For 10 years I've built full stack web apps, mostly in Laravel and PHP with Vue and MySQL, and in WordPress when a client wants to edit their own pages. I usually take a project from the database schema through to the deploy, at agencies and on in-house teams. A claims company still runs on code I wrote. I keep learning and try to stay current with new web technology.
I started out writing WordPress themes and plugins in PHP for small businesses that wanted to run their own sites. The people editing those sites mattered as much as the people visiting them, and I still build with both in mind.
These days it's mostly Laravel and Vue. I write a lot of REST endpoints and try to keep SQL schemas easy to change as the data grows. On the front end I like animation and interaction, as long as it stays smooth on an ordinary laptop or phone. Much of my time goes to the cases nobody wrote down, like an empty state, or a query that slows down once the table fills up.
I've also built software that businesses run on. The latest was the claims platform at CNC Resources, which adjusters, examiners and policyholders all log into. It's PHP on a custom in-house MVC framework with MySQL underneath. Much of my time went into Claim Center, where adjusters spend their day. I also built the portal where policyholders upload documents, and integrated DocuSign and Twilio.
I'm not a designer. Give me a Figma file, a Zeplin project or a PSD and I'll build it to match, including the spacing, the breakpoints between artboards and the interactions the mockup only hints at. If a project needs design direction, I'd rather bring in a designer than fake it.
A good share of my work has been about getting visitors to sign up or buy. I built sales funnels on a custom PHP MVC framework instead of a page builder. On landing pages the form gets more of my time than the hero image, from validation to getting the lead into the CRM. I also set up Google Analytics around the events the business cares about, so a closed lead traces back to the spend that brought it in.
All open source
All work
I write server-side PHP. New projects get Laravel, and if you already have a custom framework I'll work inside it. I start with the data model and keep business logic out of the controllers. Integrations with outside services get planned in from the start, not added late.
I build interfaces in Vue, React and JavaScript, to both the technical spec and the design. Components manage their own state and fit together without fuss. Forms and data tables stay fast with real production data in them. I also do GSAP scroll and transition work, done carefully so the finished product feels deliberate.
I write themes from scratch rather than adapting a commercial template. Every editable region runs on Advanced Custom Fields, so a marketing team can update pages without touching template code. If you sell online, I'll add WooCommerce. Anything that doesn't belong in the theme goes into a custom plugin.
Launch is only part of the job. I provision LAMP environments and set up DNS to match. I profile queries and tune them before they slow the pages down. Existing applications get patches, updates and new features, and I review code with your team so the standards hold after I hand it over.
These pages exist to bring in leads, so I build them for that and don't start from a template. The form is the point of the page and the design supports it. I validate in the browser and again on the server, and submissions go straight into whatever CRM you already use. I care about the whole path to a lead you can count. Once there's enough traffic to trust the numbers, I'd rather split-test a change than argue about it.
All services
Sep 2023 — Oct 2026 · Remote
I built and maintained the core software behind the claims operation: PHP on a custom in-house MVC framework, with JavaScript and SQL. I connected third-party APIs and services to add what the system needed, and kept existing applications current with updates, patches and new features. I also reviewed code with the rest of the team.
May 2023 — Jul 2023 · Remote
Full stack work at a studio. I wrote PHP and MySQL on the server, built WordPress sites for clients who wanted to manage their own content, and did the front end that went with them. I took client briefs from scoping to launch and supported the sites after release.
Dec 2022 — Jan 2023 · Remote
Custom WordPress development. I built the theme from scratch rather than adapting a commercial one, with Advanced Custom Fields behind every editable region so the marketing team could update pages without touching template code. Features that didn't belong in the theme went into custom plugins I wrote, including the integrations that pulled in content and data from external APIs.
May 2022 — Nov 2022 · Remote
I was a front end engineer on the Lilly Regulatory Requirements Application. I built its complex interface to spec in React, TypeScript and Material UI, with components that managed their own state and fit together cleanly. The team ran Agile Scrum and each sprint produced a working increment. I also did troubleshooting and debugging, managed releases in Git, and wrote code the rest of the team could maintain and extend.
Sep 2021 — Dec 2021 · Hybrid
I built new features in object-oriented PHP and JavaScript and took sites from planning through debugging and launch, working directly with the design and marketing teams. On the WordPress side I handled the whole job for customers: installing it, configuring plugins and widgets, and fitting existing modules together with custom themes, modules, views, functions and hooks. I also built a custom theme on Advanced Custom Fields, Yoast SEO and WooCommerce to meet the business goals behind the brief.
Jul 2018 — Sep 2021 · Remote
I led development on the agency's campaign platforms and the reporting behind them. That meant Laravel APIs and Vue front ends, custom WordPress sites the marketing team could run without engineering help, and keeping the SQL fast as the advertising data grew. I worked ACF (Advanced Custom Fields), WooCommerce and other plugins into WordPress themes and maintained a Shopify site with custom features on top. I set up the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) environment on DigitalOcean, DNS records included, and tuned sites for usability, SEO, speed and accessibility. Tracking and attribution analysis were mine too, and I set the development standards the team worked to.
Dec 2016 — Feb 2019 · On-site
I built and maintained client sites and the internal tools behind them, mostly PHP and MySQL, with WordPress wherever the team managed the content itself. I owned each delivery, including client scoping and deployment. From mid-2018 I carried the work on as freelance, alongside the OM Performance Marketers role above.
Kenny Baustert · Lakeland, Florida
kenny@kennyb.dev
linkedin.com/in/kennybjr
github.com/kdbaustert
Resume (PDF)
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