David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) is the creator of the broadly popular programming framework Ruby on Rails. He is the founder and CTO at Basecamp. Not just that, he is a Le Mans class-winning race car driver, a best-selling author, a talented photographer, a public speaker, and a family man hailing from Denmark.
How It All Sparked & Started
To begin with, Hansson’s story is not a typical one that you expect or assume about an awesomely talented programmer like him. He remarked that he was not a computer prodigy; he failed a lot of times.
One thing that was consistent in him was the thirst for learning which he never stopped doing. That got him to make demos or games, but he was not fond of math. He then created some websites to review games as he loved games but was not really into making them.
When these small projects of his were working out well, he learned PHP (he worked with other domains as well) to include new features in his websites, and he still had no plan on becoming a programmer. With his deep knowledge, he got hired by Fried for his potential as a programmer. There he built a web-based project management tool and it then became a service product of Basecamp. To execute the development project of the code of Basecamp and eradicate some complexities in it, he needed to create a custom version of the Ruby programming language. Hansson then released it separately to the public as an open-source project called Ruby on Rails framework.
Nowadays, thousands of programmers or developers rely on it to build applications, and because of it, businesses are now simplified and have ease of use online. There are lots of examples but, some of the more famous ones include Github, Shopify, Airbnb, Square, Kickstarter, Artsy, Zendesk, and Goodreads, which were developed using DHH’s RoR.
The Journey of The True Learner & Achiever
David Heinemeier Hansson is a bright star who is prominently valued for who he is in the tech world. He always learned programming languages with a vision, definitely not for fun. Ruby itself was a neat language, and Hansson loved it. He just used some techniques to make an open-source one with Ruby and commercialize it for better legitimately. It turned out to be a happy place for the developers as things were actually easier.
Hansson still works to keep making it better and appealing with improvements with time. It always comes down to what a project needs, doesn’t it? Hansson believes in minimalism, and he thinks that is the way to go. So, he applies it all the time in every sphere of his life which enables programmers to write beautiful codes using Rails.
His innovation, dedication, and philosophies made him co-founder and CTO of Basecamp and made him a millionaire. He uplifted the idea of remote-working with his work partner Jason Fried and that is what Basecamp is about. It is an all-in-one toolkit to remotely work in an organized way, communicate and manage projects.
He learned so much and managed to lead his diverse life efficiently and inspiringly. He has always been in the flow of learning in significantly competitive arenas. With all the hard work done, he admires the idea of stoicism. What he does not support is the notion of ‘workaholism’. He feels that one has to be crazy-busy and forget about having a life and good mental health.
Hansson came from a lower-middle-class family, but he had a good life in Denmark. He got all the support and facilities from the Danish government, but simply put, he wanted to be a lot more than that. What he eventually achieved from his devotion to learning helped him see how he wants to live his life and how he would like to inspire everyone else. So, he went on to inspire others with his words and writings on work approaches, keeping work processes simple, the future of work, ways to run businesses in a better way, entrepreneurship and technologies.
His zest in enlightening people led him to be the bestselling co-author of the books REWORK and REMOTE. He is very much available and a proponent of good causes and courses on Twitter.
Personal Life of DHH – The One Who Simplified Lives
He did his Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Computer Science in Copenhagen. He is married with three children.
DHH loves taking photographs, traveling and spending time with his family. He races cars around the world in the World Endurance Championship.
He always promotes the idea of having a simple and happy life. He manages his time because he knows what is important and how to juggle tasks by saying straight-up ‘No’ to unnecessary stuff at all aspects of his work life. He firmly and consistently believes in having his own individuality, own perspectives, and personal control and advises others to learn to have that as well.
Leaving a DHH-Dent in The Universe
Hansson finds it gratifying and liberating that he is leaving his footprints through the work on Basecamp and Ruby on Rails. He said, “I go to sleep every night knowing that I already left my dent in the universe”.
His works and words helped people (still do). His methodologies and approaches motivate people to grow, inspire people to work efficiently and do businesses with ease and efficiency at the same time. He always went out of his way to help people rise above fear and self-doubt. These things, these feelings, stay forever in hearts, and that is what you literally call leaving a dent.
Summing It Up
It is easy, isn’t it? To just talk? But, isn’t it exciting, exhilarating, and inwardly ecstatic to walk the talk and make a difference? It was not all ‘rainbows and unicorns’ for David Heinemeier Hansson to get where he is now but, he portrays it very positively. That is because he loved every bit of his journey, his struggles, and his achievements, and he is immensely proud to contribute to the world from the core of his heart.
He passionately built Ruby on Rails along with all the other great things that he did and he made sure people are benefitted from what he created. So, here we are, and that is the person behind Ruby on Rails.