Loïc Faugeron Technical Blog

Good murning! 👋 I'm Loïc (it's pronounced "low-eek", pronouns: he/his), a Backend PHP / Symfony Engineer with over 10 years of experience building scalable and reliable systems for high-traffic environments.

I contribute to Open Source projects, mentor teams, and maintain exceptional code quality through TDD / BDD practices.

My tech stack:

• Backend: PHP 8, Symfony 7, REST APIs, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, RabbitMQ
• Architecture: Design Patterns, OOP, SOLID, Hexagonal Architecture, DDD, A/B Testing
• Testing: PHPUnit, phpspec, Behat, TDD / BDD, phpstan, PHP CS Fixer
• CI / CD & DevOps: Git, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Docker, AWS
• Agile: XP, Scrum, Kanban, Shape Up

My mantra:

🔄 Test, Code, Refactor and Repeat!

2004 - Origins 🐘

Everything started in 2004 when I decided to learn PHP / MySQL on my own, to build my personal website (and online games... hum 👀).

I've always been hands on, even back then: I configured and assembled my PC, on which I tried various 🐧 GNU/Linux distributions -- Linux from Scratch, Gentoo, but ultimately settled with Ubuntu.

That's when I started to develop a taste for the 💻 UNIX CLI, tinkering with bash, and after that the terminal environment was always what's been suiting me the best.

Last but not least, I also got myself into python Programming, with the great ambition of building desktop applications (ha!).

2008 - University 🎓

In 2008 I started to study C and C++ at EPITECH University, and I graduated with a Master Degree in Computer Science in 2013.

Those were formative years, but in the end PHP was what attracted me the most, so I had projects on the side to keep up to date, notably discovering the world of frameworks.

2013 - SensioLabs 🎼

One particular framework caught my eye: Symfony, as it allows the creation of decoupled code (which means less risk of legacy / technical debt).

I became a big fan, and my dream was to work for its creator, the web agency SensioLabs.

This became a reality in 2013, as I took a PHP / Symfony Developer role there.

My projects there were:

• migrating legacy applications to more modern code and practices
• maintaining existing applications
• developing new projects
• coaching and mentoring

I guess I write a lot about Symfony: my Symfony articles.

This was a time where I started attending PHP / Symfony meetups, and make some personal projects Open Source on Github:

• Redaktilo a line manipulation library
• GnugatWizardBundle Magically shrinks bundle installation steps into a single command (Symfony Flex would later make it irrelevant)

During my time there I got more familiar with eXtreme Programming, PHP, Symfony, MySQL and git.

About that last one, at the time I also read the book Git Pro, which truly was an eye opener for me. After that, I became comfortable with rebases and resolving conflicts.

2014 - Constant.Co 🍲

While I loved working with SensioLabs and gained valuable experience there, I discovered that consulting work didn't quite suit me. I found myself wanting to belong to the company, team, and product I was working for. I needed to identify with the mission and values rather than being an external consultant.

This realization led me to move to the UK in 2014, where I started to work as a fullstack PHP/Symfony developer in a London startup: Constant.Co.

After a while there, I spotted an opportunity and pitched an idea to the CEO. They asked me to create a POC, which I did, and it resulted in the company pivoting.

Suddenly, I became a Lead PHP Engineer, mentoring a team of two developers (one senior, and one junior fresh from university).

You can read more about my role there here: My role as a Lead PHP Engineer.

My role still involved hands-on development, but I specialised in writing APIs.

My projects there were:

• maintained a multi-tenant Shoppable Recipe website for a US based retailer
• specified, built, launched and maintained a more scalable multi-tenant Shoppable Recipe website, for retailers spanning across multiple timezones (US, UK, Australia)
• specified, built, launched and maintained the API for "Smart Product", which allowed to add the customer's product to the retailer's basket of the shopper's choice
• specified, built, launched and maintained the API for "Landing Space", which allowed customer to create and configure a "Landing Space" overlay as a destination for their ad campaigns, integrating with Smart Product to allow conversion
• specified, built, launched and maintained the API for "Campaign Redirector", a Rule Engine determining the best destination for visitor clicking on ads

This was a time where I continued attending PHP / Symfony meetups (and even give some talks), as well as making more personal projects Open Source on Github:

• Memio A highly opinionated PHP code generator library
• spec-gen A phpspec extension that improves its code generator
• Symfony MicroFrameworkBundle replaces FrameworkBundle with bare minimum

During my time there I got more familiar with Scrum / Kanban, PostgresSQL, Solr, AWS and vim.

2024 - Telum Media 📰

New opportunities in 2024 brought me to Telum Media as a Backend PHP/Symfony Engineer.

My projects there were:

• developed an automated monthly sales reporting system, streamlining business intelligence
• implemented two-factor authentication (TOTP), enhancing platform security

During my time there I got more familiar with Shape Up, PhpStorm, Elasticsearch and Docker.

2025 - Bumble 🐝

Destiny matched me with Bumble, the House of Love company, in 2025.

As a Backend PHP Engineer, I got to behold the pure PHP / MySQL monolith backend, which at first might not sound attractive, but once you get to know it you'd be surprised how amazing it truly is.

I was really impressed with how up to date the tech was kept (PHP 8.4, for an application that was originally created in 2006).

My projects there were:

• specified, built, launched and monitored the "24h Spotlight feature", which involved close collaboration with Product Owners, Designers, Mobile Engineers and Data Analysts

I got to experience Continuous Delivery at scale (the API is under high-traffic: 50k requests per second): after identifying the areas that will be impacted by the feature during development, you introduce some structure protected via A/B testing checks, and release that as the first version. Then you can iteratively add functionality, shipping each small part at an almost daily rate. The deployment of each version is made gradually (eg to 5% of specific markets, then 50%, then 100%). And of course this was all possible thanks to a good test coverage, and effective monitoring.

During my time there I got more familiar with CI/CD, A/B testing and Operational Monitoring.