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Sam Anthony
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Toptal member since July 20, 2015
Bio
Sam is a senior software and DevOps engineer with 20 years of experience. With a decade in back-end engineering and eight years in DevOps, Sam bridges the gap between clean code and robust infrastructure. His expertise includes AWS, Terraform, and GitHub Actions. He utilizes agentic AI tools to accelerate delivery and maintain rigorous standards. With deep roots in PHP and Laravel, Sam focuses on eliminating bottlenecks and moving projects from MVP to enterprise-grade production with confidence.
Portfolio
Just Bathrooms Pty Ltd
Claude, AI Agents, Automation
Zitcha
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Terraform, PHP, GitHub
Tomplay
PHP, AWS ELB, Amazon S3 (AWS S3)
Experience
- PHP - 16 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 6 years
- DevOps - 6 years
- GitHub Actions - 3 years
- Laravel - 3 years
- Terraform - 2 years
- Claude - 1 year
- Gemini - 1 year
Work Experience
AI-powered Digital Marketing
2026 - PRESENT
Just Bathrooms Pty Ltd
- Architected an agentic SEO discovery system to autonomously crawl markets, analyze data, and uncover high-value content gaps and search opportunities.
- Optimized Claude Code performance by developing custom model context protocol (MCP) servers and tailored "Skills" to extend the agent's capabilities and local environment integration.
- Leveraged Claude Code to programmatically generate and scale highly structured, SEO-optimized content, significantly accelerating output while maintaining technical accuracy.
Technologies: Claude, AI Agents, Automation
Head of DevOps & Infrastructure
2023 - 2026
Zitcha
- Collaborated closely with engineering teams across the PHP-based SaaS application to improve deployment processes, stability, and operational visibility.
- Owned the end-to-end AWS infrastructure supporting production and non-production environments.
- Designed and delivered new infrastructure capabilities as the platform evolved (scaling, monitoring, security, deployment workflows).
- Built and maintained infrastructure-as-code using Terraform to standardize and automate cloud resources.
- Developed and maintained CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions to support rapid, safe deployments.
- Implemented operational best practices around availability, incident response, and environment consistency.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Terraform, PHP, GitHub
DevOps Engineer | PHP Developer
2021 - 2022
Tomplay
- Contracted to migrate the entire PHP back-end application of Tomplay to a new AWS Infrastructure.
- Refactoring of existing PHP codebase to enable it to utilise Amazon S3, AWS ELB, and AWS Secrets manager.
- Implemented a modern deployment strategy with AWS CodeBuild/CodeDeploy.
- Utilised various DevOps tools to perform a zero-downtime migration to the new AWS Account.
- Advise developers on preparing application code for AWS ALB.
Technologies: PHP, AWS ELB, Amazon S3 (AWS S3)
CTO for Shopify App
2021 - 2021
Social Snowball IO LLC
- Modernized the engineering approach of a small team to incorporate automated testing and better adherence to coding standards.
- Stabilized existing projects and eliminated many bugs and vulnerabilities.
- Mentored junior and mid-level developers. Assisted in the recruitment of new developers.
Technologies: PHP, Git, Shopify API, CircleCI, SQL, Laravel
Lead Developer for an Accounting and Payment SaaS Platform
2017 - 2019
Rentpost
- Modernized an existing SaaS platform to a REST API architecture.
- Enhanced an existing application with AWS Services.
- Derived microservices from a large monolithic application.
- Optimized an existing codebase and implemented unit testing.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), PHP
Lead Developer
2016 - 2017
Hauskontor.de
- Helped coordinate a small team of developers.
- Architected the application.
- Worked in a fast-paced, ambitious startup environment.
Technologies: Ansible
Lead Developer
2016 - 2016
Sports Standardized Athletic Testing
- Build the entire MVP from the ground up with Symfony 3.
- Owned the entire tech stack from planning to DevOps and development.
- Worked with the client to deliver the MVP in timely fashion.
Technologies: Ansible, PHP
Lead Web Developer
2012 - 2015
Vouched For
- Built the entire web application and REST API from the ground up using Symfony 2.
- Contributed to public Git projects for a prominent UK payment gateway (GoCardless).
- Mentored junior developers.
- Contributed to major decision-making regarding the platform architecture.
- Grew with the startup from the early days of just three staff members to a company which now employs over thirty people.
Technologies: Payment Gateways, Git, Doctrine 2
Founder/Developer
2010 - 2012
Realty Hub, Pty., Ltd.
- Founded Realty Hub after identifying a need for a new product in the real estate industry.
- Oversaw every aspect of software development from gathering software requirements to application development in PHP/Symfony 2.
- Consulted existing users on how to improve the platform.
- Contributed actively to non-dev aspects of the startup.
Technologies: Payment Gateways, Git, XML, jQuery, HTML, MySQL, PHP
Web Developer
2011 - 2011
Visual Domain
- Brought in as a short-term contractor to help cover a surge in work.
- Worked with the client to determine the best software solution for their situation.
- Collaborated with companies' internal developers to maintain existing coding practices and to integrate the new module with the exiting workflow.
Technologies: Ajax, jQuery, MySQL, CodeIgniter, PHP
Web Developer
2009 - 2010
MyHome Group
- Developed both internal office web applications and a public-facing real estate portal written in PHP.
- Supported applications, including a financial system for managing client debts and a system to deliver interactive real estate media (virtual tours) to clients.
- Worked alongside senior programmers but also worked on my own projects completely independently.
- Listened to the needs of non-dev staff and suggested/implemented features to streamline office operations.
Technologies: XML, Ajax, jQuery, HTML, MySQL, PHP
Web Developer
2008 - 2008
Goose Creative
- Worked as the lead programmer on a complex CMS built from the ground up.
- Introduced a better software engineering culture to the organization (version control and documentation practices).
- Coordinated work between the other PHP developer, the Flash developer, and graphic designers.
- Managed the workload between concurrent projects for a variety of clients.
- Worked within tight deadlines in the competitive digital agency industry.
Technologies: Ajax, HTML, MySQL, PHP
Junior Web Developer
2007 - 2007
AHM Australian Health Management
- Helped maintain existing components and create new website and web application features.
- Ported large portions of ASP code into the new PHP 5 platform.
- Adjusted quickly as a junior to a new corporate environment.
Technologies: JavaScript, HTML, PHP
Junior Web Developer
2006 - 2007
Freelance
- Designed the back end for small websites and web applications, including features such as CMS and eCommerce websites.
- Liaised with clients regularly about project status or improved user requirements.
- Coordinated my work with internal dev teams where appropriate.
- Networked to acquire my own clients.
- Dealt with all the challenges of being a completely independent junior developer.
Technologies: eCommerce, JavaScript, HTML, MySQL, PHP
Project History
StackOverflow Profile
I often engage with community on StackOverflow. It's a great way to get new ideas on how to solve problems and get a variety of opinions from fellow developers.
Public GitHub Projects
https://github.com/expertcoderI have several public Git projects based around PHP, Symfony, and DevOps.
I often take advantage of my existing Git projects in work for clients. It helps me cut back on repetitive tasks and increase productivity.
I often take advantage of my existing Git projects in work for clients. It helps me cut back on repetitive tasks and increase productivity.
Education
2004 - 2007
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
University of Wollongong - Wollongong, Australia
2001 - 2003
Manufacturing Technology Degree in Computer Engineering
Wollongong College of Technical and Further Education - Wollongong, Australia
Certifications
DECEMBER 2018 - DECEMBER 2021
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
APRIL 2018 - APRIL 2021
AWS Certified Developer - Associate
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Pandas, Doctrine 2, jQuery, Shopify API
Tools
Ansible, PhpStorm, Terraform, Claude, Amazon Cognito, AWS CloudFormation, AWS IAM, RabbitMQ, Jira, Trello, Apache, Vagrant, Composer, Git, CircleCI, AWS ELB, GitHub
Languages
PHP 8, PHP, HTML, XML, Python, JavaScript, SQL
Paradigms
REST, DevOps, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Automation
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda, Cin7, Docker, Linux
Frameworks
Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter
Storage
Amazon DynamoDB, MySQL, Memcached, Amazon S3 (AWS S3)
Other
AWS Certified Developer, Large Language Models (LLMs), AI Agents, Serverless, GitHub Actions, Gemini, eCommerce, Amazon API Gateway, Payment Gateways, System Administration, Ajax, Computer Science, Computer Engineering
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