Open to opportunities

Chris Hartjes

@chrishartjes

Message

Experienced back-end engineer and tester who ships fewer-bug, faster-to-production apps with test-centric practices.

Canada

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking for full-time remote work where I write code, build tools, and introduce test-centric practices—delivering fewer-bug applications faster into production and creating real business value.

I’m an experienced back-end developer, tester, author, and conference speaker focused on building and improving production systems with fewer bugs faster. Since 1998, I’ve helped teams build and extend web applications—especially with PHP (and some Python)—while maintaining a strong emphasis on testing and static code analysis.

In recent roles, I’ve led infrastructure and delivery work for high-impact systems: designing and implementing APIs, building internal administration tooling, migrating systems from Python to a PHP + Laravel stack, and supporting high-volume transaction processing. I also create testing education through my consultancy (and my books/courses on testing PHP applications), where client work has included building API-driven back-ends, ETL/data warehousing, refactoring legacy systems, and mentoring staff to adopt standardized testing and development workflows.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Owner Grumpy Learning

Current

Grumpy Learning Inc.

Jan 2012 - Present (14 years 6 months)

Owned a consultancy providing PHP web development and creating books and courses about testing practices for PHP applications. Delivered client work spanning high-traffic sites, API-driven back-ends, automated unit/integration/functional tests, ETL/data warehousing, and refactoring legacy code with testing and static analysis.

PHP Docker MySQL Web Services API Development Automated Software Testing Payment Systems Refactoring PostgreSQL WordPress

Senior Staff Engineer

Ziff Davis Shopping / RetailMeNot

Jan 2024 - Jul 2026 (2 years 6 months)

Worked on the infrastructure for RetailMeNot’s shopper loyalty programs, including custom merchant/offer/reward administration and API design for mobile applications. Migrated systems from Python to PHP+Laravel, supported high-volume transaction processing, and promoted standardized patterns with testing and static code analysis.

PHP Python Laravel Docker AWS Kubernetes MySQL PostgreSQL Web Services API Development Automated Software Testing

Senior Test Engineer

Mozilla

Nov 2015 - Aug 2020 (4 years 9 months)

Supported Firefox ecosystem QA by building distributed load testing tools and creating automated tests for multiple internal service APIs. Reworked manual tests for Mozilla’s push service to automation and migrated tests from Python’s unittest to pytest.

Docker API Testing Web Services Automated Software Testing Python

Principal Engineer

Synacor

Sep 2012 - Jul 2014 (1 year 10 months)

Worked on the Portal team building high-traffic portal pages for large telecommunications and cable companies. Led a PHP 5.2 to PHP 5.4 codebase update effort and provided internal training on testing practices while addressing production issues affecting major clients.

MySQL Automated Software Testing PHP

Senior Developer

Kaplan Learning Systems

Feb 2012 - Sep 2012 (7 months)

Worked remotely for a team building and maintaining an online learning management system. Focused on development alongside automated software testing.

MySQL Automated Software Testing PHP

Developer

Moontoast

Feb 2011 - Feb 2012 (1 year)

Worked remotely for a startup building a Facebook-centric e-commerce platform. Contributed to automated testing and development using PHP with supporting infrastructure such as AWS.

MySQL Automated Software Testing PHP AWS