I solve difficult problems.

Problems that span systems, cross organizational boundaries, and resist simple answers. Challenges that demand judgment, perspective, and the ability to see how complex systems actually behave in the real world. As an independent software consultant and polyglot engineer with over fifteen years of experience building, maintaining, and modernizing web applications, my work sits at the intersection of systems thinking, architecture, design patterns, and modern engineering practice. I help organizations navigate complexity and make sound technical decisions that stand the test of time.

The language is just an implementation detail. Whether untangling a decade of technical debt in a massive PHP codebase; writing a performance-critical library in Rust with WebAssembly and Python bindings; or helping a team adopt responsible AI-augmented engineering, my role is the same: bring clarity, mentorship, and sound judgment to complex systems so they remain aligned with business goals.

My background combines deep technical expertise with real-world operational and business experience. I have worked in customer service and business operations roles, earned degrees in Mathematics and Economics, and co-founded a startup with a successful exit. Those experiences shape how I approach both software engineering and business.

If your organization is facing a difficult technical challenge, give me forty minutes. You will leave the conversation with clarity about the problem and the path forward.

Andy Snell

Services

How WickedByte Helps

Agentic/Generative Engineering

Ship Value, Not Excuses

PHP, Python, Rust, TypeScript, Go — language is an implementation detail. WickedByte brings deep knowledge of universal design patterns and high-level systems thinking to every engagement, putting the right AI-augmented, human-in-the-loop development practices in place so your team can rapidly deliver value without compromising.

Human Expertise
Agentic Speed
Continuous Integration
Team Development

Architecture & Design

Get the Foundation Right

Rewrite or refactor? Monolith, monorepo, or microservices? Vercel or CloudFlare? From system design to API contracts to database modeling — get the foundational decisions right, and your team can move fast without breaking things. WickedByte cuts through the noise with an honest technical roadmap and planning that fits your actual needs.

System Design
API Architecture
Schema Modeling
Roadmap Planning

Legacy PHP Modernization

Rescue Your Codebase

The latest LLMs have completely changed the game for legacy PHP modernization. WickedByte combines deep refactoring expertise with AI-augmented tooling to affordably, safely, and incrementally modernize even the gnarliest legacy codebases, regardless of size.

Test-Driven Refactoring
Code Quality Tooling
Refactoring-to-Pattern
Codebase Cleanup

Legacy Code Maintenance

Keep Old Code Compliant

Code in "maintenance mode" still needs to be maintained. Keep your compliance officer happy: WickedByte can mitigate vulnerabilities, upgrade out-of-date dependencies, and perform regular maintenance to keep you secure and compliant.

Dependency Upgrades
CVE Mitigation
Containerization
Dependency Backports

Stabilization & Scaling

Go From Slop to Scale

Vibe coding can get an MVP to launch, but getting to scale requires engineering judgment. That's a contributing factor to why 95% of generative AI pilots fail. WickedByte bridges the gap between prototype and product: stabilizing, securing, and scaling your application into a production-grade system that holds up under real-world pressure.

Polyglot Expertise
Unit/E2E Test Coverage
"Now What?" Planning
Process Development

Mentorship & Education

Make Your Team Better

Through hands-on pair programming, honest code review, and targeted presentations, WickedByte helps your team build stronger instincts around architecture, design patterns, testing, and AI-augmented development practices so they deliver better work long after the engagement ends.

Code Review
Pair Programming
Custom Talk Presentations
Skill Evaluations

Sub-Contracting

Fractional Development and Consulting

An open-ended or fractional subcontracting agreement with WickedByte gives PHP software development consultancies affordable access to senior-level expertise in architecture planning, code review, modern PHP development, and legacy PHP modernization — without the overhead of a full-time hire.

Philosophy

Four Principles for Success

0. Responsive Communication

Responsiveness reflects respect and trust in a business relationship. I will always reply to emails, messages, and calls by the end of the next business day. It might be an out-of-office or a brief acknowledgement, but I will not ghost my clients.

1. Stewardship and Accountability

My clients entrust me with their code, their systems, sometimes the technical future of their business. I take that seriously, and accountability is the foundation of good stewardship. I cryptographically sign every commit I deliver. That signature is a guarantee: to the best of my knowledge, the code works, it has appropriate test coverage, and it does not introduce bugs or vulnerabilities. Whether I wrote it by hand or an AI agent produced it — my signature, my responsibility.

2. Slow is Smooth, and Smooth is Fast

Taking the time to write rigorous code speeds up the entire development lifecycle. Discipline compounds. Strong typing, clear abstractions, and consistent structure are not luxuries; they are force multipliers. Well-structured code is easier for humans to review, easier for AI agents to iterate on, and dramatically cheaper to maintain. The discipline to do things right the first time is the foundation for speed that shortcuts will never deliver.

3. Tests are Fundamental

Testing is not an optional phase during development. It is a discipline that shapes the design of the code itself, whether that code is written by a human or generated by AI. The challenge is knowing which tests matter when. A prototype needs different coverage than a production system. Unit tests, functional tests, behavioral tests, browser tests — each serves a different purpose at a different stage. Knowing that progression is engineering judgment, not process overhead.

Pricing

Engagement Models

Contracts are structured around what the work actually requires: flat-fee, fixed-term, fractional, or open-ended. Short-term advisory work is structured as fixed-fee engagements scoped around the actual problem and outcome value. Longer-term development and consulting contracts are structured as fixed monthly retainers based on scope, commitment, and strategic involvement. Partner rates are available for consultancies seeking subcontract arrangements. Equity compensation may be considered for select opportunities.

Limited hourly consulting is available at $225/hr for work where a fixed-fee scope is not appropriate.

The initial consultation and pre-engagement exploratory discussions are complimentary.

Beyond Client Work

Building in the Open

Conference & User Group Speaking

Regular speaker at domestic and international software development conferences, with talks covering legacy code modernization, data structures, dependency management, and software engineering practices.

View all presentations

Open Source Contributions

Author and/or maintainer of several open source libraries and tools including code tombstones for dead code detection, UUID encoding utilities, coding standards, and project scaffolding.

View all projects

Give me 40 minutes.

There's no charge for the first conversation. Let's talk about your projects, goals, and needs. If WickedByte is not the right fit, I'll try to point you in the right direction.

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