About me

I'm Vidya Ramakrishnan, a passionate product ethusiast with over 10 years of experience building thoughtful digital solutions. My journey in tech began with embedded software at Motorola before I discovered my passion for web development while creating an educational site for my daughter. Today, I lead frontend development and product initiatives at Hasgeek, where I've spearheaded the transformation of multiple platforms into progressive web apps and launched our membership program from concept to implementation. I thrive at the intersection of code and user experience—collecting feedback, translating it into technical specifications, and coordinating cross-functional teams to bring solutions to life. Beyond my professional work, I find creative balance through terrace gardening and painting. I believe great products emerge when technical excellence meets genuine empathy for user needs.

Work Experience

Hasgeek , India

Lead Frontend Developer & Product Manager

March 2015 - September 2024

  • At Hasgeek, I took ownership of frontend development and played an active role in product management.

    • Hasgeek Membership
      • Contributed significantly to the development and launch of the membership program, from concept to execution
      • Managed development of website features to support membership sales and user engagement
      • Tracked sales metrics through Boxoffice(Hasgeek's ticketing platform) and analyzed website conversion data
      • Coordinated cross-functional efforts to drive membership growth
    • For earlier Hasgeek projects, along with frontend work, I:
      • Worked with design on UX/UI improvements based on user insights
      • Wrote feature specs and created GitHub issues for engineering
      • Collected and analyzed user feedback to prioritize feature development.
      • Managed Kanban boards and ran status meetings
      • Coordinated between customer support, ops team, design, and engineering to align on product goals
  • Hasgeek.com(code: https://github.com/hasgeek/funnel): I served as the lead frontend developer for this project. My main contributions were:

    • Led frontend development while coordinating cross-functional teams from initial concept to production
    • Improved website performance by implementing lazy loading and code splitting techniques
    • Established integration testing infrastructure using Cypress
    • Converted the website into a Progressive Web App to enhance user experience
    • Migrated the codebase from Bootstrap to MUI (Material Design CSS Framework), implementing new material design UI
  • Boxoffice (code: https://github.com/hasgeek/hasjob): HasGeek’s ticketing software.

    • Led frontend development for HasGeek's ticketing software
    • Designed detailed UI workflows based on user stories and business requirements
    • Developed client-side web interfaces for both customers and organizers using Ractive JS framework and jQuery
    • Coordinated with backend team to ensure seamless integration
    • Collected and analyzed user feedback to prioritize feature development
  • Hasgeek TV (code: https://github.com/hasgeek/hasgeek.tv): HasGeek’s video content app.

    • Transformed HasGeek's video content platform into a Single Page Application and Progressive Web App using Vue.js
    • Managed the transition from Bootstrap to MUI, implementing material design principles
  • Hasjob (code: https://github.com/hasgeek/hasjob): HasGeek’s job board.

    • Converted HasGeek's job board into a Progressive Web App
    • Implemented embeddable iframe support, expanding platform reach
    • Gathered requirements from stakeholders and translated them into technical specifications
  • Conference Check-in Workflow Optimization

    • Spearheaded project to reduce attendee check-in time at Hasgeek events
    • Identified workflow bottlenecks and prepared comprehensive task lists for improvement
    • Built frontend for offline check-in and badge scanning
    • Coordinated cross-team efforts for integration and release
    • Collaborated with design team to redesign floor layouts for improved check-in queue management
    • Reduced average check-in time by implementing data-driven process improvements
  • Maintaining and developed Hasgeek's event portfolio.
    JSFoo (2015, 2016), Fifthelephant(2015, 2016), Rootconf (2015, 2016), Kilter, Metarefresh (2016), 50p (2017), Juliacon

Motorola, India

Senior Software Engineer

November 2004 - September 2008

  • Software Development of MM1 module of Multimedia messaging system.
  • Conducted interoperability testing of Motorola iDEN phones in Fort Lauderdale, USA
  • Designed and developed automated test scripts for performance and stress testing
  • Created test plans, developed test cases, and prepared test summary reports

Skills

HTML CSS JavaScript Vue React

Icons by Icons8

Education:

MOOC

  • ES2015: The Shape of JavaScript to Come (Codeschool, 2015)
  • Introduction to Computer Science and Programming using Python (6.00.1x - edx MITx, 2014)
  • An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python (Coursera-Rice University, 2013)
  • Web Application Engineering: How to Build a Blog (CS253-Udacity, 2012)
  • Learn to Program: The Fundamentals using Python (Coursera-University of Toronto, 2012)

B.Tech in Electronics Engineering

Cochin University of Science and Technology

2000 - 2004, Kerala, India

Standard 12th

Bhavan's Vidya Mandir

2000, Kerala, India

Standard 10th

International Indian School

1998, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Talks presented

My experience rewriting hasgeek tv to a spa using Vue.js

CodeUp Bangalore- dotJS 101
organized by PayU

An overview of Vue.js

Girls who javascript meetup

Handling forms in Vue.js

Vue Bangalore meetup

Let's talk about Web APIs

Girls who javascript meetup

How I learnt web development while building a fun and educational website for my toddler

KeKShow - Show your hack!

Side Projects

Toddler fun spot

https://github.com/vidya-ram/toddlergames

View website

Educational website for toddlers that sparked my interest in web development

Ragya

View website (First version)

Indian classical music website that plays different songs by time of day (Vue.js, Airtable, Netlify)

Tshirt store

View website

A small ecommerce website using Vue.js, Vuex with client-side filtering and search.

Other interests

Organizer of Girls Who JS Bangalore group from 2018.

blrjavascript

Terrace gardening

Painting