Employment

Startups, small businesses, mid-sized companies, large corporations, self-employment; I've had a taste of it all. One thing has been consistent in all my positions: my thirst to learn and grow. Each position has offered many experiences to do just that.


September 2025 - Present
Contract Senior Software Engineer

ByteCabinet|Remote

  • Replaced a brittle WP EasyCart implementation for a defense equipment retailer with a custom OpenCart build, including a native extension for automated distributor FTP sync and drop-ship API fulfillment — eliminating all manual order processing.
  • Optimized a production ecommerce search query from 30 seconds to under 2 via targeted database indexing.
  • Built a full event registration platform with tiered pricing, early-bird discounts, per-event capacity limits, and abandoned cart recovery.
  • Designed and deployed a WireGuard VPN with web UI for a SaaS client, using it to IP-whitelist the staging environment and restrict access to sensitive production resources previously open to the public.
  • Proposed a containerization migration for a SaaS client's flagship product projected to reduce baseline hosting costs from $300 to $20/month.

Skills

  • Languages/Frameworks
  • PHP
  • Mako
  • MySQL
  • Inertia
  • Vue
  • Bootstrap
  • SASS
  • Tools/Platforms
  • AWS
  • Linode
  • Docker
  • CI/CD
  • GitHub
  • Apache
  • Linux
  • Coolify
  • WireGuard
  • Astro
  • OpenCart
  • Directus
  • SQLite
  • Concepts/Practices
  • Coding standards

January 2026 - August 2026
Online Grader - IT/CS

BYU Pathway Worldwide|Remote

  • Built a Chrome extension redesigning the Canvas SpeedGrader workflow from manual-step to auto-advance with override, shrinking a 5-minute grading task to under 30 seconds.
  • Integrated local LLM inference via Ollama to automate rubric-to-submission matching, reducing manual review time per submission.
  • Grade introductory coursework in cloud computing, software development (Python), and agile project management.

Skills

  • Languages/Frameworks
  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • Tools/Platforms
  • Ollama
  • Chrome
  • CRXJS
  • Canvas LMS
  • Concepts/Practices
  • Local LLM inference
  • AI integration
  • Browser extension development

August 2024 - January 2025
Senior Software Engineer

Scriptive|Remote

  • Proposed, designed, and built the Author Portal, eliminating recurring spam submissions and consolidating author communication from three tools into one — reducing process management time by an estimated 50%.
  • Discovered hardcoded production database admin credentials in phpMyAdmin configuration exposing public admin access; remediated overnight, investigated for unauthorized access, and authored the incident report.
  • Took over and led development of the flagship SaaS platform from an inherited codebase, establishing quality standards while delivering features and systematically addressing technical debt.
  • Participated in initial requirements gathering, database design, and user story planning for the flagship product.
  • Collaborated on and reviewed code quality improvements against a codebase inherited from a prior vendor with inconsistent standards.

Skills

  • Languages/Frameworks
  • PHP
  • Laravel
  • Mako
  • MySQL
  • Inertia
  • Vue
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Bootstrap
  • SASS
  • Tools/Platforms
  • AWS
  • Linode
  • Docker
  • CI/CD
  • GitHub
  • Apache
  • Linux
  • WireGuard
  • Concepts/Practices
  • Leadership
  • Team management
  • Instruction
  • Coding standards
  • Security incident response
  • Database design

December 2018 - August 2024
Software Developer / Systems Administrator

ApplicantPro / iSolved|Remote

  • Led Stripe and AvaTax integration across multiple engineering teams, shifting tax liability to customers and recovering 7% in operating expenses while eliminating 20 combined monthly hours of manual overhead from accounting and billing.
  • Deployed Zabbix across a fleet of 150 servers (up from 16), standardizing role-aware monitoring and multiplying observable metrics 10-100x per endpoint, alongside Ansible for configuration management.
  • Architected Graylog log aggregation from zero across 150 servers and multiple codebases — the observability foundation the DevOps team later used to build an in-house APM platform.
  • Contributed to zero-downtime migration of the flagship ATS platform from end-of-life CentOS 6 infrastructure serving 10k clients and 150k users at sustained 1k+ requests/second.
  • Designed and built the backend foundations for Text2Apply, a client-configurable SMS bridge for the flagship ATS; identified a structural conflict in the core data model and proposed a reorganization that resolved systematic UX and process issues.
  • Mentored four engineers across software development and systems administration roles.
  • Contributed across 10+ software projects serving 10k clients, 150k users, and 10TB of data at 1k+ requests/second.

Skills

  • Languages/Frameworks
  • PHP
  • MySQL
  • JavaScript
  • Go
  • Node.js
  • Bash
  • YAML
  • Tools/Platforms
  • Linux
  • Apache
  • Nginx
  • pfSense
  • FortiGate
  • OpenVPN
  • SSH
  • Linux KVM
  • VirtualBox
  • Docker
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Linode
  • Zabbix
  • Ansible
  • Graylog
  • SELinux
  • PHPUnit
  • Stripe
  • AvaTax
  • Twilio
  • Imperva WAF
  • F5 WAF
  • Concepts/Practices
  • CI/CD
  • Unit testing
  • Integration testing
  • Small data center management
  • Backups
  • Security and system hardening
  • Mentorship

December 2019 - August 2022
CTO / Partner

Pulse Scooters|Remote

  • Sole architect and developer of the web application foundations, including partner time tracking and IoT device communication.
  • Collaborated with hardware engineer to design a lightweight encrypted communication protocol minimizing data transfer volume between IoT scooters and backend.
  • Utilized built-in cryptographic libraries for secure device authentication — no third-party security dependencies.

Skills

  • Languages/Frameworks
  • PHP
  • Fat-Free Framework
  • MySQL
  • JavaScript
  • Bootstrap
  • Tools/Platforms
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • CI/CD
  • PHPUnit
  • Linux
  • Apache
  • SSH
  • Concepts/Practices
  • IOT
  • IOT protocol design
  • Security and system hardening
  • Encryption
  • Cryptography
  • Unit testing
  • Integration testing

March 2017 - December 2018
Associate Partner — IT

The Intelitech Group|Camas, WA

  • Architected a Graylog log aggregation pipeline from default configuration to a production-grade system with structured streams, index sets, and processing rules — eliminating daily manual IP blacklisting and automating firewall-level blocking of repeat offenders via pfSense integration, saving 30-60 minutes of daily manual work.
  • Deployed high-availability pfSense firewall pairs across office and datacenter with OpenVPN site-to-site failover configuration.
  • Led phone system modernization from aging PBX to virtualized Twilio VoIP platform, later foundational for company-wide remote work.
  • Served as significant technical respondent during a successful SOC2 audit, demonstrating Graylog and pfSense security controls in real-time to auditors.
  • Configured Microsoft 365 audit log ingestion via custom parser into Graylog for compliance visibility.
  • Set up IP reputation blacklisting, geo-blocking, and Snort IDS evaluation across perimeter firewalls.

Skills

  • Languages/Frameworks
  • PHP
  • C#
  • ASP.NET MVC
  • JavaScript
  • Tools/Platforms
  • Graylog
  • Twilio
  • Linux
  • Windows
  • Apache
  • Nginx
  • pfSense
  • OpenVPN
  • SSH
  • Concepts/Practices
  • VoIP
  • PBX
  • SOC2 compliance
  • Automated threat response
  • Small data center management
  • Backups
  • Security and system hardening
  • High availability
  • Networking
  • Firewalls

January 2015 - January 2017
Missionary

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Dallas / East Texas Area

  • Served as informal lead tech missionary during iPad rollout across a mission of ~200 missionaries.
  • Built a member list conversion tool outputting Garmin GPS waypoints and Maps.me files, including Google Maps geocoding, color-coded household status indicators, custom notes formatting, and multi-source API rate handling.
  • Scaled tool for mission-wide deployment overnight at mission president's request, including documentation and parallel processing support for distributed use.

Skills

  • Languages/Frameworks
  • PHP
  • JavaScript
  • Tools/Platforms
  • Google Maps API
  • Geocoding
  • GPS data formats
  • Maps.me
  • Concepts/Practices
  • Leadership
  • Team management
  • Public speaking
  • Instruction
  • Web development

January 2014 - December 2014
Tutor

Lower Columbia College|Longview, WA

  • Tutored computer science and mathematics courses for college and adjacent high school students.
  • Built a desktop application automating tutor timesheet generation, saving approximately 15 minutes per pay period per tutor.
  • Collaborated with another tutor on a web-based version using Morse code over audio connection for cross-device data transfer — a constraint-driven creative solution worth noting for the portfolio.

Skills

  • Languages/Frameworks
  • PHP
  • JavaScript
  • C#
  • .NET
  • Tools/Platforms
  • Windows
  • Concepts/Practices
  • PDF processing
  • Creative protocol design
  • Desktop application development
  • Math
  • Computer Science

January 2013 - December 2013
IT Student Technician

Lower Columbia College|Longview, WA

  • Wrote a bash script to standardize and automate software upgrades across 100-200 student computers campus-wide, ensuring consistent state across all machines simultaneously.
  • Help with issues regarding Windows computers and the campus network.
  • Repair and replace parts in Windows computers.
  • Maintain and regularly update computers.
  • Troubleshoot and facilitate the repair of audio/video equipment.

Skills

  • Tools/Platforms
  • Windows
  • Audio/Video
  • Concepts/Practices
  • Scripting
  • Troubleshooting
  • Repair

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Copyright © Caleb Hornbeck 2014 - 2026

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