Alexander Belov, Developer in Ko Samui Surat Thani, Thailand
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Alexander Belov

Software Developer

Ko Samui Surat Thani, Thailand

Toptal member since February 10, 2017

Bio

Alexander is a senior back-end engineer and technical lead with 20+ years of experience building robust, scalable systems from scratch. He has deep expertise in PHP, Drupal, Laravel, .NET, Docker, CI/CD, and designing high-performance APIs. He's skilled in architecture, integrations, and production deployment. He's passionate about automation, AI-driven workflows, and optimizing processes for business impact. Alexander has experience collaborating with international teams.

Portfolio

T-Journey
Drupal 9, Drupal 8, Docker, Docker Compose, Git, MySQL, MariaDB, JavaScript...
Buzzwoo Asia
MySQL, PHP, Drupal, Git, Content Management Systems (CMS), jQuery, HTML, CSS...
Self-employed
Trello, Drupal 9, PHP Web Services, PHP, Content Management Systems (CMS)...

Experience

  • jQuery - 15 years
  • Drupal 7 - 11 years
  • PhpStorm - 8 years
  • Agile - 6 years
  • Docker - 5 years
  • Debian - 5 years
  • Drupal 9 - 3 years
  • PostCSS - 2 years

Preferred Environment

PhpStorm, Ubuntu, Git, Drupal, PHP, jQuery, HTML, CSS, Drupal 10, Back-end

The most amazing...

...achievement was developing Roche Accu-Chek Academy’s multi-mode e-learning platform, which serves over 20 countries and won the FOX Award Gold 2018.

Work Experience

Senior Developer | Project Manager

2018 - 2025
T-Journey
  • Planned and developed a case study system required by the stringent rules of the bodywork school. It connects teachers, students, and their models in a transparent system, allowing the learning process to run smoothly.
  • Set up a Docker environment for all three setups: local development, staging, and production.
  • Developed a nice history of actions on the website: who did what, when, and what results they brought. This provides total transparency and overview for the developers, teachers, and, to some degree, students, who are also allowed to see part of it.
Technologies: Drupal 9, Drupal 8, Docker, Docker Compose, Git, MySQL, MariaDB, JavaScript, Ajax, OOP Designs, PHP, Content Management Systems (CMS), jQuery, HTML, CSS, DevOps, Communication, Upgrades, Traefik, Twig, WCAG 2, Software Architecture, LAMP

Lead Drupal Developer

2015 - 2025
Buzzwoo Asia
  • Handled the full project cycle, including estimation, requirement specs, communication with the client, development, task delegation, and testing.
  • Employed behavior-driven design using the Behat framework.
  • Managed other employees' task delegations. Sometimes, I had to seek external freelancers to get some of the job done.
Technologies: MySQL, PHP, Drupal, Git, Content Management Systems (CMS), jQuery, HTML, CSS, Sass, HTML5, Full-stack, Amazon Web Services (AWS), DevOps, Communication, Acquia, CI/CD Pipelines, Front-end, Upgrades, Acquia Cloud, Traefik, Twig, Integration, REST APIs, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Database Optimization, LAMP, Behat

Product Owner | Project Manager | Lead Developer

2022 - 2024
Self-employed
  • Developed a banking system for 300+ active community members with their currency, allowing access from their own developed Android and iOS apps and web UI.
  • Proved to the company that Drupal 9 solutions are very fast, reliable, and do not demand system resources. They also allow a high level of customization and fast request-solution time.
  • Developed a built-in restaurant shop service that works from the app. It is integrated with restaurant processes and meal tracking from order creation through cooking till the order is finished.
  • Relieved many people from lots of monotonous, unnecessary labor, allowing the software solutions to do what they are best at.
  • Developed an effective and secure API for mobile apps to connect and serve the clients in an even more user-friendly way.
Technologies: Trello, Drupal 9, PHP Web Services, PHP, Content Management Systems (CMS), Symphony, jQuery, HTML, CSS, Less, Full-stack, Amazon Web Services (AWS), DevOps, Communication, Front-end, Traefik, Twig, Integration, REST APIs, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, LAMP

Drupal Developer

2023 - 2023
Brick Underground LLC
  • Developed features according to the company's vision, added them to the website, and coordinated with the design and UX team.
  • Reflected on my vision of the website that I continued to work with from previous developers and suggested changes that simplified and made the website more user-friendly, faster, and more organized.
  • Researched and worked on an integration with Mailchimp beyond the standard Drupal solution that would allow working with mailing lists and the archive purely from the Drupal site.
  • Accomplished other tasks not directly related to Drupal but still vital for the website—setting up DMARC and GA4, researching BigQuery, and connecting with GA4. Integrated and organized the workflow using Jira.
  • Organized processes effectively to unfold smoothly, as the project was in the US, and I worked remotely with a 12-hour time zone difference.
Technologies: Drupal, APIs, jQuery, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Git, Google Analytics, AMPscript, HTML5, Full-stack, DevOps, Real Estate, Communication, Front-end, Upgrades, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Traefik, Twig, WCAG 2, Integration, REST APIs, LAMP

Drupal Developer

2013 - 2015
DLabs
  • Worked in an Agile environment on the Drupal platform.
  • Developed an exceptionally big project for a Slovenian oil and gas company called Petrol.
  • Made interactive calculations and various map integrations.
  • Built a solution for one of the leading insurance companies, which included integration of many different technologies.
  • Created a multi-domain site that reused common tables, based on PostgreSQL.
Technologies: PostgreSQL, NGINX, Drupal 7, Git, Drupal, PHP, APIs, Content Management Systems (CMS), jQuery, HTML, CSS, Sass, Full-stack, Single Sign-on (SSO), DevOps, Communication, Front-end, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Integration, REST APIs, Technical Leadership, Database Optimization, LAMP

Back-end SOAP .NET Services Business Logic Developer

2003 - 2014
Dhimahi d.o.o.
  • Developed high-performance back-end services for the ticket distribution layer for one of the busiest ticket sale networks, Eventim (in many countries).
  • Developed web services for the integration of outlets like gas stations, where people could buy tickets together with the fuel.
  • Developed JMeter load tests, which resulted in over 200 bookings per minute (one booking consisted of ticket search, selection of the seat, adding to a cart, checking out, entering credit card info, checking the confirmations + collecting the metrics).
Technologies: .NET, C#.NET, C#, PostgreSQL, Web Services, SOAP, Web Services Description Language (WSDL), NHibernate, Agile, Subversion (SVN), Integration, REST APIs, Software Architecture, Database Optimization

Owner, PM, and Developer

2005 - 2013
ALBETECH
  • Found local clients.
  • Analyzed requirements.
  • Wrote documentation.
  • Implemented some work and handled subcontracting of other work.
  • Provided full customer support.
  • Handled the full project cycle for both large- and micro-scale projects.
  • Integrated and synced with data sources that included over 50k entities for the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum.
Technologies: Drupal 7, MySQL, NGINX, PHP, Drupal 6, Git, Drupal, APIs, Content Management Systems (CMS), jQuery, HTML, CSS, Sass, Less, Full-stack, Single Sign-on (SSO), DevOps, Communication, Front-end, Migration, Upgrades, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Drupal Commerce, LAMP

Back-end Developer

1999 - 2009
Comtrade (former Hermes SoftLab)
  • Developed HP Data Protector (Omniback) remote backup agent installation for all chosen computers in the network.
  • Developed Windows Installer package for HP Data Protector.
  • Developed *nix installation script for backup agent for systems that did not support remote installation.
  • Took the responsibility of performing knowledge transfer of part of the product (HP Data Protector) from Europe to HP India (Bangalore) 2002.
Technologies: C++, C, Bash, Scripting, Installation, Windows Installer, IBM Db2, Integration, REST APIs

Experience

Roche Academy E-learning Solution

A multi-mode e-learning platform for Roche Accu-Chek Academy (FOX Award Gold 2018), built for people with diabetes and healthcare professionals. Users can access content in slides, handbook, and interactive modes. The platform offers multilingual support (10+ languages), country-specific content variations, reusable text strings for efficient translation, and advanced Solr search with custom entity indexing. Hosted on Acquia with scheduled operations and robust backup APIs. Features include responsive design, full-screen presentation mode, and dynamic export to PDF, PPT, and ePub formats. Gamification (badges, progress tracking) boosts engagement across diverse medical audiences.

Learn more: https://www.cyperfection.de/en/projects/academy

The project was discontinued after 10 years of work.

Petrol d.d.

https://www.petrol.si
Built and optimized a multi-domain Drupal platform powering Petrol, the leading Slovenian energy and fuel company, with 500+ gas stations across Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and beyond. Led both front- and back-end development, integrating internal DB2 data sources, CRM/ERP systems, and external Q&A services. Delivered online electricity, gas, and heating calculators with automated terms and conditions, interactive maps with filters for all station locations, and Limesurvey integration. Managed ad-serving for public wifi access, enabling tailored promotions at fueling stations via the main site. The project supports a unified multinational web presence and seamless customer experience across multiple countries and languages.

DobrawPay: Banking Solution with Custom Currency

Designed and led the development of a custom banking system for a local community with its own currency. Integrated it with a community restaurant, enabling full order tracking from creation through preparation to completion. The platform provides headless access for iOS, Android, and web UI. I managed mobile developers and designers and delivered the entire product lifecycle—from architecture and API security to mobile-web synchronization and seamless launch.

This project proved Drupal 9/10’s capability as a reliable, fast, and resource-efficient solution for highly customized, agile fintech platforms. Drupal empowered rapid request-response cycles and flexible integrations, while ensuring high security and stability. The system included secure APIs and real-time order synchronization, demonstrating Drupal’s strengths in building complex, scalable financial and transactional applications.

This is a private project intended exclusively for a closed membership group and is therefore not publicly accessible.

Bodywork School Case Study System

Designed and developed a transparent case-study management system for a bodywork school in London, built on Drupal 10 with Docker-based workflows. The system addresses strict learning requirements by tracking mandatory study sessions performed by students on models, who provide detailed session reviews. This setup ensures transparency and convenience for students, models, and teachers, giving teachers full visibility into the learning process. This is a private project and does not have a public URL.

TILIA

A website for leading Slovenian insurance company TILIA.
With time, it has gained many integrations with other software developed by another team, mainly Symfony 2 and jQuery-based.

Some of the project features:

• More than 200 office entities are shown on the map, with the ability to filter among them.

• Interactive calculations of products and preparation of downloadable contracts.

The product has since been rebranded as SAVA and moved to another domain.

HP Data Protector

https://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00664475.pdf
Developed core components of HP Data Protector (Omniback), an enterprise backup platform by Hewlett-Packard. As a core backend developer in a 300+ engineer team, I designed and implemented a remote agent deployment system enabling administrators to silently install backup agents on hundreds of Windows machines across enterprise networks, reducing manual effort and operational costs while ensuring centralized backup and restore without user disruption—critical for mission-critical environments.

I created Windows Installer packages for the management console using new installer technology to simplify deployment. For Unix systems, I developed a unified installation shell script supporting 10+ Unix flavors (HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, Linux), addressing environments where remote deployment was not feasible.

In 2002, I led a knowledge transfer and conducted detailed on-site technical training over three weeks at HP India (Bangalore), ensuring smooth transition and operational continuity.

This project highlights deep technical expertise, cross-platform engineering, and international collaboration, resulting in enhanced reliability and efficiency of enterprise-scale backup solutions.

Education

2000 - 2006

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

Faculty of Computer and Informatics - Ljubljana, Slovenia

Skills

Libraries/APIs

jQuery, REST APIs

Tools

Git, Docker Compose, PhpStorm, NGINX, Traefik, Gulp, PostCSS, Apache, Ansible, Trello, Google Analytics, Subversion (SVN), Windows Installer, Behat

Languages

PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, HTML5, Sass, Less, AMPscript, Assembler x86, Assembler, C, C++, C#.NET, C#, Web Services Description Language (WSDL), Bash

Platforms

Drupal, Drupal 8, Drupal 7, Drupal 9, Docker, Drupal 10, LAMP, Debian, Ubuntu, Linux, Acquia, Acquia Cloud, Drupal 6, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Storage

MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Databases, IBM Db2

Frameworks

Twig, Laravel, Drupal Commerce, Django REST Framework, .NET, NHibernate

Paradigms

DevOps, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Behavior-driven Development (BDD), Agile

Other

Content Management Systems (CMS), Back-end, APIs, Full-stack, Single Sign-on (SSO), Communication, Front-end, Migration, Upgrades, Integration, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Database Optimization, Performance Optimization, Caching, Drupal Theming, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), SOAP, Ajax, OOP Designs, PHP Web Services, Web Services, Headless Software, Symphony, Real Estate, Chatbots, Headless CMS, Headless UI, CI/CD Pipelines, WCAG 2, Computer, Algorithms, Architecture, Economics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Scripting, Installation, Shell Scripting

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