Summary
Engineer and WordPress specialist with 20 years of experience in performance optimization, scalable hosting architecture, security, and full-stack troubleshooting. Reduced client page load times by 43% and platform support tickets by 22% through WordPress, WooCommerce, Nginx/MySQL/Redis tuning, and server-level optimization. Builds and maintains systems for independent clients and large-scale hosting platforms.
Skills
Core Expertise: WordPress, WooCommerce, Performance Optimization, Scalability, Web Hosting Architecture, Server Tuning & Maintenance, Technical Leadership, Product Advocacy, Client Consultation, Troubleshooting & Debugging, Data-Driven Analysis, Contract & MSA Negotiation
Server Technologies: Linux (Debian/Ubuntu), Nginx, Apache, PHP-FPM, MySQL/MariaDB, Redis, Memcached, Varnish, Docker, Let’s Encrypt & SSL/TLS
Development: PHP, JavaScript, React, Node.js, Python, Bash/Shell, SQL, HTML, CSS, Custom Plugin & Theme Development, REST API Development, Git, WP-CLI
Platforms: WordPress VIP, WP Engine, DreamHost, Liquid Web, Hetzner, AWS, Google Cloud, Akamai Cloud, DigitalOcean, Rocket.net, Fly.io
Tools: Performance Testing (k6, WebPageTest, Lighthouse), Monitoring (New Relic, Grafana), Docker Compose, AI/LLM (prompt engineering)
Infrastructure: Caching Strategies (Object, Page, Opcode), Database Optimization, Load Balancing, CDN Implementation, DNS Management, Web Application Firewall (WAF), API Proxy Architecture, Progressive Web App (PWA) Architecture
Methodology: CI/CD, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Zero-Downtime Migration, Disaster Recovery & Incident Response, Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) Mitigation, Technical Writing & Documentation
Experience
Principal Engineer
Little Room
July 2017 – Present
- Built and launched 40+ custom WordPress solutions for nonprofits, media organizations, and technology companies. Reduced client page load times by an average of 43% through performance audits and site-specific optimizations.
- Designed a three-tier caching API proxy on WordPress VIP for high-frequency data delivery. Implemented atomic locking, cache stampede prevention, Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) mitigation, and graceful degradation under load.
- Audited enterprise client databases and identified multi-gigabyte bloat from accumulated plugin data and orphaned records. Consolidated redundant plugins and delivered optimization roadmaps. One engagement produced 81% faster connection speeds.
- Developed custom WordPress plugins for database cleanup and maintenance automation with full WP-CLI support, including dry-run mode and multiple output formats.
WordPress Expert and Product Advocate
DreamHost; Remote
September 2021 – April 2025
- Optimized core server infrastructure (Nginx, PHP, MySQL, Redis) for WordPress hosting, reducing slow site support tickets by 22%.
- Built a Lighthouse-based performance tracking system with Grafana dashboards to surface platform-wide speed metrics.
- Wrote technical documentation and best practice guides used by a 20-member support team. Mentored 3 specialists to Subject Matter Expert (SME) status.
- Troubleshot escalated hosting issues and contributed to product direction for DreamHost’s WordPress platform.
- Represented DreamHost in the WordPress community and wrote technical content for the official blog and knowledge base.
Senior Performance Engineer
Liquid Web; Remote
July 2017 – July 2021
- Evaluated and optimized server stack performance (Linux, Nginx/Apache, MySQL, PHP, Redis) and WordPress configurations, increasing concurrent user capacity by 18% for Managed WordPress/WooCommerce products.
- Consulted directly with enterprise customers on site speed and stability. Maintained 99.95% uptime during Black Friday sales for WooCommerce clients.
- Defined and enforced performance Service Level Objectives (SLOs). Designed and ran load tests using k6 to validate platform limits.
Developer Advocate
WP Engine; Remote
October 2011 – June 2017
- Joined as employee #5. The company grew from startup to one of the largest WordPress hosting providers during this period.
- Built and led the Level 3 Support team from 1 to 8 members, defining escalation paths for the most technically demanding WordPress issues.
- Cleaned hacked sites, wrote a post-infection hardening playbook adopted by the Support organization, ran security audits across thousands of Ubuntu servers, and managed the Disallowed Plugins list.
- Contributed technical requirements, development coordination, and launch execution for WooCommerce hosting plans that opened a new revenue stream.
Technical Support Manager and WordPress Specialist
DreamHost; Los Angeles, CA
June 2006 – October 2011
- Built a WordPress-focused Technical Support team from 1 to 5 specialists. Mentored and supervised daily operations, improving ticket resolution efficiency.
- Created the initial social media (Twitter) support escalation strategy and guided the early Social Support team.
- Monitored network health across thousands of Debian Linux servers. First responder for network attacks and system failures.
Projects
Habitual: Habit tracking PWA built with vanilla JS and zero dependencies. Local-first localStorage architecture, service workers for offline use, 365-day heatmap visualization. Docker/nginx on Fly.io.
WHAT: Personal dashboard PWA using vanilla JS with no frameworks or bundlers. Offline-first cache strategy, JSON import/export, single-file architecture. Docker on Fly.io.
Electric Sheep: Ambient audio streaming PWA with chunked playback, splitting 10–12 hour files into 3-hour segments (480MB → 64MB initial download). Node.js/Express backend with multi-layer caching. Fly.io.
KSVG Radio: Live radio streaming PWA with Media Session API for lock screen controls, offline-first Service Worker caching, cross-platform installation. Vanilla JS, Docker/nginx, Fly.io.
Insert Tape: Automated video streaming service in Python. Streams content from AWS S3 to an RTMP server using boto3 for presigned URLs, FFmpeg for transcoding, and SQLite for play history tracking. Handles paginated S3 listing, connection refresh, configurable transcoding vs. copy mode, and network reconnection.
simian.rodeo: Self-hosted Mastodon/Fediverse instance. Docker containerization, ongoing server maintenance, and community moderation.
Organizations
Co-organizer
BarCamp Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA
November 2006 – May 2009
Co-organized six participant-driven unconferences with up to 300 registered attendees per event. Handled venue selection, sponsorship acquisition, budgeting, vendor coordination, supply procurement, and setup/teardown logistics.
Web Developer & Volunteer
Bakersfield Burrito Project; Bakersfield, CA
March 2017 – Present
Maintaining the public-facing website and volunteering with food preparation and distribution for unhoused and food-insecure community members.
Co-founder
Community Computer Club; Bakersfield, CA
November 2025 – Present
Organizing and running bi-monthly meetings on digital literacy, open-source software, and accessible technology for underserved communities.
Speaking
Spoke at multiple WordCamps (Phoenix, Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Clarita), WordPress and WooCommerce Meetups (SoCal, Chandler, Bakersfield, Las Vegas), and online events (WPSessions, WordSesh).
Podcasts
References
Provided upon request