Tereta Alexander

Tereta Alexander

Senior PHP Backend Developer · Tech Lead

Laravel · REST/GraphQL APIs · High-Load Systems

12+ years Magento platform expertise

[email protected] +380 91 481 08 12 tereta.dev linkedin.com/in/tereta gitlab.com/tereta

Tech Lead / Senior PHP Backend Engineer / JavaScript Developer with over 18 years of commercial experience in the E-commerce domain. Specialized in high-load platforms and scalable backend systems.

When making technical decisions, I focus not only on architecture but also on their impact on costs, scalability, and business sustainability.

  • High-load e-commerce platforms
  • Crypto trading systems (market data, API integrations, order processing, trading automation)
Backend PHP, MySQL, REST API, GraphQL API
Frameworks Laravel, Magento / Magento 2, Symfony, Zend Framework
Frontend JavaScript, HTML, CSS/SCSS, Vite
Magento 1,2 Full Stack Knockout.js, jQuery, RequireJS, LESS, RabbitMQ, Redis, Memcached
Databases MySQL, SQLite, database architecture and optimization
Infrastructure Nginx, Apache, Docker, CI/CD (GitLab), Kafka, Linux, WireGuard, Git, Composer, Packagist
API REST API, GraphQL, Shopify GraphQL API (since 2024), Binance Rest API, SOAP
Secondary stack React/Next, Node.js (Binance streaming API, WebSocket), TypeScript, Webpack
Tech Lead and Team Lead experience Architecture ownership and technical direction on high-load e-commerce backends; code review, engineering standards, and technology choices; translating business requirements into scalable server-side solutions; unblocking engineers on complex backend, database, and integration problems.
Languages Ukrainian (native), Russian (native), English (B2)
~50–60% annual TCO cut

Migrated a client's website from Magento 2 Enterprise to Shopify Plus (multiple stores).

Served as the technical lead for the frontend team, working with the project manager to determine the architectural direction and oversee the frontend team's execution.

This resulted in savings on Adobe Commerce Enterprise licenses, dedicated hosting (HTTP servers, database, Redis, Elasticsearch, Varnish), and DevOps costs.

This reduced the total annual cost of ownership of the platform by approximately 50-60%.

−80% origin load

Optimized Magento 2 performance under peak load.

Resolved performance bottlenecks during peak traffic periods on a Magento 2 store with more than 1 million products and over 10 million pages (categories and content).

Designed and implemented a set of solutions that reduced infrastructure load by up to 80%.

Implemented Cloudflare Edge Cache (cache header management through Varnish), configured Redis to store more than 100 GB of Full Page Cache (FPC) data, optimized SQL queries and critical PHP business logic.

Additionally, developed an adaptive cache warming mechanism that automatically adjusted its activity based on current CPU utilization.

Tech Lead & Team Lead

GoMage, 2016 - present
  • Lead developer on GraphQL-based backend architecture for a Shopify project integrated with a complex Laravel system - 2+ years of transaction-handling backend at scale
  • 6 years of team leadership: architecture review, mentoring, project delivery for high-load commerce systems
  • Full-stack senior engineer on high-traffic e-commerce platforms (Magento 2): custom modules, payment integrations, order processing
  • Built extensions and integrations processing customer orders and payments

Full-Stack Magento Developer

Sam Solutions, 2014 - 2016
  • Magento 2 development for outsourcing clients

Tech Lead & Team Lead

Allo.ua, 2012 - 2014
  • Lead developer on the Magento platform for one of the leading Ukrainian electronics and appliances retailer
  • 1 year of team leadership: coordinating development team, code review, and sprint planning
  • Worked with jQuery, PHP, CSS, and HTML to build and optimize customer-facing features
  • Contributed to high-load performance optimization for a large-scale e-commerce website

Freelance Web Developer

Independent, 2008 - 2012
  • Delivered custom e-commerce stores and CMS-driven websites for small and mid-size clients
  • Built and customized online stores on ZenCart and CMS sites on Joomla - theming, module development, and third-party integrations
  • Owned the full project lifecycle: requirements gathering, implementation, deployment, and ongoing maintenance

Many projects are under NDA and cannot be disclosed.

Database abstraction layer

SQL query builder with fluent interface, supporting multiple database drivers and prepared statements. Designed for ease of use and flexibility in building complex SQL queries. Open-source project hosted on GitLab.

View Project

ORM

Tereta/ORM is an ORM whose main advantage is a single source of truth - the database. There is no longer any need to configure models; the ORM reads the DB schema and tables itself and builds relations from FOREIGN KEY Key features:

  • Automatic detection of tables, their schemas, foreign keys, and relations between tables
  • Implements the Active Record pattern in PHP
  • Uses the Query Builder and schema handling via Tereta/DBAL
View Project

Allo.ua

One of Ukraine's largest electronics and home appliances retailers. Lead Magento developer 2012-2014, contributing to a high-traffic e-commerce platform processing customer orders and payments at national scale.