Founded 2011.
Sharper in 2025.
ICE LABS is Jamal Mohammed — a Rails and AI engineer with roots in web development since 2011 and a focus on Rails since 2015. One person, one standard, no handoffs.
Mohammed
ICE LABS opened in 2011 doing what most web shops did then — WordPress builds, Expression Engine sites, PHP applications, and more client deadlines than anyone should admit to. That foundation matters: it means understanding the full stack a business actually runs on, not just the framework layer.
Rails became the focus in 2015, and it's been the primary tool ever since — through every major version, into the era of multi-tenant SaaS, and now AI-native applications. Before relaunching ICE LABS, several years in-house at Atlas Health meant owning the technical architecture end-to-end in a healthcare environment where production failures have real consequences.
The 2025 reboot has a narrow remit by design: Rails 8, real AI integrations, and SaaS products built to hold up when things get complicated.
Built Across 14 Years
Web work, then Rails, then in-house, then back again — with better tools each time.
Launched as a boutique web consultancy. WordPress builds, Expression Engine sites, PHP applications, and custom web development for early-stage clients who needed a serious engineer without agency overhead.
Four years of shipping real products on WordPress, Expression Engine, and PHP. Client deadlines, production bugs, and the kind of full-stack problem-solving that no framework tutorial teaches. That foundation still shows up in the work.
Moved fully to Ruby on Rails. The clients needing custom SaaS backends and API-driven applications were more interesting than the CMS work — and the framework was a better fit for the complexity they brought.
Built PettyPay in-house — a Rails-based cash-first payment aggregator for independent retailers. Ran alongside client work spanning PHP, WordPress, Expression Engine, UI and web design, and Android and iOS app development. The kind of range that teaches you what Rails is actually good for.
Moved fully in-house to own the technical architecture at Atlas Health. Healthcare systems have real consequences when they break — that's where the instinct for getting it right comes from.
Back to consulting — with Rails 8, a decade of production scar tissue, and a clear mandate: Rails upgrades, SaaS builds, and AI integrations that ship on time and hold up in production.
Three Things We Won't Compromise
Not values we wrote for a website. The actual principles that decide how we scope, build, and hand things off.