Publication
Full User Authentication and Access Control: A Laravel Passport Tutorial, Pt. 1
https://www.toptal.com/developers/laravel/passport-tutorial-auth-user-access
Layo is available for hire
Hire LayoLayo Folaranmi
Verified Expert in Engineering
Full-stack Developer
Lagos, Nigeria
Toptal member since March 1, 2019
Bio
Layo is a software engineer focused on full-stack web development. He has 8+ years of experience creating solutions for companies, startups, and enterprises where problem-solving, attention to detail, and a fast turnaround are paramount. His tech stack includes Node.js, PHP, Laravel, React, Vue, and Angular. Layo has leadership experience working with various software teams. He writes about programming and tech in his free time and is keen to work with new technologies.
Portfolio
Arrivia
JavaScript, Angular, HTML, CSS, Marketing, TypeScript, Tealium IQ, BigQuery...
Colgate-Palmolive - Hills Pet
React, Node.js, JavaScript, HTML, Sails.js, Directus, Nuxt.js, Vue 3, GraphQL...
THDC
Amazon EC2, Amazon Route 53, PM2, Express.js, NGINX, TypeScript, Jest, Redux...
Experience
- Laravel - 8 years
- MySQL - 8 years
- Vue - 8 years
- JavaScript - 8 years
- Node.js - 8 years
- Angular - 8 years
- React - 8 years
- TypeScript - 8 years
Preferred Environment
Git, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), PhpStorm, Ubuntu, MacOS
The most amazing...
...project I've worked on was an AI tool for a global airline that enabled it to save millions in operation costs by helping make cost-effective company purchases.
Work Experience
Enterprise Software Developer
2024 - PRESENT
Arrivia
- Architected and developed a custom, lightweight JavaScript framework to manage dynamic creatives across white-label partner sites, replacing bulky legacy dependencies.
- Optimized delivery workflows, resulting in a 15% improvement in deployment efficiency across high-traffic brand ecosystems.
- Integrated Tealium for event-driven tag management, streamlining deployments for Global Fortune 500 brands and increasing marketing conversion by 5%.
- Engineered serverless data pipelines using Google Cloud Functions and BigQuery to ingest user behavior data, providing the technical foundation for real-time product decisions.
Technologies: JavaScript, Angular, HTML, CSS, Marketing, TypeScript, Tealium IQ, BigQuery, Webpack, REST APIs
Full-stack Engineer
2023 - 2024
Colgate-Palmolive - Hills Pet
- Championed the implementation of new features on a headless Shopify store using Nuxt 3, Vue, and Node.js.
- Oversaw regular application bug fixes and optimizations, one of which improved the site's initial page load by up to four seconds.
- Created Shopify applications to improve checkout and post-checkout customer experience and customer conversion.
- Collaborated with the automation testing team for proper E2E test coverage.
- Developed in-house CMS components using Vue, Nuxt, and Directus to ease site page modification for business owners.
- Implemented GIGYA SSO integration across multiple parts of the project for customer authentication and authorization.
Technologies: React, Node.js, JavaScript, HTML, Sails.js, Directus, Nuxt.js, Vue 3, GraphQL, Full-stack Development, eCommerce, Single Sign-on (SSO), Shopify Customizations, Shopify Plus
Lead Product Engineer
2023 - 2023
THDC
- Led the team developing the Node.js API and React front end for a major real estate firm in West Africa, refactoring the codebase to improve code readability, consistency, and API response speed by 30%.
- Set up staging and sandbox environments using NGINX, AWS EC2, and Pm2 to facilitate developer and stakeholder testing, reducing the development-to-deploy time by 20%.
- Refactored functional React components, React-Redux state to optimize speed, build errors, and unit tests, to improve page load time by 15%.
- Implemented a pbkdf2 encryption algorithm in JavaScript, using Node.js crypto and crypto-js, to extend the company integration with a central bank.
- Crafted extensive documentation for the application codebase and cloud deployments.
Technologies: Amazon EC2, Amazon Route 53, PM2, Express.js, NGINX, TypeScript, Jest, Redux, React, MySQL, Sequelize, Node.js, Next.js, Full-stack Development, eCommerce, Shopify Customizations, Shopify Plus
Senior Front-end and Integration Developer
2023 - 2023
Titan Engineering, Inc
- Implemented an overhaul of the Vue codebase, upgrading it from Vue 2 to the latest Vue 3 version and optimizing it for enhanced performance and scalability, utilizing the Options API.
- Pioneered the continuous development of map-based location components, revamping them within the codebase to result in an up to 50% improvement in page load time using modern technologies, including Vue, Mapbox, Mapbox GL, JavaScript, and TypeScript.
- Ensured continuous collaboration with the company's in-house designer to implement pixel-perfect, responsive, functional interfaces using Figma, meanwhile integrating the application front-end interface with multiple APIs.
Technologies: Vue, Tailwind CSS, TypeScript, Mapbox, Google Analytics, Front-end, Axios, Vue 2, Vue 3, Full-stack Development
Lead Product Engineer
2022 - 2022
THDC
- Led a team of five. Spearheaded the development of the onboarding process for a real estate company client to help gather media-type user information to enhance the redesign of their living spaces.
- Designed Nest.js-based Command Line Interface (CLI) that seamlessly integrates with Sequelize-TypeScript, enabling effortless execution of commonly performed database operations.
- Conducted code reviews, managed codebase architecture, and facilitated collaboration between developers and stakeholders.
- Crafted an extensive API documentation with precise details and examples, using Postman.
Technologies: Node.js, NestJS, Vue, TypeScript, Sequelize, MySQL, Figma, SCSS, Asana, Pinia, Heroku, Postman, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Multer, React, Full-stack Development
Senior Full-stack Developer
2022 - 2022
Fresh Interactive, LLC
- Developed pixel-perfect, mobile-responsive websites for a major real estate agency in Los Angeles by effectively collaborating with the UI/UX designer using InVision, thereby improving customer retention.
- Implemented reusable component classes for use in multiple projects, utilizing Vue2, Laravel, and Mix to streamline and increase development speed across the board.
- Identified and resolved software issues using Jira as the reporting tool.
Technologies: Laravel, Vue, PHP, MySQL, Laravel Nova, Blade, Sass, Flexbox, CSS Grid, Front-end Development, Figma, HTML5, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Data Structures, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Front-end, Axios
Back-end Developer
2022 - 2022
Virtual Doctor and Medicines, S.L.
- Spearheaded the development, maintenance, and documentation of a Laravel application back end for a European government healthcare organization, collaborating closely with front-end developers to rapidly deliver new features.
- Led the back-end team in optimizing the database design while collaborating with the DevOps team to improve the CI/CD pipeline of the sandbox and production environments to ease testing and deployments, improving the API response time by 15%.
- Designed and developed data algorithms to help generate new data on possible future actions of the users to improve overall user experience and satisfaction.
- Crafted a concise and comprehensive codebase and API documentation. Oversaw the onboarding of new developers to help improve developer productivity in the team.
Technologies: Laravel, PHP, REST APIs, MySQL, Bash, Linux, Bitbucket, CI/CD Pipelines, Vue, Postman, Front-end Development, HTML5, Back-end, Axios
Senior Product Engineer
2022 - 2022
Consulting Enterprise
- Led the development of the application front end of a predictive AI tool, providing extensive data benchmarks of both the past and future (predictive) to enable a global airline to save up to $100 million in operating costs.
- Led the development of the application front end using Angular, NgRx, and RxJS. Implemented custom state management architectures to speed up page load and data display time in some parts of the application by around 10%.
- Collaborated with the product stakeholders and designers to develop impactful application features. Implemented scalable codebase architecture and made informed decisions on underlying technologies to be used in the application development.
- Oversaw the development of the data visualization components for use by major stakeholders, enabling them to make cost-effective decisions using Vega-Lite, PrimeNG, and D3.js.
- Integrated the application front end with in-house and 3rd-party APIs. Also implemented new data REST API endpoints using Python, FastAPI, and SQL Alchemy to ease data-fetching on the front end by 1%.
Technologies: Angular, TypeScript, REST APIs, Vega-Lite, Trello, GitHub, NgRx, Front-end Development, HTML5, Back-end, Data Structures, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Front-end, Axios, Software Development, D3.js, Python, SQLAlchemy, FastAPI, Full-stack Development, Single Sign-on (SSO)
Product Engineer
2020 - 2021
THDC
- Designed and implemented the database models, command line interface, and file generation scripts for use in the NodeJs REST API server. Used TypeScript, Sequelize, Mysql, and EJS.
- Migrated codebase from MongoDB and Mongoose to MySQL and Sequelize to remove API overhead complexity.
- Developed the application front end in Vue, integrating it with third-party APIs like Twilio and Plain(ACH) to facilitate financial features and c-to-c user payments.
- Created custom Webpack configuration to accommodate Vue SSR client-side hydration, bundling, and minifying of application front end for quicker page load and overall site responsiveness.
Technologies: Node.js, Express.js, Plaid, Twilio, Vue, Webpack, Sequelize, Mongoose, React
Full-stack Developer
2020 - 2021
Secure Staffing LLC
- Participated actively in the development of new features added to the company's in-house user management software using React and Redux, AngularJS, Laravel, and MySQL.
- Developed an in-house compliance tool for the HR team to manage sensitive data about company partners and clients during company acquisitions using Angular, Laravel, and MySQL, improving HR efficiency by 5%.
- Developed scripts to automate recurring application tasks, integrating said scripts with Google Cloud API to reduce HR workload and enable quicker user support using GCP, Laravel, and Cron.
- Updated application integration with Zendesk Chat and Zendesk Sell, including new surveys to improve company customer relations while adding new capabilities to the existing integration with Zendesk Support.
- Implemented new chat-related features and changes to the company application, ensuring speed and data consistency of chat-related data using Node.js, Redis, and WebSockets.
- Created a fun campaign game to entertain company customers during the NBA finals utilizing React and Redux and an NBA API integration.
Technologies: PHP, Node.js, Angular, AngularJS, Laravel, Redis, Cron, React, JavaScript, TypeScript, Asana, SSH, Front-end Development, Redux, HTML5, Back-end, Data Structures, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Front-end, Axios
Senior Full-stack Developer
2020 - 2020
Fresh Interactive
- Participated actively in the development of an app collaborating with the development team members to help company clients set up, host, and manage online events using Laravel Nova and Vue.js.
- Tracked and fixed applications' front- and back-end bugs using Jira as a reporting tool.
- Developed REST API endpoints using Laravel to connect Vue.js front-end components to the database and allow manipulation of data on the front end.
- Integrated the clients' realtor web application with Iterable.com, a marketing REST API.
- Developed event campaign websites using HTML, Vue.js, and SASS.
- Actively participated in the incremental development of the in-house Laravel Nova CMS.
- Created Vue.js visual widgets to be used in the in-house CMS for the development of user-facing websites.
- Developed a website using Vue.js and Laravel for a medical corporation to showcase the company's new drug, enable users to take a quiz, and access the company's private event.
- Owned continuous deployment of modifications to a client's application to the company staging server.
- Developed campaign pages for a client and connected the pages form to Salesforce to allow it to be used by their marketing team.
Technologies: REST APIs, jQuery, HTML, CSS, Sass, Laravel Homestead, Nova, PHP, Laravel, Git, Bitbucket, Vuex, Vue, JavaScript, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Front-end Development, Figma, HTML5, Back-end, Data Structures, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Front-end, Axios
Back-end Web Developer
2019 - 2019
TravCp
- Led the design, development, and documentation of the back end for a tourism and travel application using Laravel, MySQL, AWS, and Postman.
- Implemented OAuth2 authorization and authentication on the application back end and integrated said back end with 3rd-party packages and a superuser admin panel.
- Led the application testing using PHPUnit and Postman and created custom Laravel commands to improve back-end testing and deployments to Heroku.
Technologies: Postman, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), ClearDB, Bitbucket, Heroku, Laravel, PHP, Figma, HTML5, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Back-end, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Front-end, Axios
Experience
Nobel Radio Contest
Nobel Radio needed a web application for a photo contest. The application's main function was to enable people to upload a picture of their bedroom while allowing others to vote for those pictures, count up all the votes, and finally declare a winner.
The application was developed using PHP (CodeIgniter) for the back end and JavaScript for the front end for a better user experience.
The application was developed using PHP (CodeIgniter) for the back end and JavaScript for the front end for a better user experience.
MBHS School Management System
MBHS, a local school in my area, had a school management system already in use, but it lacked some important functionality; the portal was built using Laravel and Vue.
I contributed to the development of the portal, adding the functionality needed by both the school administrators and the teachers and also extending the functionality already available in the application.
I contributed to the development of the portal, adding the functionality needed by both the school administrators and the teachers and also extending the functionality already available in the application.
Jive Inventory System
Jive created a product, a school management portal, and they needed a way to track the school installs, revenue, number of students using it, and other data.
The Jive Inventory System application was created using Laravel and Vue; it enabled investors, employees, and Jive admins to monitor how well their product was doing. It included access control, so the data was obscured based on user hierarchy.
The Jive Inventory System application was created using Laravel and Vue; it enabled investors, employees, and Jive admins to monitor how well their product was doing. It included access control, so the data was obscured based on user hierarchy.
eCommerce Comparison App
A Laravel-based application intended to compare electronic products from different online vendors based on user preferences.
I was the full-stack developer on this project. I scrapped data from three eCommerce websites using Goutte and manipulated their data to be displayed according to the users' preferences. I made the application easily extensible by storing the scraper configuration for each website in a JSON file.
I was the full-stack developer on this project. I scrapped data from three eCommerce websites using Goutte and manipulated their data to be displayed according to the users' preferences. I made the application easily extensible by storing the scraper configuration for each website in a JSON file.
Education
2020 - 2020
Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Technology
Middlesex University - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2017 - 2019
Advanced Diploma in Software Engineering
Aptech Computer Education - Lagos, Nigeria
Skills
Libraries/APIs
REST APIs, Vuex, Vue, Node.js, React, Flexbox, jQuery, NgRx, Laravel Homestead, Goutte, Vue 2, Vue 3, D3.js, SQLAlchemy
Tools
Figma, Shopify Plus, PhpStorm, Git, Bitbucket, ClearDB, Postman, Cron, Asana, Trello, GitHub, Google Analytics, Plaid, Webpack, Sequelize, Mongoose, Multer, PM2, NGINX, BigQuery
Languages
HTML, PHP, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS, TypeScript, Java, GraphQL, Sass, Bash, Python, SCSS
Frameworks
Laravel, CodeIgniter 3, Angular, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, Vuetify, CodeIgniter, Redux, Next.js, Nova, AngularJS, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Express.js, NestJS, Jest, Sails.js, Nuxt.js
Paradigms
Object-oriented Programming (OOP), User-driven Development, Management, Agile
Platforms
WordPress, Mapbox, Windows, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Heroku, Linux, Ubuntu, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Twilio, Amazon EC2, MacOS, Directus, Tealium IQ
Storage
MySQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Redis
Industry Expertise
Marketing
Other
Vue Router, Software Development, Front-end Development, Back-end, Front-end, Full-stack Development, eCommerce, Data Structures, Single Sign-on (SSO), Shopify Customizations, Blade, SSH, Vega-Lite, CI/CD Pipelines, Laravel Nova, CSS Grid, Information Systems, Images, Web Scraping, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Axios, FastAPI, Pinia, Amazon Route 53
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