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About

Full-stack developer in Cleveland, Ohio, building WordPress-powered sites that are fast, maintainable, and actually easy for clients to run.

Open to new projects

years

sites shipped

0.0%

uptime

avg lighthouse score

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My Story

I'm Ray Turk, a full-stack web developer based in Cleveland, Ohio. I build for the web at Neon Goldfish, a Cleveland marketing agency, where most of my days are spent in WordPress — custom themes, ACF-driven page builders, and the occasional rescue of a site that has seen better days.

Outside the agency I run Code The Land, my freelance brand, and I keep this site as a place to push past client constraints: headless architectures, real-time interfaces, motion, and whatever the platform shipped this month. If client work is about reliability, this is where I get to be curious.

What I work with

Next.js · React · TypeScript · WordPress · WPGraphQL · PHP · Laravel · Tailwind · MySQL. I care about performance budgets, accessible motion, and code that the next developer can actually read.

Beyond the editor

I'm happiest when a gnarly integration finally clicks — a headless build that loads instantly, a CMS that non-technical editors genuinely enjoy, a deploy pipeline that just works. If you want to talk shop or have something to build, the contact page is the fastest way to reach me.

Next.jsReactTypeScriptWordPressWPGraphQLPHPLaravelTailwindMySQLGitDockerAWSNode.jsAccessibilityPerformanceE-commerceNext.jsReactTypeScriptWordPressWPGraphQLPHPLaravelTailwindMySQLGitDockerAWSNode.jsAccessibilityPerformanceE-commerce

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How I Think About Work

Maintainability over cleverness

Code the next developer (including future-me) can actually read and extend, not just code that works today.

Client empowerment over gatekeeping

Give non-technical clients real control over their own content (custom shortcodes, flexible layouts) instead of making every change depend on me.

Performance and reliability are features, not afterthoughts

Load times, uptime, and Core Web Vitals are deliverables I measure, not nice-to-haves.

Diagnose before you patch

Dig into the actual root cause methodically rather than shotgunning fixes and hoping.

What I Don't Do

I like to be upfront about this. It saves both of us time.

—Open-ended "make it pop" requests with no clear brief or decision-maker.
—Quick patches on a codebase nobody's willing to actually let me fix.
—Free, unpaid scope creep — ongoing support belongs in a retainer, not a favor.
—Vendor or platform lock-in that leaves a client without real ownership of their own site.
—Work where "ship it fast" matters more than "won't break in six months."

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Career Commits

A version-controlled history of growth and impact.

Full-Stack Developer · Neon Goldfish

WordPress

Toledo, OH · May 2025–Present

+ Engineered 3–4 custom child themes that extended the agency's parent theme, implementing site-specific overrides and ACF flexible content layouts to empower clients with backend control over page composition.

+ Refactored core logic and overhauled core databases while maintaining existing client workflows, modernizing codebases.

+ Developed custom plugins for WooCommerce, SUMO Subscriptions, and GravityForms, including a bulk user import tool using Action Scheduler and a progressive pricing calculator for a service-industry manufacturer.

+ Managed server infrastructure across Linode, WP Engine, and DigitalOcean, optimizing PHP-FPM settings, troubleshooting DOM issues, and configuring Redis/Varnish object caching to enhance performance.

+ Integrated and debugged third-party payment and marketing APIs such as Stripe, PayPal, and Square, ensuring seamless transaction processes for clients.

WordPress Developer · Full Spectrum Marketing

WordPress

Akron, OH · April 2024–March 2025

+ Engineered WordPress performance optimizations that achieved a 60% reduction in page load times and consistently maintained Google PageSpeed scores of 90%+ across client sites.

+ Designed custom shortcodes that enabled non-technical clients to create complex, dynamic content layouts without coding knowledge.

+ Developed bespoke WordPress plugins tailored to client specifications, enhancing core CMS functionality and delivering essential features for business needs.

Web Developer · Company 119

WordPress

Chardon, OH · March 2021–February 2024

+ Led all WordPress maintenance operations, managing a diverse portfolio of client websites while ensuring 99.9% uptime and rapid issue resolution.

+ Engineered a comprehensive ticketing system with custom automations that improved workflow efficiency, reducing average response time from 24 hours to under 4 hours.

+ Developed custom WordPress themes from concept to deployment, delivering unique, responsive designs that aligned with client brand guidelines.

+ Optimized website performance through caching implementation, database optimization, and image compression, resulting in significant enhancements to page load speeds and user experience.

Have a project or a role in mind? Send a note.

Get in touch