
All posts →

06Contact

I'm always happy to talk about backend architecture, performance work, or a product you're trying to get off the ground. The fastest way to reach me is email.