Howdy, I’m Garrett Dimon.11‘Dimon’ is pronounced like ‘Diamond’ with a different spelling—or like ‘Simon’ but with a ‘D’. I almost hesitate to share the pronunciation because it’s fun hearing the creative ways people have come up with to pronounce it. Professionally, I build stuff with web technologies, but after-hours, it’s all about staying active and spending time outdoors. I’m also a left below-knee amputee, and that plays a significant role in my life as I find ways to stay active.

Professional

I started FTP'ing my first HTML files in 1998. Like many, I started with Microsoft FrontPage but quickly realized WYSIWYG markup wasn’t going to cut it. I became interested in CSS and JavaScript and headed down the path of front-end development.

I graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2000 with a degree in Computer Science. From there, I spent the next eight years in consulting focusing primarily on front-end development and information architecture while dabbling in .Net and Ruby on Rails.

From 2000 to about 2008, I focused almost entirely on front-end development and information architecture in a variety of consulting roles working with organizations of all sizes.

From 2005 to 2007, I wrote a column about front-end design and development for Digital Web Magazine. Looking back, a lot has changed, and much of my writing there is rather dated now. It’s mostly enjoyable simply to look back at how basic much of our work was as Web Standards were becoming more prominent.

In 2008, I launched Sifter, a hosted bug and issue tracking application for small teams. It’s built with Ruby on Rails, and beyond the technical experience it taught me countless lessons about software as a service, customer support, marketing, and operations until selling it in 2016.

The experience running Sifter led me to self-publish a book about building and running a SaaS application in 2013. After selling Sifter in 2016, I circled back to update and expand the book based on what I learned going through the process of due dilligence during the sale.

From 2016 to 2019, I worked for Wildbit focused primarily on Postmark in a growth/marketing/evangelism role, but I found that I really missed pure software development.

From 2019 to early 2022, I started doing independent consulting for teams with Rails applications. Much of that work focused on improving infrastructure and practices around development—particularly billing and payments with Stripe.

In early 2022 I joined one my clients, egghead, full-time to help build Skill Recordings as the next evolution of egghead with a focus on helping instructors make a living by teaching their expertise online.

These days, I’m a partner in Very Good Software where I’m working full time on Fireside—a podcast hosting platform—and Flipper—a feature flag tool for Ruby applications.

Personal

[A photo of Garrett in a monoski balancing just below the crest of a hill and looking left off of the hill with Mt.Crested Butte in the background set against a beautiful clear blue sky.] A photo of Garrett in a monoski balancing just below the crest of a hill and looking left off of the hill with Mt.Crested Butte in the background set against a beautiful clear blue sky.
Figure 1

Taking a breather on International below Mt. Crested Butte. (Photo by Taylor Ahearn of West Elk Creative)

↩︎

I grew up playing basketball as much as my body would tolerate. From about 12 until 35, if I had free time, I was playing pickup basketball somewhere. At 35, decades of ankle sprains started to catch up with me and reduce my ability to play regularly.

I decided to have a minor ankle surgery and get back on track. After the surgery, they sent me home with my foot carefully wrapped up in a walking cast with an ice machine, and I ended up getting frostbite. After eight more surgeries and several years of trying to salvage my foot, I was finally able to convince a surgeon that amputation was the right move.

After my amputation, basketball was never the same. Being right-handed, my left leg was my jumping leg. We also moved from the city to the mountains, and while I still enjoy casual basketball, there are too many great activities available in the mountains.

[A photo of Garrett in a monoski in motion on a left turn intently focused downhill with his left arm and outrigger extended and kicking up a cloud of snow. Past the edge of the run, there are evergreen trees in the background with more mountains in the distant background—all set against a beautiful clear blue sky.] A photo of Garrett in a monoski in motion on a left turn intently focused downhill with his left arm and outrigger extended and kicking up a cloud of snow. Past the edge of the run, there are evergreen trees in the background with more mountains in the distant background—all set against a beautiful clear blue sky.
Figure 2

Just another blissful day on the sit-ski at Crested Butte Mountain Resort. (Photo by Taylor Ahearn of West Elk Creative)

↩︎

These days, I primarily sit-ski, paddleboard, mountain bike, hike, and camp. As an amputee, every activity brings its own challenges, and since we live four hours away from my prosthetist, I’ve had to tinker and learn how to adapt to each activity. So I also try to share what I’ve learned about how to stay active with less pain.

[A photo of Garrett, a left below-knee amputee, stand-up paddleboarding near the shore. Tall grass is out-of-focus in the foreground with the base of Mt. Crested Butte in the background.] A photo of Garrett, a left below-knee amputee, stand-up paddleboarding near the shore. Tall grass is out-of-focus in the foreground with the base of Mt. Crested Butte in the background.
Figure 3

As part of their “Let’s Go” series featuring non-profit organizations they have supported, I got to participate in a video featuring Crested Butte’s Adaptive Sports Center.

↩︎

If you’re involved in adaptive sports as a participant, instructor, advocate, or someone who makes things for adaptive athletes, I’d love to hear from you!