Open to lead roles and freelance projects

Lead Full Stack Developer

Mario Fernandez

I build and lead web platforms that hold up under real traffic: PHP, Laravel, Vue and MySQL, from the first schema to production at scale.

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About

Backend depth, product instincts, and a habit of leaving systems calmer than I found them.

I'm a full stack developer with deep backend roots. Today I'm the lead developer of RentFaster.ca, a rental listing site with about 39,000 monthly active users across Canada. I own its architecture, review the code that ships, and ship the features that grow the business: my variable pricing model raised revenue per paying landlord by 32%.

On the side I cofounded Classroom OS, a school management platform I architected from the first schema and still lead on the product and engineering side.

I like systems that are boring in the best way: predictable, well tested, and easy for the next developer to pick up. Lately that includes putting AI to work, both in production with OpenAI powered translation and in our dev workflow, where AI tooling helps me and the team review, ship and document faster.

Based in
London, Ontario, Canada
Now
Lead developer at RentFaster.ca; cofounder of Classroom OS
Core stack
PHP, Laravel, Vue 3, MySQL
Studied
Computer Science and Health Sciences, Western University
Open to
Senior and lead engineering roles, select freelance builds

Selected work

Platforms people rely on every day.

Featured · Cofounder · Side venture

Classroom OS

A school management system that brings student records, timetables, attendance, grading, messaging and the school's own website into one multitenant platform. I shaped the roadmap from interviews with administrators at schools of 4,000+ students, then architected it API first.

  • Laravel API and Vue 3 app with six roles, granular permissions and per school branding
  • Conflict aware timetable generator and real time messaging over WebSockets
  • Block based page builder with drafts, approvals and revision history
  • Token auth with Sanctum, Cloudinary media, and hosting costed across AWS, GCP, Hetzner and Cloudflare
LaravelVue 3MySQLWebSocketsSanctum
Visit classroomos.io

Lead developer · Day job since 2019

RentFaster.ca

I lead development on RentFaster.ca, a rental marketplace connecting landlords and renters across Canada. The job spans architecture, code review and production support, plus shipping features that move revenue and customer satisfaction on a large, long lived PHP platform.

39Kmonthly active users in 2026
+32%revenue per paying landlord after my variable pricing model
40%faster key endpoints after query and caching work
35%less manual data entry through API and feed integrations
  • Variable pricing model with A/B tested price points, plus a smoother landlord checkout
  • AI tooling that speeds up development for me and the team, from code review to release notes
  • Listing feed integrations and syndication with Canadian rental networks, plus query and caching work for speed
  • Payments, credit checks and listing verification flows
  • Code review, mentoring, and triage of production issues with customer support
PHPMySQLAngularJSMemcachedAWSDocker
Visit rentfaster.ca

Founder · Side venture

Olive Branch Commerce

Designed, built and launched a multitenant commerce platform with Laravel and Vue, then led a small team to take it mobile. I ran the team on test driven development and code review, and tuned the web app for speed and search.

  • Tenant isolation, role based access and configurable workflows
  • Managed three developers building the cross platform mobile app
  • Lazy loading and SEO work for faster, more findable storefronts
LaravelVueSQLTDD
30+businesses onboarded at launch
3developers led on the mobile app

Side builds and experiments

More on GitHub

AI Script & Voice Gen

Generates scripts with the OpenAI API and turns them into voiceovers.

React · OpenAI Live ↗

HalalMeets

A matchmaking web app built for a client.

Python · Flask Live ↗

Detecting Galaxies

Undergraduate thesis on finding galaxies in astronomical images with Python.

Python Code ↗

RaspCamera

A Raspberry Pi security camera that starts recording when it senses motion.

Python · Raspberry Pi Code ↗

Experience

Where I've done the work.

Oct 2019 to now

Lead Full Stack Developer

RentFaster.ca · lead since Jan 2026, full stack developer on the company's rental platforms since 2019

  • Lead development of a PHP and MySQL rental marketplace with about 39,000 monthly active users: architecture, code review and releases
  • Designed and shipped a variable pricing model with A/B tested price points, raising revenue per paying landlord by 32%
  • Improved the landlord checkout and other revenue and satisfaction features
  • Introduced AI workflows that speed up development for the whole team, including drafted release notes and synced internal docs
  • Cut key endpoint response times by 40% with query and caching work, and manual data entry by 35% through API and feed integrations
  • Run listing feed integrations, payments, credit check and listing verification flows
  • Triage production issues with customer support and mentor developers on the team

2025 to now
Side venture

Cofounder, Head of Product Engineering

Classroom OS

  • Founded and architected a multitenant school management system (SIS and LMS)
  • Set the product vision and a 6 to 12 month roadmap from discovery with school leaders, benchmarked against PowerSchool and Schoology
  • Designed freemium pricing and design partner onboarding; early interest from multi campus international schools

Side venture

Founder, Full Stack Developer

Olive Branch Commerce

  • Built and launched a multitenant commerce platform; 30+ businesses at launch
  • Led a distributed team of three on a cross platform mobile app using Agile and TDD

Earlier

Backend Developer Intern

IBM, Markham

  • Built Ruby on Rails services and REST endpoints for internal tools and prototypes
  • Prototyped Docker and Kubernetes solutions that helped win stakeholder funding
  • Refined CI/CD pipelines and container orchestration

Education

Honours Specialization, Computer Science

Western University · also Honours Specialization, Health Sciences

Skills

The toolkit.

Backend

LaravelPHPRuby on RailsREST API designMicroservicesWebSocketsPythonFlaskJava

Frontend

Vue 3JavaScriptReactAngularJSjQueryTailwind CSSHTML and CSSPerformance and SEO

Data

MySQLSchema designQuery optimizationCachingMemcachedMultitenancy

Infrastructure

AWSDockerKubernetesCI/CDVercelNetlifyCloudinaryCloudflareSentryNginx

AI and automation

OpenAI APIClaude CodeLLM translationAgent workflowsRelease automation

How I work

Code reviewMentoringProduct discoveryTesting and TDDAgile

Highlighted what I use every day

Contact

Let's talk.

I'm open to senior and lead engineering roles, and a few freelance builds a year. Send a note and I'll reply within a day or two. My résumé is available on request.

jmferna91@gmail.com Email LinkedIn Profile ↗ GitHub Code ↗