Pierre du Plessis, Developer in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa
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Pierre du Plessis

Verified Expert  in Engineering

PHP Developer

Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa

Toptal member since April 29, 2021

Bio

Pierre is a solutions architect with a strong focus on back-end development with PHP. He has worked on large-scale applications and assisted companies in deploying highly available infrastructure that caters to millions of daily visitors. He is a very skilled architect and solutions engineer, making him the perfect fit for any company with technical challenges that require a robust architecture built with the highest quality.

Portfolio

MiWay Blink
Mobile, TypeScript, Vuex, Vue, Vuetify, Firebase, PHP, Symfony, APIs, Ajax...
MiWay Insurance
Symfony, PHP, JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP 7, Unit Testing, PHPUnit, Redis...
CustomScripts
PHP, Magento, eCommerce, Payment APIs, APIs, Logistics, Back-end, Laravel...

Experience

  • PHP - 17 years
  • APIs - 10 years
  • Symfony - 10 years
  • Vue - 7 years
  • TypeScript - 6 years
  • Vuetify - 5 years
  • Nuxt.js - 5 years
  • Vuex - 5 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Vue, TypeScript, Vuetify, PHP, Symfony, APIs, PHPUnit, Nuxt.js, Firebase, JavaScript, Solution Architecture

The most amazing...

...project I've built is a custom eCommerce platform that automated the subscription and shopping process using cloud architecture.

Work Experience

Solutions Architect

2020 - 2021
MiWay Blink
  • Led a team of developers to build a custom mobile app for a new insurance product.
  • Integrated a telematics SDK into a mobile app for driving behavior detection.
  • Built a responsive app to create an insurance policy and packaged it as a mobile app.
  • Set up the architecture for an app that can be published as a desktop or mobile web app, as well as packaging as a native mobile app.
Technologies: Mobile, TypeScript, Vuex, Vue, Vuetify, Firebase, PHP, Symfony, APIs, Ajax, Axios, REST, iOS, Android, Java, PHP 7, Unit Testing, Design Patterns, PHPUnit, Jest, Linux, Back-end, JSON REST APIs, REST APIs, SQL, CI/CD Pipelines, NGINX, PHP 5, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Architecture, VMware, Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), React, Microservices, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Web Development, Business Process Automation, Business Services, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, DevOps, Agile, Databases, Kotlin, Bitbucket, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Integration Testing

Solutions Architect

2013 - 2021
MiWay Insurance
  • Implemented a proper code review and continuous integration process with unit tests and static analysis to ensure we could catch bugs as early as possible. I also added an automated build and deployment process for our dev and production environments.
  • Oversaw and led the development of various new projects, set up the base architecture and infrastructure, and worked closely with the teams to complete the development on time.
  • Helped take over initially outsourced projects to be taken in-house and conform to all internal standards and processes, assisting in necessary rewrites and upgrades within a short timeframe.
  • Managed a team of 17 developers, assisting with growth goals, upskilling, and mentoring.
  • Led the development of various in-house initiatives, set up the base architecture, and led a team of developers through the entire development lifecycle.
Technologies: Symfony, PHP, JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP 7, Unit Testing, PHPUnit, Redis, Elasticsearch, Docker, jQuery, Leadership, Team Leadership, Cross-functional Collaboration, Agile, Composer, CSS, HTML, HTML5, SCSS, Sass, Less, Babel, JavaScript 6, Twig, Linux, REST, Back-end, JSON REST APIs, Go, REST APIs, SQL, Java, CI/CD Pipelines, NGINX, PHP 5, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Architecture, Solution Architecture, VMware, Microservices, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Web Development, Zend Framework, Business Process Automation, Business Services, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, DevOps, Databases, Bitbucket, Integration Testing, Stress Testing

CTO

2012 - 2021
CustomScripts
  • Built custom payment gateways for popular eCommerce applications, as well as custom in-house eCommerce applications.
  • Created shipping integrations for eCommerce applications.
  • Created custom modules and integrations with external services in eCommerce platforms.
Technologies: PHP, Magento, eCommerce, Payment APIs, APIs, Logistics, Back-end, Laravel, REST APIs, CI/CD Pipelines, PHP 7, PHP 5, Cloudflare, CTO, Software Architecture, Web Development, Business Services, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, REST, DevOps, Databases

Integrations Developer

2019 - 2020
Platform 5
  • Created automated jobs to import and update stock from different inventory management systems.
  • Developed integrations with third-party payment APIs in eCommerce applications.
  • Helped develop custom modules according to the client's needs, including UI changes and custom functionality on eCommerce applications.
Technologies: PHP, Magento, Magento 2, Magento API, Magento Modules, Magento Community Edition, Magento 1, APIs, eCommerce, eCommerce APIs, MySQL, User Interface (UI), Back-end, REST APIs, SQL, PHP 5, Software Architecture, Web Development, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, REST, Databases

Senior PHP Developer

2012 - 2013
A1L Realizations
  • Built a custom marketing platform for a client to manage different marketing campaigns.
  • Created automated scripts to import and process order information from different eCommerce platforms into a single custom marketing platform.
  • Automated the creation and printing of raffle tickets based on qualifying criteria from imported order information.
  • Built integrations to track marketing campaign success based on campaign types, such as email, Twitter, and Facebook campaigns.
Technologies: PHP, Symfony, MySQL, PHP Data Objects (PDO), PDF, jQuery, JavaScript, CSS, RabbitMQ, Emailers, Marketing, Linux, Back-end, PHP 5, CodeIgniter, Software Architecture, Web Development, Zend Framework, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, REST, Databases

CustomShop

An eCommerce platform allowing clients to set up their own online shop.

I built the automated deployment process using Kubernetes to instantly create a new shop when a client signs up. I also created the front end where clients can sign-up, which would trigger background jobs to create a new instance of the shop and database and notify the client when their shop is ready.

The back end uses PHP and interacts with Kubernetes through its REST API. I also added a recurring billing process and automated jobs to suspend and renew any subscription.

Career Academy

A job board for companies to post job openings and potential candidates to view and apply for open positions.

I built the application from scratch using Symfony with multiple different roles. Companies can register to create relevant job openings and manage applications for each position. Candidates can view, search, and apply for open positions.

SolidInvoice

https://solidinvoice.co
An open-source billing and invoicing application. I created the project from scratch, working through many iterations and upgrades. I built the UI, back end as well as API. I'm overseeing and reviewing contributions from the community, giving feedback and assisting in any open issues, and working on ensuring the application is user-friendly and easy to set up.

My Little Garden

A mobile app that lets users track the growth and progress of seeds planted in their garden.

I built this as a weekend project for my kids when they were busy planting seeds. I then published the app to the mobile app stores and got overwhelmingly positive feedback. The app was the number one trending app in its category a week after its release.

Payum

https://github.com/Payum/Payum
An open-source PHP library for managing and integrating payment gateways into any project.

I was recently appointed as the new maintainer of the project after many contributions and am currently in the process of evolving the library to modern standards.
AUGUST 2018 - PRESENT

Certified Symfony Developer

SensioLabs

Libraries/APIs

Vue, Node.js, jQuery, REST APIs, Vuex, Stripe API, React, Marionette.js, DigitalOcean API, AMQP, Google Maps, Google Maps SDK, Stripe

Tools

GitHub, NGINX, RabbitMQ, PrestaShop, Bitbucket, Magento Modules, Git, Google Analytics, Geocoding, Composer, Babel, VMware, Pardot

Languages

PHP, JavaScript, HTML, HTML5, PHP 7, SQL, PHP 5, TypeScript, CSS, Java, Go, Python, Kotlin, SCSS, Sass, Less, JavaScript 6

Frameworks

Symfony, Vuetify, PHPUnit, Nuxt.js, Bootstrap, Laravel, Sylius, Twig, Jest, Zend Framework, CodeIgniter

Paradigms

REST, Unit Testing, Microservices, Design Patterns, Agile, DevOps, Stress Testing

Platforms

Android, Docker, Linux, Firebase, Kubernetes, Shopify, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mobile, Magento, Magento 2, Magento API, Magento Community Edition, Magento 1, DigitalOcean, iOS, Google Cloud SDK

Storage

PHP Data Objects (PDO), MySQL, Redis, Databases, Google Cloud, Elasticsearch

Industry Expertise

Marketing

Other

APIs, Ajax, Web Development, Architecture, Back-end, JSON REST APIs, CI/CD Pipelines, CTO, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Front-end Development, Back-end Development, eCommerce, Solution Architecture, Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), Cloudflare, Business Process Automation, Business Services, Integration Testing, SaaS, Open Source, Vue Router, Payment APIs, Logistics, eCommerce APIs, User Interface (UI), Subscription Processing, PDF, Emailers, Axios, Analytics, Maps, Leadership, Team Leadership, Cross-functional Collaboration, Google Tag Manager

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