R. Brandon Plentl

I'm a Designer

About

Over the past 20 years, I've had the opportunity to grow across three great companies — from tech support at dataVoice International, to webmaster at Daystar managing websites and livestreams, to Full Stack Engineer at IBM building cloud-integrated systems. Each step has pushed me to learn, adapt, and never shy away from a new challenge.I'm a builder at heart who cares deeply about performance and user experience. Whether it's React, Node.js, or PHP, my goal is always the same: deliver clean, reliable, high-performing software that just works better. I'm looking for a Senior Full Stack Engineer role where I can collaborate with a team that values quality, curiosity, and strong camaraderie — people who love what they do and take pride in building great software together.

Full Stack Engineer & React / Node.js Developer

"If you love what you do and are willing to do what it takes, it's within your reach."
- Steve Wozniak

  • Work Status: Available
  • Experience: 18 Years
  • Primary Skills: React | Node.js | PHP
  • Prev. Employer: IBM Cloud - 8 Years

I believe that with focused effort, any new technology can be understood in a weekend, learned within a few weeks, and mastered within six. If I don't know something, I learn it; if I need it, I master it. I'm passionate about continuous learning, clean high-performance code, and creating great user experiences.

Global Accounts supported across 6 data centers

Manual Workload Reduction via custom automation tools

Transactions Per Second handled by secure giving platforms

Enterprise Platforms spearheaded and deployed

Skills

My skills center on applying a broad Engineering Stack to build reliable, scalable, and user-focused web applications. From front-end development to cloud infrastructure, automation, and system design, I leverage all of my knowledge and skillset to deliver clean, high-performance solutions.

Primary

React (Hooks, Context API, Redux) 80%
Node.js (Express, RESTful API) 80%
RESTful API Design 90%
API Testing and Documentation 70%
PHP (OOO, Laravel) 90%
JavaScript (ES6+, API Integration) 80%
SQL Databases (MySQL, PSQL) 80%
HTML5 & CSS3 (Responsive Design) 70%
Version Control (Git, GitHub, SVN) 80%
Authentication (JWT) 6%
CI/CD Pipelines (GitHub / Jenkins) 40%
UI/UX Best Practices (Responsive Design) 80%

Other

LAMP Stack Deployment 80%
Apache Web Server (Configuration, Deployment) 70%
Customer Support 100%
WordPress (Theme & Plugin Development, Deployment) 70%
Project management 70%
GoLang 40%
Docker 10%

Resume

Senior Full Stack Engineer with 15+ years of experience designing and deploying scalable web applications using ReactJS, NodeJS, PHP, and RESTful APIs. Seeking to join a collaborative team focused on building modern, high-performance applications using the latest technologies and best practices.

Summary

R. Brandon Plentl

Senior Full Stack Engineer with 15+ years of experience designing and deploying scalable web applications using ReactJS, NodeJS, PHP, and RESTful APIs. Seeking to join a collaborative team focused on building modern, high-performance applications using the latest technologies and best practices.

Education

Software Applications & Programming

2005 - 2007

ITT Technical Institute, Richardson, TX

The now-defunct private college that once claimed to "bring hope to the hopeless" actually offered a surprisingly solid education program. After mastering the "fun but no longer useful" Visual Basic, the heavyweight Java, and the powerhouse C++, I graduated feeling confident, ambitious, and fully convinced I was ready to conquer the programming world.

Skills

Frontend Development

  • ReactJS (Hooks, Context API, Components, State Management)
  • JavaScript (ES6+, API Integration, JSON, npm)
  • HTML5 & CSS3 (Semantic Markup, Responsive Design, Sass, Bootstrap)
  • UI/UX Best Practices (Cross-Browser Compatibility, Performance Optimization)

Backend Development

  • NodeJS (Express, RESTful API Development, Middleware)
  • PHP (OOP, Composer, Laravel Framework)
  • Golang (Lightweight Applications)
  • SQL Databases (MySQL / MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite)

API & Integrations

  • RESTful API Design, Development, and Integration
  • Authentication (JWT, OAuth)
  • API Testing and Documentation (Postman, Swagger)

DevOps & Deployment

  • LAMP Stack Setup and Deployment
  • Apache Web Server Configuration and Management
  • CI/CD Pipelines (GitHub Actions / Jenkins)
  • Version Control (Git, GitHub, SVN)

Other Skills

  • WordPress (Theme & Plugin Development, Deployment)
  • Project Management (GitHub, Jira, Trello)
  • Customer & Team Communication

Professional Experience

IBM Cloud

2018 - 2025

Dallas, TX

Architected and developed cloud-native microservices and distributed systems for IBM Cloud Support Center, serving 200k+ accounts across 6 global data centers. Lead full-stack development using React and Node.js while driving DevOps automation and cross-platform integrations.

Microservices & Distributed Systems

  • Architected and deployed core components of the IBM Cloud Support Center, a large-scale internal platform built with ReactJS and NodeJS, integrating with enterprise systems such as ServiceNow and Salesforce.
  • Designed and implemented RESTful APIs to support real-time communication and cross-platform data synchronization between internal tools.
  • Developed backend microservices and integrations using NodeJS focusing on scalability and maintainability.

Cloud Infrastructure & DevOps

  • Automated CI/CD pipeline automation using GitHub Actions and Jenkins, improving deployment reliability and reducing delivery time.
  • Performed database migrations and optimizations across Oracle, MySQL, and PostgreSQL environments.

Frontend & Platform Development

  • Built internal tools for leadership, automating configuration updates and cross-system data synchronization, reducing manual workload by 99%
  • Collaborated across multiple teams to plan, prioritize, and deliver software releases within an Agile/Scrum environment.

Daystar Television Network

2011 - 2018

Daystar Television Network, Bedford, TX

Led full-stack development and cloud deployment for 15+ enterprise websites and a custom giving platform. Managed AWS and Azure cloud integrations while building scalable web applications serving thousands of daily visitors.

  • Developed all Daystar company websites (15+) including the flagship site
  • Created the online Giving platform with an Admin Dashboard and Reporting
  • Engineered API Integrations for Zip Code search and the Online Schedule
  • Built an On Demand platform by integrating with our Video Hosting Provider
  • Email Marketing using MailChimp (Campaign Creation and List Management)
  • Online Support for all websites, Giving platform, Live Stream and the eStore
  • Maintain and Oversee Online Stability of Systems
  • Customer Support for services through phone calls and email
  • AWS / Azure Cloud Integrations and Server Deployment

Development / Tech Support / Project Manager

2011 - 2018

DataVoice International, Allen, TX

Created and maintained software solutions for handheld devices, kiosks, and desktop computers. Solutions include end user products, custom software, value-add software, system integration, demos, SDKs, developer resources and utilities.

  • PHP code maintenance on production software
  • MySQL database design, management and optimization
  • Responsible for upgrading clients with new software
  • Web Design (Company website & Support Portal)
  • C# used to create automation utilities
  • Telephony / VOIP
  • Networking / Firewall Management
  • Customer Support

Engineering Stack

The Engineering Stack outlines the core technologies, frameworks, services, and tools I use to design, build, and maintain modern web applications. It includes everything from front-end and back-end frameworks to cloud services, databases, CI/CD pipelines, and development utilities. Together, these components form the foundation that supports scalable, secure, and high-performance web solutions.

  • All
  • Frontend
  • Backend
  • Integrations
  • Deployment
  • Other

React

A JavaScript library for building component-based user interfaces.

Node.js

A JavaScript runtime enabling server-side JS execution.

WordPress

A popular open-source CMS used to build websites, blogs, and e-commerce stores.

HTML

The standard markup language used to structure content on the web.

CSS

The styling language used to design the layout, colors, and appearance of web pages.

Apache

A powerful open-source web server used to host websites and serve HTTP requests.

PHP

A server-side scripting language used to build dynamic websites and backend systems.

Laravel

A modern PHP framework with elegant syntax for building powerful web apps.

Git

A distributed version control system for tracking code changes.

OpenAPI / Swagger

A specification for describing REST APIs in a machine-readable format.

LAMP

A classic web stack made of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP for hosting dynamic web apps.

JavaScript ES6

The modern version of JavaScript introducing classes, arrow functions, modules, and cleaner syntax.

Express JS

A minimal, fast Node.js framework for building APIs and web applications.

Go Lang

A concurrent, statically typed programming language designed for building simple, reliable, and efficient software.

Ci/CD Pipelines (GitHub Actions / Jenkins)

Automated workflows for building, testing, and deploying applications.

PostgreSQL

A powerful, open-source object-relational database system.

Tailwind CSS

A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

npm

The default JavaScript package manager used with Node.js.