Publication
PhalconPHP: A Solution for High-load RESTful APIs
https://www.toptal.com/developers/php/phalcon-php-restful-apis
Andrew is currently unavailable
Andrew Belousoff
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Toptal member since December 12, 2016
Bio
Andrew is a senior back-end engineer with 15+ years of experience in web and software development. He is primarily focused on PHP and JavaScript ecosystems, with full-stack and infrastructure exposure. Andrew is experienced in distributed teams, APIs, databases, and modern web architectures, with a growing focus on SRE and reliability practices.
Portfolio
Givelify
Kubernetes, Datadog, Terraform, Helm, Argo Rollouts, PagerDuty, Jenkins
Conflux Real Estate (via Toptal)
Spark, Salesforce, CSS, JavaScript, PHP
Givelify
PHP, Laravel, MySQL, Docker, GitHub, Microservices, Event-driven Systems, APIs...
Experience
- PHP - 15 years
- PHPUnit - 12 years
- JavaScript - 12 years
- Symfony - 8 years
- Laravel - 7 years
- PostgreSQL - 7 years
- PhalconPHP - 3 years
- Vue - 1 year
Preferred Environment
PhpStorm, MacOS
The most amazing...
...project in my career has been a financial platform designed to facilitate donations to churches and nonprofit organizations.
Work Experience
SRE Engineer
2025 - PRESENT
Givelify
- Developed a proof of concept for canary releases to support safer production deployments and reduce release risk.
- Improved observability and monitoring practices using Datadog, refining alerts and monitors to enhance system visibility and incident response.
- Designed and facilitated a practical PagerDuty workshop focused on on-call processes and incident response readiness, helping engineers better handle emergency situations and improving team operational preparedness.
Technologies: Kubernetes, Datadog, Terraform, Helm, Argo Rollouts, PagerDuty, Jenkins
PHP Website Developer
2019 - PRESENT
Conflux Real Estate (via Toptal)
- Developed web pages using PHP, JavaScript, and CSS.
- Integrated with Salesforce API and Propertybase API.
- Introduced a caching system.
- Optimized web pages.
- Maintained server software.
Technologies: Spark, Salesforce, CSS, JavaScript, PHP
Senior Back-end Developer
2021 - 2025
Givelify
- Handled integrations with external systems and APIs, adding support for new partner platforms and improving existing integrations to increase stability and maintainability.
- Contributed to the transition from a monolithic architecture toward event-driven microservices, participating in design discussions and implementation efforts.
- Participated in migrating several services from EC2-based deployments to Kubernetes, expanding infrastructure and DevOps expertise while supporting modernization initiatives.
- Developed an integrations management module with a user-friendly interface for customer-facing operational teams, enabling them to perform routine tasks independently and significantly reducing engineering support requests.
- Coordinated a small team of four engineers for approximately six months, supporting task organization and delivery alignment.
- Provided accompanying documentation and onboarding materials.
Technologies: PHP, Laravel, MySQL, Docker, GitHub, Microservices, Event-driven Systems, APIs, Kubernetes, Argo CD, Ansible, React, JavaScript, TypeScript, SCSS, Blade, Confluence, Jira
Senior Back-end Developer
2021 - 2021
Givelify (via Toptal)
- Completed the analytics studio to manage clients' transactions and operations (both back and front end).
- Developed a security subsystem that supports different user roles.
- Created a mock service for performance testing of the system.
Technologies: Laravel, React, JavaScript, SCSS, MySQL, Docker
Web Developer
2020 - 2020
CEED LLC (via Toptal)
- Created a project management-like web application with PHP (Laravel) and JavaScript.
- Built a smooth front end from scratch using Vue.js.
- Implemented a RESTful architecture, improving UX and enabling back-end reuse for multiple purposes, including mobile applications.
- Refactored existing back-end code, introducing design patterns to improve readability, flexibility, and extensibility.
- Optimized the database, gaining data consistency and speeding up requests up to 1.5 times faster.
Technologies: REST, NGINX, Vue, JavaScript, Laravel
Symfony Software Developer
2017 - 2020
E-hub Health (via Toptal)
- Developed an administrative back office using PHP, Symfony, and JavaScript.
- Optimized the database to improve search query performance.
- Introduced test coverage that helped prevent numerous defects.
- Improved front-end components to enhance user experience.
- Implemented architectural improvements that increased system scalability and testability.
Technologies: MySQL, CSS3, HTML5, Doctrine, PHPUnit, Ajax, JavaScript, Symfony, PHP
PHP API Developer
2017 - 2018
Searle Creative Group (via Toptal)
- Completed development of a CRM system using PHP and React.
- Improved a REST API connecting the CRM with a WordPress-based website.
- Simplified deployment across multiple environments by introducing database migrations (Phinx).
- Established a streamlined build and deployment workflow using Grunt and Babel.
- Accelerated the initial loading of the CRM significantly.
Technologies: WordPress, React, JavaScript, PHP
PHP/MongoDB Developer
2017 - 2017
Merchpin (via Toptal)
- Built a Docker image for the project to be deployed to Iron.io.
- Made fixes and updates to the old code to be run under contemporary Mongolab.
Technologies: MongoLab, Iron.io, Docker, CodeIgniter, PHP, MongoDB
Senior Web Developer
2013 - 2016
Рayment System RURU (JSC | National Service Company)
- Designed and implemented REST APIs compliant with PCI DSS security standards, enabling internal services and external partners to integrate with a unified payment processing engine.
- Improved system performance and stability through code optimization, refactoring, and implementation of unit and functional tests.
- Wrote in PHP, JavaScript, and CSS3 using Symfony and Phalcon frameworks.
- Created some of the company's internal tools using PHP, Symfony 2, and Node.js.
- Performed front-end tasks and improved UI for user profile applications.
- Contributed to the development and maintenance of multiple payment-related products built on the platform.
Technologies: jQuery, JavaScript, CSS, PhalconPHP, Symfony 2, Symfony, PHP
PHP Developer
2011 - 2013
Contextual Advertisement System | Blondinka.ru
- Wrote in PHP using Symfony 1.4 and Symfony 2 frameworks.
- Developed the “Lite” and “Social” advertisement modes.
- Built the user interface for managing advertising campaigns.
- Improved some of the contextual advertising strategies.
- Refactored parts of the legacy codebase, improving the architecture.
- Wrote some of the company's internal tools in Python.
- Assisted with support issues and troubleshooting, increasing customer satisfaction.
Technologies: Python, Symfony 2, Symfony, PHP
C++ Developer
2010 - 2011
Scientific and Technical Enterprise (Technosoft-M)
- Developed the SCADA system core to run on the atomic power plant.
- Designed and implemented a precompiler for the Microm domain-specific language.
- Built a system configuration tool for deploying and managing system settings.
- Wrote in C++ and worked with the Qt4 framework, STL, and Boost libraries.
Technologies: Boost, Standard Template Library (STL), Qt 4, C++
Experience
Moscow English Club
A website for English language courses in Moscow built using WordPress. I was responsible for the development, customization, and configuration of themes and plugins, as well as the implementation of site functionality, content structure, and performance improvements to support the client’s educational services.
Trio-Service
http://trio-service.ru/An online shop that I built, including back-end functionality, front-end implementation, and integration of core eCommerce features such as product management, checkout flow, and basic performance optimization.
Vist Catalonia Website
A website for a travel agency, including development, customization, and implementation of core functionality, content structure, and user interface elements to support the agency’s online presence and customer interaction.
Education
2006 - 2012
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Bauman Moscow State Technical University - Moscow, Russia
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Doctrine, Vue, jQuery, Standard Template Library (STL), React
Tools
PhpStorm, Git, Xdebug, GitHub, Redmine, Jira, Confluence, Ansible, Helm, MongoLab, NGINX, Gerrit, Jenkins, Apache, Adobe Photoshop, Babel, Grunt, Terraform
Languages
Less, CSS3, PHP, HTML5, CSS, Sass, Delphi, JavaScript, Bash, C, C++, Python, SCSS, TypeScript
Frameworks
Laravel, Bootstrap, Symfony, PHPUnit, PhalconPHP, Symfony 2, CodeIgniter, Spark, Qt, Boost, Selenium, Argo Rollouts
Paradigms
REST, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Model View Controller (MVC), Test-driven Development (TDD), Scrum, Agile Software Development, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Microservices
Storage
Redis, PostgreSQL, Databases, MongoDB, Memcached, MySQL, NoSQL, Phinx, Datadog, Microsoft SQL Server
Platforms
Ubuntu, Docker, Google Ads, Windows, Linux, WordPress, Kubernetes, PagerDuty, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Iron.io, Joomla, MacOS
Other
Ajax, Software Engineering, APIs, Systems Engineering, Event-driven Systems, Argo CD, Qt 4, Blade
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