Khoa Nguyen
Senior Software Engineer - Backend & Platform
BS in Computer Science, MGA.edu - 4.0 GPA
BS in Bioinformatics, ASU.edu - 3.8 GPA
Professional Summary
Senior Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience building and modernizing backend and platform systems using PHP and Laravel.
Read more
Strong background in legacy system modernization, performance optimization, infrastructure reliability, and developer productivity. Hands-on experience integrating AI-assisted tooling into real-world development workflows while maintaining production-grade quality and security standards.
Skills
Core Backend: PHP (Laravel), MySQL, SQL, REST APIs
Frontend (support): JavaScript/TypeScript, React (Next.js), Vue.js, jQuery
Infrastructure & Platform: Docker, AWS (EC2, Load Balancers), Redis, Linux
Quality & Tooling: PHPUnit, Pest, Jest, PHPStan (Larastan), Git
Certifications: AWS Well-Architected
Applied AI & Automation: AI-assisted code generation, refactoring, and test creation; Prompt-driven automation for developer workflows; Validation of AI output for correctness, security, and maintainability
Professional Experience
Senior Software Engineer @ Scrapbook.com
August 2024 - Present
- Own backend feature development and platform stability across a large-scale e-commerce system, resolving production issues and eliminating recurring PHP warnings.
- Designed a reusable PHP model architecture for internal livestreaming tools, reducing environment and event setup time from 8–10 hours to minutes.
- Led SEO and performance improvements including canonical tags, robots directives, caching strategies, and structured data, reducing crawler traffic by approximately 70%.
- Built and standardized Docker-based local development environments (WSL), significantly reducing onboarding friction and environment-related bugs.
- Refactored legacy procedural code into maintainable, testable object-oriented components.
- Applied AI-assisted tooling to accelerate refactoring, debugging, and test generation while maintaining production code standards.
Lead Software Engineer @ Cerebrum (Contracted to Quest Diagnostics)
July 2021 - July 2024
- Led modernization of Quest Diagnostics' LIMS platform, migrating legacy systems to Laravel 9 and Next.js with a focus on long-term maintainability.
- Improved automated testing coverage to approximately 80% using Pest and PHPUnit.
- Refactored raw SQL into Eloquent ORM and implemented Laravel architectural patterns including Factories, Resources, and Policies.
- Enforced code quality and static analysis standards using PHPStan (Larastan) and Pint.
- Migrated GitLab from on-premises infrastructure to cloud-hosted environments.
- Performed code reviews, mentored developers, and defined team engineering standards.
Software Engineer @ GEARFIRE
August 2016 - July 2021
- Refactored a monolithic e-commerce platform into a Laravel-based architecture, improving scalability and maintainability.
- Migrated infrastructure to AWS using EC2 and load balancers, improving uptime and deployment reliability.
- Built backend APIs for distributor integrations and product replenishment using queued workers.
- Developed internal reporting systems that reduced daily order failures to near zero.
- Implemented cross-domain and SSL certificate automation for multi-tenant storefronts.
Independent Software Consultant @ K-Square
pre-2016
- Delivered backend-focused contract solutions across insurance, education, HR/payroll, and pharmaceutical systems using PHP, .NET, SQL, and legacy platforms.
Academic Experience
BS in Computer Science, Middle Georgia State University – 4.0 GPA
Concentration in Software Development
- Graduated with Honors; completed 106% of required credits
- Senior Capstone, Internship, and 15+ upper-level IT courses including Python, Java, C++, InfoSec, and Web Dev
BS in Bioinformatics, Arizona State University – 3.8 GPA
- Completed advanced coursework in Genetics, Evolution, Ecology, and Computational Biology
- Early focus in life sciences before pivoting to tech; cross-disciplinary foundation