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

Senior Backend Developer with 18+ years specializing in PHP, MySQL, and high-load e-commerce platforms (Magento, Laravel, Shopify). Core focus on scalable server-side architectures, database design, and performance optimization for transaction-heavy systems. Creator of the open-source Tereta Framework.

Additional skills in JavaScript and frontend technologies, enabling full-stack delivery from architecture design to production deployment.

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 RestApi, GraphQL, Shopify GraphQL API (since 2024), Binance Rest API, SOAP
Secondary stack React/Next, Node.js (Binance streaming API, WebSocket), TypeScript, Webpack
AI Tools Claude Code, OpenAI Codex
Tech Lead 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 website from Magento 2 Enterprise to Shopify Plus — 2025

Owned the backend of the platform migration from self-hosted Magento Commerce (Adobe Commerce) to Laravel Product and Vendor Agregator + Shopify Plus.

Acted as technical lead on the frontend track alongside the project manager, setting architectural direction and reviewing delivery from the frontend team.

Economy on Adobe Commerce licensing, dedicated production hosting (app servers, DB, Redis, Elasticsearch, Varnish, staging) and the DevOps / security-patching overhead that came with a self-hosted Magento stack — replaced by a flat Shopify Plus subscription. Conservatively a 2.5–3× reduction in annual platform TCO.

−80% origin load

Edge-Cached Rendering for Magento 2

Built a custom module that rewrote Magento 2 response headers (Cache-Control, Surrogate-Key, Vary) so HTML pages became cacheable at the Cloudflare and Browser edge — shifting full-page caching off the origin and onto the CDN.

Implemented an internal smart cache-warming system for Magento's Full Page Cache (FPC): proactively re-heats hot pages before TTL expiry, keeping origin TTFB low and preventing cold-cache spikes during traffic bursts.

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 retailers
  • 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.

Tereta Framework

Custom PHP framework with modular architecture, CLI tools, routing, theme engine, and built-in web server support. Open-source project hosted on GitLab.

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.