Tracy Chiappari

Santa Barbara, California | Remote

GitHub | LinkedIn

Professional Summary

Skilled (and opinionated) LAMP stack developer with over 20 years of experience working with PHP, MySQL, HTML, vanilla JavaScript, and CSS, alongside AWS-based hosting. I enjoy planning (or perhaps controlling) all aspects of the development and deployment process. I've led small development teams responsible for designing, releasing, and maintaining web applications, as well as managing full-stack development solo. I thrive in small, collaborative teams with high responsibility and autonomy, and have 16 years of experience working remotely.

As a team lead, I place immense importance on both the mental health and education of my team members. My goal is to foster a supportive, productive environment while managing project expectations so that both team wellbeing and business goals are met sustainably. A productive team is not a burnt-out team.

As a developer and designer, I lean toward open source technologies (particularly Linux and PHP) as my preferred tools for back-end development. That said, I believe in using the right tool for the job rather than adhering rigidly to any one language or framework. I’m thoughtful about which third-party libraries or frameworks to adopt, choosing based on long-term maintainability and suitability rather than trends. While I’ve dabbled in Python and Node, I don’t typically reach for them as my first choice. I am a full stack developer, which includes front end technology and design. It is important to me that things look good, as well as fulfill their function.

Skills

  • PHP

    | v5-8 | Composer | Symfony Components | Twig | Laravel 8-12 | PHPUnit

  • Python

  • SQL

    | MySQL | Postgres | SQLite | MyDBR

  • JavaScript

    | jQuery | React | Three.js

  • CSS

    | Bootstrap | TailwindCSS

  • XML

    | HTML/XHTML | XSD

  • JSON

  • Regex

    | PCRE | ECMA

  • Browser Extensions

    | Chromium | Manifest v2-v3

  • AWS

    | Amazon Linux | Elastic Beanstalk | GovCloud

  • Source Control

    | Git | GitLab | GitHub | Subversion<

    /li>
  • DevOps

    | Docker

  • Project Management

    | Agile | Scrum | Async

Experience

cityCore, LLC — Senior Developer / Contractor

Santa Barbara, CA • Sep 2023 – Present

Assisted in the development, implementation, and testing of proprietary software. Refactored the internal API to align with modern PHP coding standards and improve maintainability.

Social Intelligence — Director of Engineering

Santa Barbara, CA • Mar 2021 – Oct 2023

Led a small engineering team managing a LAMP-based hiring platform delivering social media reports. Oversaw development, deployment, and maintenance of two web applications, managed AWS costs, and implemented a structured four-week sprint release schedule. Designed product improvements to enhance analyst productivity and client understanding. Developed Chrome extensions for identifying keywords and capturing relevant data. Integrated third-party background screening platforms via XML APIs. Upgraded codebases to PHP 8.0 and MySQL 5.7. Assisted with client transitions following the company’s acquisition by FAMA Technologies.

Social Intelligence — Senior Developer

Mar 2017 – Mar 2021

Primary developer for a LAMP-based hiring platform, overseeing social media reporting, training analysts, and user support. Collaborated with leadership to prioritize, research, and implement solutions. Led a technical split from a sister company, managing AWS servers and data migration. Integrated Stripe for billing, upgraded codebases to PHP 7.1 with Composer support, and refactored class structures with modern libraries. Developed a new client-facing UI, enhanced product workflows, and built a JSON-based REST API for partner integrations.

Omniplex World Services — Senior Programmer Analyst

Chantilly, VA • Jan 2016 – Feb 2017

Sole developer managing a LAMP-based platform for social media-based security clearance reports. Oversaw AWS GovCloud infrastructure, user support, and codebase maintenance. Managed releases through development, staging, and production. Built SQL reports for business analytics with myDBR, migrated Windows servers to Amazon Linux with routine maintenance, and transitioned document generation from LiveDocx to PhpDocx.

Riv Data Corp — Senior Developer

Santa Barbara, CA • Feb 2011 – Jan 2016

Collaborated with the lead developer on a platform delivering social media-based reports for hiring, security clearance, and insurance claims. Designed and implemented features, developed a Chrome extension with screen capture and image processing, migrated the codebase from SVN to Git, and integrated search API responses from providers like Google, Bing, and Yahoo into the system.

LexisNexis — Software Engineer

Santa Barbara, CA • Aug 2008 – Jan 2011

Developer for PHP-based personal lines insurance point-of-sale and policy administration software. Collaborated with business analysts and project managers to design and implement client-specific enhancements. Created feature estimates, guided client implementation developers, and provided support for troubleshooting and resolving testing issues.

Insurity — Programmer Analyst

Santa Barbara, CA • Aug 2006 – Aug 2008

Developer for PHP-based personal lines insurance point-of-sale and policy administration software. Collaborated with clients, project managers, and analysts to define and deliver customized rating, underwriting, and form solutions. Led client implementations and sales proof-of-concepts, developed new features as needed, and created a hierarchical permissions system for granular access control over policies and system data.

Steel Card — Developer

Santa Barbara, CA • Nov 2005 – Aug 2006

Developer for PHP-based personal lines insurance point-of-sale and policy administration software. Implemented custom insurance rating algorithms and developed PDF forms for automated completion. Provided production support for rating, underwriting, and form functionality. Migrated internal tools to a newer PHP-based system and designed a comprehensive view for policy data, integrating multiple tables with filtering and search capabilities.

Education