Kayleigh Pilgrim - Laravel, DevOps, CyberSecurity

Who am I?

About me

I'm a full-stack developer, System Administrator, DevOps Consultant and Security Expert based in Belgium.

At age 9, I wrote my first program in Qbasic on an old MS-DOS computer I had in my room. Since then, I discovered the internet and didn't stop learning. I had found my main interest.

I started working in September 2008, first as a system administrator. I now have 18.0+ years of professional experience as a developer, system administrator and security expert.

I recently completed a long consultancy role as a senior developer and project lead in a fintech environment, which gave me even more experience in architecture, team leadership, security, compliance, and building large systems that scale.

Outside of work, I read, study, draw, hike or work out. Learning is my main hobby. I like understanding how things work, whether that’s software, infrastructure, psychology, or everyday life.

Kayleigh Pilgrim .

What I do best

My expertise

Development

Laravel & PHP
JavaScript & TypeScript
Vue & React
Python

DevOps

Automation & Monitoring
Linux
Datacenter & Networks
Scalability & High-availability

CyberSecurity

Prevention
Detection
Testing
Recovery

Other

AI
Cloud
VoIP
Marketing & Brand-building

Career background

Work experience

Senior developer & project lead

Komma Board

· Jan 2023 - Jun 2026

Led a team of developers building a fintech platform enabling accountants to manage employee payouts via microfinancing with isolated accounts.

Architected auto-scaling Terraform infrastructure designed to handle peak load around payroll cycles, scaling seamlessly under high transaction volumes.

Built with Laravel and Vue. Managed with Puppet and Terraform. Monitored with Icinga2, Prometheus, Grafana and Graylog.

Ensured full compliance with accountancy and microfinance security and privacy regulations.

Freelance consultant

ABS consultancy

· Oct 2017 - Dec 2022

Delivered full-stack web development, system administration, cloud, cybersecurity and network solutions to 300+ clients, including e-commerce, accountancy and hospitality.

Built tailored solutions: webshops with branding and social media automation for retailers; booking and blog sites for psychologists; menu and online ordering platforms for restaurants; websites and WiFi infrastructure for hotels.

Handled end-to-end for small business clients. From application development and server setup to security hardening, monitoring, disaster recovery, cloud migration and staff training.

Maintained long-term relationships with multiple local businesses and agencies as recurring clients.

Collaborated with a trusted network of freelancers for larger projects and mutual client coverage during unavailability.

Server architect & PHP developer

Teleweb

· Aug 2011 - Sep 2017

Built multiple PHP and Laravel websites and applications.

Hardened shared hosting infrastructure using CloudLinux, Comodo WAF, Suricata and DirectAdmin, eliminating recurring Joomla/WordPress compromises on hosted sites.

Migrated all servers from unmanaged to fully orchestrated and monitored infrastructure using Puppet, Icinga2 and Graylog.

Migrated a high-traffic VoIP platform (including medical practices) from a single server to a fully redundant HA Asterisk setup with zero call disruption.

Delivered HA internet failover for multiple businesses using dual-link AirFiber setups.

Deployed remote application environments for accountancy firms, providing a consistent workspace regardless of location.

Delivered ICT training to school administrators across a regional school group.

ICT specialist

XPerta

· Sep 2008 - Feb 2011

Managed internal ICT infrastructure: local networking, VoIP, employee support and the company website.

From the blog

Recent articles

Assembly: quick references

Assembly references that I use a lot. Right now mostly register and directives, but I will be adding Linux syscalls etc soon.

Read article

Assembly: instructions

A huge list of assembly instructions. More than you ever need, but really handy when you encounter something new and don't want to look it up in the Intel manual or ask AI to do so.

Read article

What I use

The hardware, software, configuration and self-hosted tools that make up my daily setup.

Read article

A more in-depth overview

My skills

A more in-depth overview of all technologies and tools I work with.

Development

Backend: PHP, Laravel, Pest, PHPUnit, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, Deno, REST APIs, GraphQL, WebSockets, RabbitMQ, Apache Kafka, Elasticsearch, OAuth
Frontend: Vue, React, Inertia, Livewire, Blade, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Design, UI, UX
Database: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, MS SQL, Database Design
Other: C, Assembly, Python, Perl, Rust, HTML5, CSS, Bash, PowerShell, C#, Lua
CMS: WordPress, Drupal, PrestaShop, Magento, WooCommerce, Concrete CMS

Linux

Distro: Debian, RedHat, Arch, Ubuntu, Fedora, Gentoo
Server: Nginx, Apache, FrankenPHP, Caddy, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, pm2, Supervisor, Asterisk, Exim, Postfix, Bind, PowerDNS, OpenSSH, Proxmox, KVM
DevOps: Puppet, Ansible, Foreman, Jenkins, Icinga2, Nagios, Zabbix, Prometheus, Grafana, Graylog, LibreNMS, OpenNMS, Automation, Monitoring, GitHub Actions
Panels: cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin, FreePBX, pfSense/OPNsense(BSD), Mailcow, Opencloud/Nextcloud, Home Assistant
Security: Hardening, iptables, nftables, Fail2ban, Suricata, Snort, Tripwire, ClamAV, ModSecurity, kernel hardening, intrusion detection

Cyber Security

Intrusion Detection: Wazuh, Security Onion, Snort, Suricata, Zeek, OSSEC, Elastic SIEM, Microsoft Sentinel, Graylog, auditd
Intrusion Prevention: Firewalls, Linux hardening, pfSense, OPNsense, CrowdSec, Fail2ban, ModSecurity, OWASP CRS, Cloudflare WAF, AWS WAF
Security Testing: Nmap, Wireshark, Burp Suite, OWASP ZAP, Metasploit, Nessus, OpenVAS/Greenbone, Nikto, sqlmap, ffuf, gobuster, nuclei, WPScan, Hydra, John the Ripper, Hashcat, Trivy, Semgrep, Snyk
Disaster Recovery: Data recovery, Incident Response, Veeam, Acronis, Bacula, Bareos, BorgBackup, Restic, Duplicati, Proxmox Backup Server, rsync, rclone, ZFS snapshots, LVM snapshots, Timeshift, Velero, Terraform, Ansible, Puppet
Compliance & Governance: GDPR, NIS2, ISO 27001, CIS Controls, NIST CSF, SOC 2, DORA, COBIT, ITIL, OWASP ASVS, Risk Assessments, Security Policies, Audit Evidence, Vendor Risk Management, DPIAs
Compliance Tools: Lynis, OpenSCAP, CIS-CAT, Tenable/Nessus, Qualys, Microsoft Purview, Jira, Confluence, SharePoint
Other: Cryptography, PKI, TLS, Vulnerability Research, Exploit Analysis, Reverse Engineering, Threat Modeling, Log Analysis, Secrets Management

Network

TCP/IP, IPv6, HTTP/3, SSL/TLS, Routing, Datacenters, BGP, WiFi, Bluetooth, Fiber, Ethernet, Hypervisors, VPN, High Availability, VoIP, Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Huawei, Dell, NetGear, MikroTik, Ubiquiti

Microsoft

Windows Server, Windows Client, Active Directory, Exchange, IIS, Microsoft SQL Server, Hyper-V, Microsoft Sentinel, Network Load Balancing, Remote Desktop Services, DNS, SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Purview

Other

Project Management: Scrum, Agile, Kanban, technical leadership, planning, documentation
Psychology & Coaching: Diploma in Applied Psychology, coaching,
Marketing: SEO, brand building, social media, content strategy
Cloud: AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Microsoft 365
AI: AI tooling, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, custom agents
Creative: Photo editing, video editing
Soft-skills: Studious, Creative, Solution-Oriented, Flexible, Responsible, Helpful, Empathic

Happy clients

Companies I've worked with

A selection of companies I've worked with over the years.