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Jakob Larsen
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Copenhagen, Denmark
Toptal member since June 27, 2023
Bio
Jakob has over 10 years of experience working with Drupal and using its multiple versions for small and large organizations and companies. He also worked extensively on Drupal core itself, making him one of the top 100 contributors in the world. Jakob has an in-depth knowledge of Drupal and follows the latest trends and developments in the Drupal community.
Portfolio
Danish Retail Enterprise Company
PHP, Docker, Drupal, Jenkins, Bitbucket, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Rancher...
Danish Media Enterprise Company
PHP, Drupal, REST, JSON, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...
Københavns Kommune
PHP, Drupal, React, Node.js, Azure, Kubernetes, Helm, Docker...
Experience
- Drupal - 14 years
- MySQL - 14 years
- JavaScript - 14 years
- PHP - 14 years
- CSS - 14 years
- HTML - 14 years
- React - 6 years
- TypeScript - 4 years
Work Experience
Senior Developer
2022 - 2023
Danish Retail Enterprise Company
- Used Drupal and React for the continued development of the main website and webshop while working on a scrum team.
- Conducted performance profiling, debugging, improvements, and code refactoring, introducing best practices.
- Collaborated with the DevOps team, providing Drupal guidance and research in transitioning from traditional web hosting to cloud hosting.
- Helped build infrastructure as code with Kubernetes, using Helm and Jenkins.
- Created the custom Docker image definition and image build pipelines using Jenkins.
- Built a hosting setup POC in AWS using Amazon EKS, Helm, and Docker Registry.
Technologies: PHP, Docker, Drupal, Jenkins, Bitbucket, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Rancher, Kubernetes, Helm, React, HTML, CSS, Sass, New Relic, Akamai, Back-end, APIs, Relational Databases, Full-stack, REST APIs, Containerization, Front-end, Full-stack Development, jQuery, Git, Jira, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), Symfony
Senior Developer
2021 - 2022
Danish Media Enterprise Company
- Set up a headless Drupal 9 with flexible editor experience and a customized JSON:API REST response for a Nuxt front end.
- Created various integrations to internal and external systems, like SSO, Echobox, Aptoma, and WoodWing.
- Developed a migration script to transfer existing content (5,000 – 100,000 per site) from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9.
- Migrated 6 – 8 sites from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9, including setting up hosting infrastructure with AWS CDK and migrating assets.
- Helped scale a solution for high-traffic websites, implement caching strategy, and optimize performance.
- Created Docker images for hosting and local development.
Technologies: PHP, Drupal, REST, JSON, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Docker, Single Sign-on (SSO), Back-end, APIs, Relational Databases, REST APIs, Containerization, Git, Jira, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), Symfony
Senior Developer
2020 - 2020
Københavns Kommune
- Built a new foundation for Drupal 9 websites—about 200 sites using the same setup.
- Implemented the design and flexible editorial back end for editors.
- Integrated with LDAP, SSO, and automatic access privileges.
- Built an admin panel for hosting management using React.
- Created a custom API on Node.js that integrates into a hosting system built with Kubernetes.
- Collaborated with my team to develop Docker images, Helm configuration for Kubernetes setup, and CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions.
Technologies: PHP, Drupal, React, Node.js, Azure, Kubernetes, Helm, Docker, Single Sign-on (SSO), CI/CD Pipelines, Back-end, APIs, Relational Databases, Full-stack, REST APIs, Containerization, WCAG 2, Accessibility, Front-end, Full-stack Development, Git, Jira, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), Symfony
Senior Back-end Developer
2014 - 2018
Unity
- Maintained and implemented new features for the main website in Drupal.
- Led the back-end team, helped hire new people, performed code reviews, and ensured standards were met.
- Spearheaded the effort of migrating from Drupal 7 to 8, building a new content strategy, empowering editors, and reducing maintenance.
- Improved the caching strategy and performance, implemented CDN using Akamai, and optimized for the global audience, including China.
- Led the effort of finding a new hosting vendor, defining requirements, interviewing vendors, analyzing offers, moving the existing site to the new hosting vendor (Platform.sh), and building CI/CD pipelines.
- Built a new translation system using Crowdin and provided various tools for translators, such as in-context translations.
- Developed the new store website and helped transition selling licenses to the SaaS business model.
Technologies: PHP, Drupal, Varnish, REST, Platform.sh, CI/CD Pipelines, MySQL, Crowdin, Single Sign-on (SSO), Back-end, APIs, Relational Databases, Full-stack, REST APIs, Git, Jira, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), Symfony
Project History
The Future Web Platform for Copenhagen Municipality
The Copenhagen Municipality was heavily invested in Drupal for a long time. They had three main areas:
• The main website that gets most of the traffic from Copenhagen citizens.
• 200 – 300 small websites for Copenhagen schools, kindergartens, and other public services.
• Seven intranet sites, one for each division of Copenhagen municipality.
Everything was hosted with traditional web hosting using Aegir, Varnish, a cluster of web servers, and database servers.
The project's goal, which Copenhagen Municipality called The Future Web Platform, was to build a modern hosting infrastructure on a cloud vendor that wasn't specified at the time. The platform needed an admin UI that could handle hundreds of sites and start deployments. In addition, the project also aimed to build a Drupal foundation for all of their small sites and become a shared foundation for their other sites.
The project was a huge success. We managed to:
• Build a modern website with a fresh design and WCAG AA compliant.
• Make a more user-friendly and flexible editor interface.
• Reduce the deployment time from hours to minutes.
• Improve the staff work processes for site management.
• The main website that gets most of the traffic from Copenhagen citizens.
• 200 – 300 small websites for Copenhagen schools, kindergartens, and other public services.
• Seven intranet sites, one for each division of Copenhagen municipality.
Everything was hosted with traditional web hosting using Aegir, Varnish, a cluster of web servers, and database servers.
The project's goal, which Copenhagen Municipality called The Future Web Platform, was to build a modern hosting infrastructure on a cloud vendor that wasn't specified at the time. The platform needed an admin UI that could handle hundreds of sites and start deployments. In addition, the project also aimed to build a Drupal foundation for all of their small sites and become a shared foundation for their other sites.
The project was a huge success. We managed to:
• Build a modern website with a fresh design and WCAG AA compliant.
• Make a more user-friendly and flexible editor interface.
• Reduce the deployment time from hours to minutes.
• Improve the staff work processes for site management.
Skills
Libraries/APIs
React, jQuery, Node.js, REST APIs, Marko.js
Tools
Git, Jira, Varnish, Bitbucket, Jenkins, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Helm
Languages
PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Sass, TypeScript, Less
Paradigms
REST
Platforms
Drupal, Docker, Platform.sh, AWS IoT, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Crowdin, Azure, Kubernetes, Rancher, New Relic
Storage
MySQL, JSON, Relational Databases
Frameworks
Symfony
Other
Single Sign-on (SSO), Back-end, APIs, Full-stack, Front-end, Full-stack Development, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), WCAG 2, Containerization, Accessibility, CI/CD Pipelines, Akamai
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