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Salman Ravoof

  • Technical Writer
  • Content Marketer
  • Self-taught Developer

I studied mechanical engineering and ended up writing about the web.

In college, I wrote blog posts about plumbing for pocket money. Years later, Kinsta hired me as its first Technical Editor, and the topics got a little harder, like database sharding, REST APIs and performance monitoring.

Read the case studies See the bylines
Salman Ravoof, head tilted and half smiling, in a teal T-shirt in front of trees.
Based in
Oaxaca, Mexico
Experience
7+ years

Status Open to work (and dinner)

At a glance

In case you’re skimming

Six things to know before the long version.

  1. Writer first

    I was paid to write years before I built my first website. Now I get to do both, and I enjoy each as much as the other.

  2. Co-founder

    In 2016, I co-founded Elebird, a creative agency in India, and wore every hat there, from coming up with ideas to delivering the work.

  3. Published

    I’ve written for Kinsta, rtCamp, Multidots, WPMU DEV, and WP Rocket, all of it remotely. Most of it was for developers.

  4. Read by developers

    I wrote 6 articles for the DevKinsta launch. PHP and WordPress newsletters picked up 5 of them, and Adminer’s own homepage links one.

  5. Editor

    At Kinsta, I built the style guide with the content team and edited 20+ writers, so I know how much effort goes into publishing a good piece.

  6. At home

    Our son was born in 2026. We also live with 8 cats and 4 dogs. I love minimalism and biryani.

Work history

Where I’ve worked

The years only. Each row links to its entry in the long version below.

  1. 2015–2016 Content Writer Hibu, then TCS
  2. 2015–2016 Lead Content Writer Licious
  3. 2016–2019 Co-founder Elebird
  4. 2019–2020 Technical Writer, then freelance WPMU DEV, Kinsta, WP Rocket
  5. 2020–2023 Technical Editor Kinsta
  6. 2024–2025 Ghostwriter Multidots
  7. 2025–2026 Content Strategist, then Senior Technical Content Writer rtCamp
  8. 2026–now Open to work (and dinner) Contract work while I look

Testimonials

In their words

Salman is a natural problem solver, but what makes him different is the way he thinks. He doesn’t always take the conventional route. He questions the brief, looks at things differently and often comes up with ideas and strategies that help you stand out. That thinking helped us win clients, exceed expectations and build strategies that actually gained traction.

Rajiv Krishnaswamy Co-founder, Elebird Creatives Started it with me LinkedIn recommendation

Salman can take any complex, development or engineering-focused topic and turn it into clear, digestible content. It shows when he writes and when he’s wearing the editor’s hat. Finding someone who’s good at both is rare. He sees the business side of things, because he’s run his own web agency.

Matteo Duò Head of Content, Kinsta Managed me directly LinkedIn recommendation

Salman wrote in-depth technical content that played a real role in strengthening rtCamp’s SEO presence. What set his work apart was the way he approached every piece from two angles at once: the SEO perspective and the reader’s perspective. The result was content that was technically rigorous yet easy to digest, which is a rare balance to strike.

Franklin Fernandes Senior Marketing Manager, rtCamp Managed me directly LinkedIn recommendation

The long version

How I got here

I was a freelance writer in college, ran a company, wrote for a startup, co-founded an agency, and moved countries before I wrote my first technical piece in 2019. Many hats, but one goal: have fun learning and doing things.

  1. 1991–2008

    Growing up in Bengaluru

    I was born and raised in Bengaluru, India, where soft idlis and crisp dosas prepare you for everything in life. My parents changed my school a few times, so I ended up with school friends from all walks of life.

    At school, I was an average student who was good at sports, until science and math caught my interest. Then I topped my school in 10th grade and got my first computer for it. I haven’t looked back since.

    Salman as a small boy holding a pair of big silver headphones to his ears, beside his sister in white, against a green wall. Open full size
    I was dialed in for tech support from my early days 🎧
    A small boy in a white school shirt, tie and shorts, holding a red lunch bag in a blue doorway. Open full size
    The photo my parents took at our doorstep before my first day at school.
    An empty classroom with rows of wooden desks, sunlight coming in through three curtained windows. Open full size
    Our classroom at Christ College.
  2. 2008–2012

    UVCE, Mechanical Engineering

    My dad worked at BEML, which built many of Bengaluru’s metro cars, and I liked machines too. I figured I could learn programming on my own anyway, so I chose Mechanical Engineering at UVCE, a public college started in 1917 as India’s fifth engineering college.

    Outside class, I helped run our fests and designed a fest poster and our class hoodie. I also learned German, because I planned to go to grad school in Germany. That plan never worked out.

    The red arched main gate of University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, with iron gates, under a blue sky. Open full size
    UVCE built this main gate after we graduated. We had a simpler entry.
    The stone front of a building with tall windows and a blue sign reading Department of Mechanical Engineering, under a tree. Open full size
    UVCE’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, where I spent 4 years.
    A long red stone building with barred windows beside a stone wall, a walkway bridge crossing overhead. Open full size
    The labs building at UVCE.
    A close view of a lathe's tool post, handles and dials, in an old workshop with arched windows. Open full size
    A lathe in our machine shop.
    An old electrical lab with wooden benches, DC machine panels with dials, and tall windows. Open full size
    Our electrical lab.
    An old iron workbench in a dirt courtyard under a tree, in front of low cream buildings with red roofs. Open full size
    The courtyard at our department.
    A small handmade boat of foam floats and a paper cone, wired to a motor, floating in a blue tank of water. Open full size
    Our boat for a boat-making contest. It floated. Didn’t work that well, though!
    A dark blue poster for UVCE's Milagro '11 fest, with guitarists, a rock show called Moshpit and an acoustic night called Strings. Open full size
    The poster I designed for our college fest, Milagro ’11. My early attempts at design. Looks bad now, but that’s how I started then.
    The front and back of a black hoodie, gears and the word Mechanical on the front, WE ME and UVCE Mechanical Engineering 2008 to 2012 on the back. Open full size
    The hoodie I designed for our class of 2008 to 2012. The WE and ME on the back are made of the names of everyone in our class.
  3. 2010–2014

    Pocket money

    I started freelancing in college, writing about gardening, rooftop repairs, plumbing, and all that nonsense. I spent what I made on riding gear for my Royal Enfield Classic 500, and on my main goal, a Kindle. I even wrote the bike a poem.

    When I graduated, I had offers from TCS and IBM, but I had other plans.

    A Kindle Paperwhite beside a copy of Sultana's Dream on a dark table. Open full size
    The Kindle my freelance writing paid for. It still works.
    Salman in a helmet and jacket riding a Royal Enfield Classic 500 down a highway lined with trees, a truck far behind him. Open full size
    Out on the highway.
    Salman in a helmet and riding gear on a teal Royal Enfield Classic 500 on a rocky dirt trail. Open full size
    Long rides on it felt almost like meditation, except I was moving.
  4. 2014–2015

    ThinkThread and the blog

    Those plans turned into ThinkThread. With 3 classmates backing me, I started a custom clothing company out of the designs I’d made for our class. We took orders on a WordPress site and delivered almost a thousand T-shirts and hoodies, and the best of them was a hoodie for UVCE. But I couldn’t figure out how to scale it, so after almost a year I called it quits.

    The same year, I built my first website, a WordPress blog for my adventures. The ride to Valparai became a 4-part travelogue, and it’s still my favorite.

    Salman in riding gear beside a loaded teal Royal Enfield Classic 500, a small waterfall and thatched shelters behind him. Open full size
    Riding the ghats on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
    A blue banner reading ThinkThread, You Think, We Thread, customized tees, shirts and hoodies, with four garment icons. Open full size
    ThinkThread’s banner (You Think, We Thread).
    Salman in a black UVCE hoodie and a floral face mask, taking a selfie in a bedroom. Open full size
    ThinkThread’s UVCE hoodie. I was still wearing it through COVID.
    The ThinkThread label printed inside a black XL T-shirt. Open full size
    The label inside a ThinkThread tee.
    Day 1 of A Ride Through Wilderness on salmaniac.com in a browser window, with a photograph taken from a motorcycle's seat over the handlebars and a teal fuel tank, down an empty road into green hills. Open full size
    Day 1 of the Valparai travelogue, on my blog.
  5. 2015–2016

    Hibu, then Licious

    Freelancing kept me going while I looked for a full-time job, until Hibu took me on as a content writer. Hibu was a Yellow Pages business that put small businesses online with brochure sites and local SEO, the way the printed book used to. I wrote 5 or 6 of those sites daily, for every trade you can think of, and the copy came out identical each time. After a while it got boring.

    When TCS bought Hibu’s India division, I ended up at TCS after all, and I started editing the junior writers’ work. Most of the others left, and within a year, so did I.

    I then joined Licious as its Lead Content Writer. Well, I was also its only content writer, so I’m not sure who I was leading. I wrote app notifications, product descriptions, and newspaper ads, and I learned food photography at the product shoots. I worked almost 12 hours a day, and it was fun, until 2 colleagues and I were exhausted and quit together.

    Salman in a checked shirt, writing in a notebook, seen from the side. Open full size
    Finally getting paid to write creatively.
    Two Licious newspaper ads side by side, labelled: a front-page jacket for Times of India with chicken breasts under Tenderness that melts in your mouth, and a half jacket for Bangalore Times with prawn skewers under Every legend has its own tale. Open full size
    Two newspaper ads I wrote for Licious, laid out by our designer. The Times of India front-page jacket sent orders up sharply as soon as it went live.
    Salman taking a selfie at a desk in the Licious office, three colleagues at their computers behind him. Open full size
    A selfie at Licious, with the team behind me.
  6. 2016–2019

    Elebird, co-founder

    That’s how Elebird started. The 3 of us and Rajiv co-founded a creative agency in Bengaluru (its page from those years), and we designed, printed, and delivered for MTR Foods, Pearson, and others. The ideas came from the whole team. The copy was mine, and so were the websites, once clients started asking us for them.

    When timios chose us, Social Samosa quoted me, and I went on to write its tagline. I also named a new brand, Glades. Three years in, we were growing, but not quick enough, so in 2019 we sold our shares to a co-founder with a different vision.

    A pen sketch of a bird with an elephant's trunk, signed Actual Elebird. Open full size
    My early idea for Elebird’s logo, the sketch that came first.
    The Elebird logo, a teal bird with an elephant's trunk, above the word Elebird. Open full size
    Our designers turned the sketch into the full logo and branding, to show that with creativity, even elephants can fly.
    Three people working at laptops around a desk in a small office with a yellow door. Open full size
    Elebird in its early days.
    A ThinkPad laptop on a wooden desk with a steel water bottle, a plant and papers. Open full size
    My first desk at Elebird, with my ThinkPad. I was editing a photo in Photoshop, which wasn’t my job at all, but I did it anyway.
    An open notebook with two packaging sketches under the name Fabbit, Rise 'n' Shine cereal clusters and Lite 'n' Crunchy bites. Open full size
    Packaging ideas for timios, before it was called timios.
    A notebook page of sketches with copy for MTR: a ladle serving pure and perfect recipes to 1.2 billion since 1924, and Take care of food, food will take care of you. Open full size
    Copy I drafted for MTR’s office walls, floor by floor.
    Salman smiling in front of a wall graphic that reads GO! BIGGER! FASTER! with a running figure. Open full size
    At MTR, in front of the wall Elebird designed, made, and installed.
    A handwritten sketch on an April 2018 planner page for a calendar called Molecule of the Month, with caffeine's structure drawn in and a list of other molecules. Open full size
    My sketch for a Praras calendar, a molecule for every month.
    A desk calendar for Praras Biosciences on a coral background, its January 2019 page reading Plant more Trees beside a tree. Open full size
    The environment calendar Elebird made for Praras.
    A brochure for Standard Pottery Works reading Your trusted roofing partner, with a patterned business card. Open full size
    A brochure Elebird made for Standard Pottery Works.
    Six people in matching Elebird polo shirts at a bowling alley, three holding bowling balls. Open full size
    The Elebird team, bowling.
  7. 2019

    Mexico, with Squanchy

    In February 2019, I moved to Oaxaca, Mexico (my then wife’s home country), with my cat Squanchy. Her trip from Bengaluru took 36 hours and 3 flights. She was stressed, but we were back to being good soon.

    I could only work remotely, so it was back to freelancing. I had come full circle, except this time I had writing, design, digital marketing, and some WordPress behind me.

    An orange cat asleep with her head and paw on a Kindle showing a page of text. Open full size
    Squanchy, asleep on my Kindle.
    Salman in a light blue T-shirt at a desk with a keyboard and monitor, a world map on the wall behind him. Open full size
    My first remote setup in Oaxaca.
  8. 2019–2020

    First bylines

    That’s when I found work as a technical writer at WPMU DEV, on a 3-month contract. The first piece I wrote from scratch was Why is WordPress Free?, and a few more followed. Then Kinsta, one of their competitors, noticed them. Bylines matter that much.

    I couldn’t take the work while I was still at WPMU DEV, so once I was done, I reached out to Kinsta again and started freelancing for them. At Kinsta, I started with a guide to WordPress shortcodes, and I worked hard on every one after it, the WordPress Hooks Bootcamp among them. I also took on WP Rocket as a client and explained web performance to its readers. Two clients were more than enough.

    A grinning emoji, the WordPress logo and a thumbs-up on a blue background. Open full size
    From the first piece I wrote for WPMU DEV.
    A monitor under red light showing a custom WordPress login screen, a red-lit keyboard in front of it. Open full size
    A custom login screen I built for a Kinsta article.
    A wide curved monitor with an ocean wallpaper between two speakers on a wooden desk, with notebooks and a keyboard. Open full size
    My desk in the first months of the pandemic.
    GTmetrix's legacy performance report for wp-rocket.me on a dark raised panel, showing a PageSpeed score of A (100%), a YSlow score of A (99%), and page details of 1.8 seconds fully loaded, 327 KB and 17 requests, with four orange numbered markers on the parts of the report that were about to change. The words gtmetrix.com, legacy report, October 2020 are set in monospace above it. Open full size
    From the WP Rocket case study.
  9. 2020–2023

    Kinsta’s first Technical Editor

    Almost a year into freelancing for Kinsta, they invited me to apply for their Technical Editor role. I was elated. Freelancing is nervous work (when does it stop, who hasn’t paid yet), so I applied, and in the middle of the pandemic, I joined as Kinsta’s first Technical Editor.

    Of all the writers I edited there, the ones I’d hire again asked the most questions. I also wrote the pieces most of these case studies are about, and many more.

    Salman in headphones and a yellow T-shirt, smiling at the camera from his desk in front of a large monitor. Open full size
    At my desk, working for Kinsta.
    A laptop on a table under a thatched umbrella, with an iced drink and sunglasses, a beach bay behind it. Open full size
    Working from Huatulco, on Oaxaca’s coast.
    An orange cat stretched across handwritten notes and a keyboard on a desk. Open full size
    Squanchy, stretched across my notes for an article.
    A Kobo e-reader in a blue case on a desk beside a red-lit keyboard, showing How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. Open full size
    Moving from the Kindle to a Kobo.
    A laptop with a red-lit keyboard on a desk in a dim room. Open full size
    Working from India on a family visit.
    Three monitors, a keyboard and a desk fan on a white desk. Open full size
    The desk I edited from.
    An orange cat sitting on a desk in front of two monitors showing Kinsta pages. Open full size
    Squanchy, supervising my Kinsta work.
    Handwritten notes on red paper headed K2 Cloud: start looking at competitors, chart up tech and frameworks, learn, learn, learn, and The code stands alone. Open full size
    My notes for K2 Cloud, the internal name of Kinsta’s application and database hosting, which later became Sevalla.
    A notebook page mapping Kinsta's competitors in hosting, products and publishing, with dozens of company names. Open full size
    My map of Kinsta’s competitors.
    A card under a pen that reads Do not panic. Yes, this is the Darkest Timeline. Open full size
    My joke for the COVID years.
  10. 2023

    Starting over

    By 2023, a marriage and a job were behind me, and I was starting over in a foreign country with my 2 cats. So I went out, to community meetups, hikes, wall climbing, and photo shoots.

    All this while, I’d been cooking the Indian food I missed, and I’d gotten quite good at it. Now I cooked it wherever I could, at friends’ places and potlucks, and that’s how I made friends so quickly. Turns out, food is my superpower, both eating and cooking.

    Salman crouched on a rock with a camera in a green canyon between tall grey cliffs. Open full size
    In the canyon at Apoala.
    An open book of poems beside a cat's paws, showing a poem titled I Spent Some of My Time Loving, Some of My Time Working. Open full size
    Reading Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
    Salman holding up a bowl of food garnished with edible flowers, in front of a glass block wall. Open full size
    A dish I plated with edible flowers.
    Salman at a restaurant table, photographing a plate of food with his phone. Open full size
    Dinner, photographed first.
    A close view of vada pav, spiced potato fritters in soft buns. Open full size
    Vada pav, one of the snacks I missed from home.
    Salman in a Mexico T-shirt grilling meat and foil parcels on an outdoor grill. Open full size
    On the grill.
    Three pen drawings of sloths on cards: Take it slow! Take it slower! Take it slow, but don't quit. Open full size
    Take it slow, but don’t quit. My doodles.
    A hand holding a card with a pen drawing of a raccoon in a trash can: Life is all about regretting your decisions! Open full size
    Another doodle. The raccoon has a point.
  11. 2023

    Oaxaca In-Betweeners

    With those friends, I started Oaxaca In-Betweeners, a weekly language and culture exchange at a pub, which I ran for half of 2023 and designed the posters for. The name was for the ages we had in mind, 35 to 60, and for me, a foreigner who’d lived here long enough to be stuck in between. (I speak 4 languages, and I understand most Spanish.)

    Then came a board game night, and it was a hit. Eventually, all the going out got to me, so I handed both over to friends. The game night still meets, just without my supervision.

    A yellow poster for Oaxaca In-Betweeners with a painted skull and cacti, inviting people to a language and culture exchange on Thursdays. Open full size
    The In-Betweeners poster I designed.
    A purple poster for Oaxaca In-Betweeners Board Game Day, every Sunday, with a painted skull, cacti and dice. Open full size
    The board game day poster I designed.
    A game of Catan on a wooden table, surrounded by cards, drinks and phones. Open full size
    Catan at our board game night.
    A game of Sagrada on a table, a board of coloured dice in a stained glass window pattern. Open full size
    Sagrada, one of the games we lost count of.
  12. 2024

    Masalsa

    After trying my hand at organizing events, I started selling home-cooked Indian food to locals, as Masalsa. I did that for a few months. I love cooking, but getting enough orders to make it worthwhile, and then delivering them on time, was a big ask. So I stopped.

    A card of pen sketches of spices, ginger, chillies, garlic, star anise and a mortar and pestle, held up in front of a monitor. Open full size
    My first sketches for Masalsa’s logo.
    An orange cat leaning in to sniff a bowl of butter chicken and rice. Open full size
    Squanchy inspecting Masalsa’s butter chicken.
    A bowl of butter chicken garnished with coriander, seen from above. Open full size
    Masalsa’s butter chicken, from the photos I used to sell it.
  13. 2024

    San Agustín Etla

    That same year, I moved out of the city to San Agustín Etla with my partner, Aude. My work setup went in first, and then the gym. Squanchy and Sushi came with me, Aude brought 5 animals of her own, and we’ve adopted the rest of our cats and dogs together.

    A gravel path and green slopes in San Agustín Etla, with a valley and mountains under a cloudy sky. Open full size
    San Agustín Etla, looking down the valley.
    Green hills and mountains under a blue sky with a daytime moon. Open full size
    The hills around San Agustín Etla.
    The sun setting at the end of a road, under flowering vines. Open full size
    Sunset in San Agustín Etla.
    A power rack and plates on blue floor mats in an empty room with a window. Open full size
    The home gym, going up.
    A grid of twelve photographs, one animal each with its name across the bottom: tabby, tortoiseshell, black, grey and ginger cats, and brown, black-and-white, cream and brindle dogs, in gardens, on floors and on beds. Open full size
    The twelve cats and dogs we live with in San Agustín Etla.
    Four named photographs of the animals we lost, a tan long-haired dog named Benito, a black cat curled asleep on a patterned blanket named Suriya, a calico cat named Sushi, and a tabby-and-white kitten named Grogu, with a cat's paw print where they meet, its pad reading RIP and Always in our hearts. Open full size
    The four we lost in San Agustín Etla. Gone, but not forgotten.
  14. 2024–2025

    Multidots

    I went back to freelancing and ghostwrote Gutenberg tutorials for Multidots. When I shared them on LinkedIn, I left enough of a hint about who wrote them. The Multidots case study has the whole story.

    Two screenshots from the Multidots tutorials on a dark raised panel: the call-to-action block headed "Learn How To Train Humans!" with five paw-marked techniques, a Download eBook Now button and an illustration of a ginger cat reading on a stack of books; and behind it to the right, the users block listing pets as WordPress users with their photographs as round avatars. The words multidots/cta and the users block are set in monospace above them. Open full size
    From the Multidots case study.
    A notebook page titled Article structure, with an intro of about 100 words, then what, why, when, who, where, and how, and a summary of about 100 words. Open full size
    The basics of how I approach writing articles. Everything else adapts to what each one needs.
  15. 2025–2026

    rtCamp

    Those hints worked. rtCamp had noticed my Kinsta work too, and they only hire full-time, so I joined as a Content Strategist. As their requirements changed, I became a Senior Technical Content Writer, writing about enterprise WordPress for C-suites.

    Almost a year of it showed me that this kind of content takes years to pay off, and that most WordPress sites don’t need to go headless. The work is in its own case study.

    A collage of rtCamp client websites shown on a desktop monitor, a laptop, a tablet and two phones: a news front page, a winter sports feature, a quantum computing site, an automotive sales and marketing page headed "Experience more intelligent sales & marketing", and a Grist article about Hurricane Melissa. Open full size
    From the rtCamp case study.
  16. 2026

    Our son

    I became a dad. That’s me holding our just-born son, Jahan. Aptly named, as he’s our universe now.

    Salman smiling down at the newborn he is holding in his arms. Open full size
  17. 2026–now

    Between roles

    These days, I’m looking for a full-time writing role and taking contract work while I look. In the meantime, I rebuilt this site, started the garden, and wrote the case studies.

    Masalsa came back too, with its first packaged product: Garam Masala. I redesigned its logo and designed the label. I’ve also started selling home-cooked Indian food again, but this time, I only take bulk orders.

    The Masalsa logo, a mortar and pestle with flames and a star anise, in dark red on amber. Open full size
    The Masalsa logo I redesigned.
    A mustard yellow label for Masalsa garam masala, a blend of 13 spices, with the Masalsa logo and illustrated spices. Open full size
    The Garam Masala label I designed.
    A jar of Masalsa garam masala with its yellow label, on a green banana leaf. Open full size
    Masalsa’s Garam Masala, a blend of 13 spices.
    The back of a Masalsa garam masala jar on a green banana leaf, its label listing the spices in Spanish, from coriander seed and cumin to star anise and bay leaf. Open full size
    The back label names every spice in it.
    Three samosas on a white plate with a green chutney and a dark red one. Open full size
    Samosas, made at home in bulk, delivered to neighbors.

My aim in life is to learn, do, teach. And repeat.

Before you hire me

Compatibility check

You’re checking whether I fit your team, so I checked too. I ran LLMs through the same check, and they passed, with one condition.

Exit 0Where I fit

  • Developer tools, hosting, infrastructure, and WordPress platforms.
  • Technical blog posts, tutorials, and deep dives for developers.
  • Teams that can give me product access and let me talk to the people building it.

Exit 1Where I don’t

  • Content written to a keyword quota, with no time to test anything.
  • Competitor takedowns disguised as impartial comparisons.

AI

Where LLMs fit

I know AI is a lot more than just LLMs, but this chatty kind is kinda getting in my way. So it’s best if we address it right away.

LLMs are both a blessing and a plague. They dig through the research with me, poke holes in my outlines, find new ways to approach the piece, and after I write the draft, they check my words against your style guide. One thing they don’t do well is writing (and trust me, I have tried). Their drafts have no personality or opinions.

I know it, you know it, and your readers can tell.

Retrieved from https://salmanravoof.com/about/ on October 15, 2026