# Robert Kovacs

> CTO at FirstPromoter. Ruby on Rails, performance, and scaling.

## About

Robert Kovacs is the CTO at [FirstPromoter](https://firstpromoter.com/?fpr=robert), based in Lisbon, Portugal. FirstPromoter is an affiliate tracking platform powering 7,000+ affiliate programs, processing 10M+ payment webhooks per week from Stripe, Chargebee, Braintree, and Paddle.

Previously he worked at ROOM Inc. (real-time IoT platform), Net-a-Porter (micro frontend checkout), Partbot (automotive e-commerce), and Wolfpack Digital (fintech/healthcare).

## Technical Focus

Ruby on Rails performance at scale, PostgreSQL optimization, Redis caching, Sidekiq background processing, Google BigQuery analytics, and affiliate/referral tracking systems.

## Links

- Website: https://robikovacs.com
- Blog: https://robikovacs.com/blog/
- FirstPromoter: https://firstpromoter.com/?fpr=robert
- GitHub: https://github.com/robikovacs
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rikovacs/

## Blog Posts

- [Hands-Free Claude Code: How I Ship Features With Wispr Flow and a Game Controller](https://robikovacs.com/blog/coding-hands-free-claude-code-wispr-flow/) (2026-04-13): My hands-free Claude Code Desktop workflow — Wispr Flow for voice input, an 8BitDo Micro controller for approvals. No keyboard, no mouse, just shipping features.
- [Ruby on Rails Performance: 7 Lessons from Scaling FirstPromoter](https://robikovacs.com/blog/ruby-on-rails-performance-lessons-scaling-saas/) (2026-04-08): Real-world Rails performance lessons from scaling an affiliate platform handling 35M+ requests per week and 10M payment webhooks. Counter caching, N+1 fixes, Redis, Sidekiq, BigQuery, and more.
- [What Happens When Your API Has to Open a Door](https://robikovacs.com/blog/building-software-for-physical-spaces-at-room/) (2021-03-15): Building software at ROOM that controls physical locks, tracks IoT sensors, and manages office spaces — the weird problems you don't get in pure SaaS.
- [What 2018 Taught Me About Building Software](https://robikovacs.com/blog/a-year-of-building-2018-in-review/) (2018-12-25): Lessons from a year of shipping products, growing as a developer, and figuring out that writing code is only part of the job.
- [We Built a Bike Security App in 24 Hours](https://robikovacs.com/blog/lockhere-techsylvania-hackathon/) (2018-06-22): How Emil and I built LockHere at the Techsylvania hackathon — a mobile app that alerts you when someone touches your bike.
- [Why I Keep Choosing Ruby on Rails](https://robikovacs.com/blog/why-i-build-with-ruby-on-rails/) (2016-06-14): I just started my first job as a Rails developer. Here's why I picked it and what I think about the framework so far.