# Jezer Niel Blanca — Software Engineer & Full Stack Developer (Iloilo City, Philippines)

> Official website of Jezer Niel Blanca ("Niel Blanca"), a Software Engineer and Full Stack Developer with 6+ years of professional experience. Currently a Software Engineer at Myconstruct (Australia, remote — main employment), where he works on a construction firm management system and leads third-party API integrations, and part-time at Japan Livline (Japan), building manufacturing and inventory systems. Specializes in Laravel, PHP and Vue.js, with production systems delivered production systems for companies in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Iceland and the Philippines. Also partners with founders and businesses to plan, build and launch MVPs, web apps and AI products.

Name: Jezer Niel Blanca (also known as Niel Blanca)
Role: Software Engineer / Full Stack Developer
Location: Iloilo City, Philippines (works remotely with international teams)
Education: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College (2014–2018)
Core stack: Laravel, PHP, Vue.js, Inertia.js, React, MySQL, PostgreSQL, REST APIs, Docker, Git, Tailwind CSS, AI integrations
Contact: support@nielblanca.com
GitHub: https://github.com/niel-blanca
npm: https://www.npmjs.com/~niel_blanca

## Professional experience

### Software Engineer — Myconstruct (Dec 2025 – Present)

Australian-Based, Remote · Main Employment. Stack: PHP · JavaScript · MySQL · REST APIs · Third-Party Integrations.

- Full stack developer on a construction firm management system used by Australian construction businesses.
- Lead API integrations connecting the platform with third-party services and partner systems.
- Design and integrate new features end-to-end — from requirements to production release.
- Maintain, monitor and harden production systems to keep projects stable and running.

### Software Engineer — Japan Livline Corp. (2023 – Present)

Japan-Based, Remote · Part-time. Stack: Laravel · CodeIgniter · Vue.js · MySQL · JavaScript · Docker · Flutter.

- Developed and maintained web systems for automobile manufacturing and inventory operations.
- Built a Laravel-based inventory system for equipment, materials, and workflow tracking.
- Migrated a carcass sales and inventory system to a CodeIgniter web platform.
- Collaborated cross-functionally to enhance system reliability and workflow efficiency.

### Junior Software Developer — Global Enablement Corp. (2021 – 2023)

Australian-Based, Remote. Stack: Laravel · Vue.js · RESTful APIs · SCRUM.

- Developed modular and reusable backend logic for a Laravel-based Event Management System.
- Participated in SCRUM sprints — planning, estimation, and daily stand-ups.
- Maintained and optimized Laravel modules for performance and scalability.
- Assisted in developing and testing API endpoints for mobile and 3D integrations.

### Junior Software Developer — Sunday 2PM / Ontalk Co. (2018 – 2020)

Korean Company, PH-Based. Stack: Laravel · MySQL · jQuery · Bootstrap.

- Assisted in developing LMS and corporate websites using Laravel.
- Implemented authentication, user roles, and content management features.
- Enhanced Laravel skills through collaboration, mentorship, and real project experience.

## Selected projects

- Myconstruct — Construction Firm Management System — Software Engineer, Myconstruct (Australia, Remote) — Main Employment (Dec 2025 – Present)
- Iceland Taxi Reykjavik — Airport Transfers & Private Tours — Principal Developer, Iceland Taxi Reykjavik (Iceland) — Freelance (Mar 2026 – Present)
- Iceland Panorama Tours — CMS & Booking Management — Principal Developer, Iceland Panorama Tours (Iceland) — Freelance (Feb 2026 - Present)
- Livline Japan — Software Engineer & Full Stack Developer — Software Engineer, Japan Livline Co. Ltd (Remote) — Part-time (2023 – Present)
- Johnwealth Laboratories Management System — Module Developer, Johnwealth Laboratories Corporation (Philippines) (2025)
- Woodland Construction Management System — Module Developer, Woodland Construction (Philippines) (2023 – 2024)
- Designa — Event Marketplace with 3D Visualization — Junior Developer, Designa (Australia) (2022)
- Ontalk — Korean Learning Management System — Junior Developer, Ontalk Co. (South Korea) (2018)

## Pages

- [Home](https://nielblanca.com/): Overview, skills, tech stack and FAQ.
- [About](https://nielblanca.com/about): Background, work experience, education, skills and values.
- [Works](https://nielblanca.com/works): Real-world project portfolio and case studies.
- [Services](https://nielblanca.com/services): Laravel, Vue.js, API, database, CMS and security services.
- [Build With Us](https://nielblanca.com/build-with-us): How founders and businesses partner with Niel's team, from idea to launch.
- [Cheat Codes](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): Copy-paste cheat sheets for Laravel, Git, Docker, SQL, JavaScript, Vue, Tailwind and AI prompting.
- [Blog](https://nielblanca.com/blog): Articles on programming, AI, technology, tips and startups.

## Blog articles

- [Building an AI Agent in PHP: Tools, Memory and Guardrails](https://nielblanca.com/blog/building-an-ai-agent-in-php): How I build AI agents in Laravel: tool classes the model can call, a safe agent loop, conversation memory, and the guardrails that keep it from doing damage. (AI & Machine Learning, 2026-09-25)
- [From Idea to MVP in 8 Weeks: A Founder's Roadmap](https://nielblanca.com/blog/from-idea-to-mvp-in-8-weeks): A practical, week-by-week roadmap for turning a rough product idea into a launched MVP without burning your budget on features nobody asked for. (Startup & Business, 2026-09-24)
- [Laravel Queues in Production: Jobs, Retries and Horizon Without the Pain](https://nielblanca.com/blog/laravel-queues-in-production): The habits that keep Laravel queues boring in production: idempotent jobs, sensible retries, timeouts, priorities, Horizon, and safe deployments. (Programming, 2026-09-21)
- [How to Add an AI Chatbot to Your Laravel App](https://nielblanca.com/blog/how-to-add-an-ai-chatbot-to-your-laravel-app): A clean, production-minded way to wire an LLM-powered chatbot into Laravel: config, a service class, rate limiting, and a Vue front end. (AI & Machine Learning, 2026-09-18)
- [API Integrations That Don't Break: Webhooks, Retries and Idempotency](https://nielblanca.com/blog/api-integrations-that-dont-break): Networks fail, webhooks arrive twice, and events show up out of order. These are the patterns I use to keep API integrations reliable anyway. (Technology, 2026-09-15)
- [10 Laravel Eloquent Tricks I Use on Every Project](https://nielblanca.com/blog/10-laravel-eloquent-tricks-i-use-on-every-project): Small Eloquent habits that keep my Laravel codebases fast, readable, and free of N+1 surprises. (Programming, 2026-09-12)
- [VS Code Shortcuts and Settings That Make Me Faster Every Day](https://nielblanca.com/blog/vs-code-shortcuts-and-settings): The VS Code shortcuts, settings, extensions and snippets I rely on for Laravel, Vue and Tailwind work, and how to build them into muscle memory. (Tips & Cheat Codes, 2026-09-09)
- [Git Commands That Will Save You at 2 AM](https://nielblanca.com/blog/git-commands-that-will-save-you-at-2-am): The Git recovery commands I reach for when a deploy goes sideways, a branch disappears, or a commit lands in the wrong place. (Tips & Cheat Codes, 2026-09-06)
- [RAG for Web Developers: Let Your App Answer Questions About Your Own Data](https://nielblanca.com/blog/rag-for-web-developers): Retrieval-Augmented Generation explained in plain terms, with a practical Laravel implementation: chunking, embeddings, pgvector search and grounded answers. (AI & Machine Learning, 2026-09-03)
- [The Modern Full-Stack in 2026: What I'd Pick for a New Product](https://nielblanca.com/blog/the-modern-full-stack-in-2026): If I were starting a new product today, this is the stack I would choose, and more importantly, why. (Technology, 2026-08-30)
- [Inertia.js v2: Deferred Props, Prefetching and Polling Explained](https://nielblanca.com/blog/inertia-v2-deferred-props-prefetching-polling): A practical guide to the Inertia v2 features I use most: deferred props for slow data, prefetching for instant navigation, and polling for live updates. (Programming, 2026-08-27)
- [Vue 3 Composables: Write Once, Reuse Everywhere](https://nielblanca.com/blog/vue-3-composables-write-once-reuse-everywhere): How I structure Vue 3 composables so stateful logic stays small, testable, and shareable across every page of an Inertia app. (Programming, 2026-08-23)
- [Debugging Laravel Like a Pro: Telescope, Pail, dd() and Friends](https://nielblanca.com/blog/debugging-laravel-like-a-pro): The debugging method and tools I reach for in Laravel, from dd() and ddRawSql() to contextual logs, Pail, Telescope, strict mode and Xdebug. (Tips & Cheat Codes, 2026-08-20)
- [AI Coding Assistants: How I Use Them Without Losing My Edge](https://nielblanca.com/blog/ai-coding-assistants-without-losing-your-edge): AI assistants make me faster, but only because I treat them like a sharp junior pair programmer, not an autopilot. (AI & Machine Learning, 2026-08-16)
- [Web Performance in 2026: Core Web Vitals Fixes That Actually Move the Needle](https://nielblanca.com/blog/web-performance-core-web-vitals-fixes): LCP, INP and CLS in plain English, how to measure them with real-user data, and the fixes that make a real difference on Laravel and Vue apps. (Technology, 2026-08-13)
- [SQL Cheat Codes: Queries Every Developer Should Know](https://nielblanca.com/blog/sql-cheat-codes-queries-every-developer-should-know): Window functions, CTEs, upserts, and the other SQL patterns that save me from writing loops in application code. (Tips & Cheat Codes, 2026-08-09)
- [How Much Does It Cost to Build a Web App? A Transparent Breakdown for Founders](https://nielblanca.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-web-app): Instead of a meaningless number, here are the real drivers behind web app costs, the expenses founders often forget, and how to get more from your budget. (Startup & Business, 2026-08-05)
- [Docker for Web Devs: The 20% You Actually Need](https://nielblanca.com/blog/docker-for-web-devs-the-20-percent-you-need): Skip the container theory. Here is the small slice of Docker that covers almost everything a web developer does day to day. (Technology, 2026-08-01)
- [Validating Your Startup Idea Before Writing a Single Line of Code](https://nielblanca.com/blog/validating-your-startup-idea-before-writing-code): Code is the most expensive way to test an idea. Here is how founders can validate demand with interviews, smoke tests, manual delivery and real commitments. (Startup & Business, 2026-07-28)
- [Do You Really Need an App? How to Choose the Right First Product](https://nielblanca.com/blog/do-you-really-need-an-app): Native app, web app, PWA, or a spreadsheet with a form? A simple framework for picking the first product that actually fits your problem. (Startup & Business, 2026-07-21)
- [Laravel Testing With Pest 4: Feature Tests, Datasets and Arch Tests](https://nielblanca.com/blog/laravel-testing-with-pest-4): How I test Laravel apps with Pest 4: feature tests through real routes, datasets for edge cases, fakes for the outside world, and architecture tests that keep a codebase honest. (Programming, 2026-07-17)
- [Prompt Engineering for Developers: Structured Outputs, Few-Shot and Evals](https://nielblanca.com/blog/prompt-engineering-for-developers): Prompts inside your app run thousands of times against unseen input. Here is how I treat them like code: structured JSON, validation, few-shot examples and simple evals. (AI & Machine Learning, 2026-07-12)
- [PostgreSQL vs MySQL in 2026: Which Should Your Web App Use?](https://nielblanca.com/blog/postgresql-vs-mysql-for-web-apps): Both are excellent for Laravel apps. The differences show up in JSON, indexing, migrations, case sensitivity, vectors and hosting. Here is how I choose between them. (Technology, 2026-07-06)
- [Laravel Artisan and Tinker Tricks That Save Me Time Every Day](https://nielblanca.com/blog/laravel-artisan-and-tinker-tricks): The Artisan commands, generator flags and Tinker habits I use constantly to move faster in Laravel, plus the safety rules I never break. (Tips & Cheat Codes, 2026-07-01)
- [How to Choose a Tech Partner for Your Startup: Questions and Red Flags](https://nielblanca.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-tech-partner): Choosing who builds your product is a high-stakes decision. These are the questions to ask, the ownership terms to insist on and the red flags that should make you walk away. (Startup & Business, 2026-06-25)
- [TypeScript for Vue 3 Developers: The Parts You Actually Need](https://nielblanca.com/blog/typescript-for-vue-3-developers): A practical guide to TypeScript in Vue 3.5 with script setup: typed props, emits, defineModel, refs, template refs, generic composables and Inertia page props. (Programming, 2026-06-20)
- [Running Local LLMs With Ollama for Private Dev Workflows](https://nielblanca.com/blog/running-local-llms-with-ollama): How I run open models locally with Ollama, call them from Laravel through an OpenAI-compatible client, generate private embeddings, and where local models fall short. (AI & Machine Learning, 2026-06-14)
- [Web Security Essentials for Laravel Apps: Access Control, CSP and Rate Limits](https://nielblanca.com/blog/web-security-essentials-for-laravel): The security habits I apply to every Laravel app: policies, scoped queries, safe SQL, XSS and a Content Security Policy, rate limiting, secrets management and dependency audits. (Technology, 2026-06-09)
- [Tailwind CSS v4 Tips for Building UI Faster](https://nielblanca.com/blog/tailwind-css-v4-tips): The Tailwind v4 tips I use daily: CSS-first theme tokens, @source, the renamed utilities that trip up upgrades, container queries, modern variants and custom utilities. (Tips & Cheat Codes, 2026-06-03)
- [How to Write an MVP Spec That Founders and Developers Both Understand](https://nielblanca.com/blog/how-to-write-an-mvp-spec): A simple, practical format for scoping an MVP: problem first, clear roles, user stories with acceptance criteria, ruthless priorities, non-goals and open questions. (Startup & Business, 2026-05-29)
- [Designing Clean REST APIs in Laravel: Resources, Versioning and Errors](https://nielblanca.com/blog/designing-clean-rest-apis-in-laravel): How I design predictable REST APIs in Laravel 12: resource routes, API resources, URL versioning, safe pagination and filtering, precise status codes and JSON errors. (Programming, 2026-05-23)
- [Adding AI Features to Your SaaS Responsibly: Cost, Latency, Privacy and UX](https://nielblanca.com/blog/adding-ai-features-to-your-saas): A practical guide to adding AI to an existing product without surprise bills, slow pages or privacy problems, with Laravel patterns for caching, rate limits and queues. (AI & Machine Learning, 2026-05-18)
- [Deploying Laravel With Zero Downtime: CI/CD, Migrations and Queues](https://nielblanca.com/blog/deploying-laravel-with-zero-downtime): How to deploy Laravel without downtime: tests in CI, atomic release folders, shared storage, expand-and-contract migrations, queue worker restarts and quick rollbacks. (Technology, 2026-05-12)
- [Terminal Productivity for Developers: zsh Aliases, fzf and ripgrep](https://nielblanca.com/blog/terminal-productivity-zsh-fzf-ripgrep): The zsh setup I recommend: built-in shortcuts, aliases and functions, better history, and modern tools like fzf, ripgrep, fd, bat and zoxide. (Tips & Cheat Codes, 2026-05-07)
- [How to Get Your First 100 Users for a Web Product](https://nielblanca.com/blog/how-to-get-your-first-100-users): Your first users do not arrive because the product exists. A practical playbook for launching an MVP and finding, onboarding and keeping your first hundred users. (Startup & Business, 2026-05-01)

## Cheat sheets

- [Laravel Artisan & Eloquent](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): The Artisan commands and Eloquent patterns I reach for on every Laravel 12 project.
- [Git](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): Everyday Git commands plus the rescue moves for when things go wrong.
- [Docker & Compose](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): The Docker and Compose commands that cover almost all day-to-day web development.
- [SQL](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): Core SQL queries, joins, aggregates, and window functions for MySQL 8+ and PostgreSQL.
- [JavaScript ES2024+](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): Modern JavaScript syntax and built-ins, from destructuring to the newest ES2024 additions.
- [Vue 3 + Inertia v2](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): Script setup essentials, Inertia forms, navigation, and v2 features like deferred props and polling.
- [Tailwind CSS v4](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): Tailwind v4 utilities, responsive and dark mode variants, and CSS-first configuration with @theme.
- [Prompt Cheat Codes](https://nielblanca.com/cheat-codes): Reusable AI prompt patterns for coding: context, constraints, reviews, tests, and debugging.

## Feeds

- [Full text of every article (for AI assistants)](https://nielblanca.com/llms-full.txt)
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