Devrims #TechTalk 071: Deryck OE on Mastering WordPress and Laravel Development

Devrims: Hey Deryck, it’s a pleasure having you here. Can you tell us a bit about your journey into software and web engineering? 

Deryck: Hello! It’s a pleasure for me as well. I’m a self-taught developer, and my journey started in a pretty unconventional way. I learned from old books, either borrowed from libraries or lent to me by others. My first steps in programming were with QBASIC, using an old 8086 computer that my father gave me. At that time, most people already had Pentium processors, but I made the most of what I had.

One of my earliest projects was a game that “simulated” the flight of a commercial plan. It used basic tones to generate sound, and honestly, it was unbearable, especially for my family at home. But for me, it was pure joy. Little by little, with a lot of effort and persistence I was able to afford upgrading my hardware and started learning new languages like Turbo PASCAL, Delphi, and Visual Basic. I will never forget I started with a very old computer, with and 20mb MFM Hard Drive and MS-DOS.

Then I discovered PHP, and it was love at first sight. My first big project with it was building a large web portal for the company I was working for at the time, using Drupal. Not long after, I came across WordPress, and once I tried it, there was no turning back. That was around 2005-2006.

About thirteen years ago, I moved to a country with unrestricted internet access, and that changed everything for me. From that point on, I felt like I was finally catching up. I took on all kinds of projects, even ones I had no clue how to handle at first. But I truly believe the best way to learn is by doing, by solving real-world problems. And that’s exactly what I did.

Devrims: How did you end up at LaunchPass, and what excites you the most about working there?

Deryck: What motivates me the most is bringing WordPress to places where it’s not widely used. I’ve been working on that for years, and it hasn’t always been easy or successful. Actually, I have failed a lot.  In this case, the CTO of LaunchPass reached out to me on X (back when it was still Twitter) because they were interested in using WordPress as a platform to expand their products and provide a more flexible, while robust platform to their current and new clients. My profile matched what they were looking for, and they found my experience interesting, so when the y showed up and aske me, I didn’t have to think twice about it.

I should also add that I was coming from a company where, while things weren’t bad, I didn’t feel the same level of motivation. That made the decision even easier.

Working at LaunchPass has been an incredible experience. I have the freedom to propose ideas, develop, and shape WordPress related products in the way I believe is best. The work environment is outstanding, our team is amazing, with members from all over the world.

Challenges keep coming, and for me, that’s exciting because I have the trust and autonomy to come up with solutions and learn in the process. The goal is to never stop learning, not to fear making mistakes, but rather to grow from them. At LaunchPass, I have the space to do exactly that.

Devrims: You work with WordPress and Laravel—how do you decide which framework to use for a given project?

Deryck: WordPress can be used for almost anything, from a simple blog to a full-fledged SaaS. But that doesn’t mean WordPress is always the most optimal choice for building a SaaS. At some point, I realized that using the right tool for the job makes a huge difference.

Since I specialize in PHP, the decision is pretty straightforward. For content-driven projects, commercial websites, and eCommerce, I go with WordPress. It’s a mature platform with a vast ecosystem, making it ideal for these use cases. On the other hand, for SaaS applications or custom internal tools for businesses, Laravel is my go-to. It provides more flexibility, better structure for complex applications, and built-in features that streamline development.

Ultimately, it’s about understanding the project’s needs and choosing the framework that aligns best with its long-term goals.

Devrims: How do you approach database optimization in Laravel when dealing with complex relationships and large datasets?

Deryck: It all starts with database design. Getting that right from the beginning is crucial when developing an application. After that, Laravel’s Eloquent ORM provides a high level of abstraction while still delivering great performance, so in many cases, you can write queries without worrying too much about optimization. At least up to a certain point.

To go deeper, I rely on Laravel Debugbar to monitor query performance closely. Over time, experience has taught me different optimization techniques that I apply when needed to ensure data loads as fast as possible. One key insight is that sometimes, running multiple smaller queries can be more efficient than a single large query full of joins, that turns out to be much slower.

There’s no magic formula. It’s all about implementing, testing, evaluating, and optimizing as needed.

Devrims: Let’s do a quick rapid-fire round.

Mountain or Beaches	Both
Books or Movies	Books
Tea or Coffee	Coffee

Devrims: What’s your strategy for handling WordPress performance issues, especially on sites with numerous plugins?

Deryck: It’s a common misconception that having many plugins automatically slows down WordPress. You can have numerous well-optimized plugins running without any noticeable impact on performance. What really matters is how well each plugin is developed. A poorly optimized plugin can significantly affect a website’s speed, and if you have several of them, you’re setting yourself up for disaster.

I’ve made mistakes in the past with my own plugins, unintentionally hurting a site’s performance. Those experiences taught me valuable lessons about optimization.

Keeping the database optimized is essential. Adding indexes to tables, especially when dealing with large datasets, can make a big difference. External HTTP API calls can also become a major bottleneck due to PHP’s synchronous nature, so they need to be handled carefully.

Personally, I always install Query Monitor plugin on any new WordPress site I work on. It helps identify slow queries, plugin performance issues, and other potential bottlenecks early on.

Devrims: Could you explain your approach to implementing custom authentication systems in Laravel?

Deryck: I never implemented authentication manually because Laravel already provides a well-tested and easy-to-use authentication system. It’s a robust solution that covers most use cases without the need for custom implementations.

With Laravel 12, authentication has become even better with the integration of WorkOS, making it easier to handle enterprise authentication features like SSO. Laravel keeps evolving to simplify authentication, so there’s rarely a need to reinvent the wheel.

Devrims: When working with WordPress, how do you extend the REST API for custom functionality?

Deryck: I like using React on the frontend, so I rely a lot on the REST API to communicate with thge backend. WordPress makes this process straightforward, especially when it comes to authentication and capabilities validation.

There’s really no non-technical way to explain this, so bear with me. To register new endpoints, you can use register_rest_field() inside a rest_api_init action. It’s important to always return a WP_REST_Response or WP_Error instances, depending on the situation, to ensure proper handling and standardized output.

That said, there’s no need to overcomplicate things. For simple tasks, sometimes using an AJAX call is the better approach.


Devrims: Have you worked with Laravel Livewire or Alpine.js? How do these tools fit into your development stack?

Deryck: I know the basics of both Alpine.js and Livewire, and I’ve worked on small projects using them. However, since I use React extensively in WordPress, I wanted to keep things consistent across my stack. That led me to Inertia.js and React for Laravel projects.

Laravel’s flexibility makes this approach seamless, and thanks to Inertia, integrating React with Laravel feels even smoother than using it with WordPress. It’s a straightforward setup that works really well for me.

That said, I really like Livewire because it makes adding interactivity to the frontend incredibly easy, without having to write much JavaScript. As a PHP developer, that’s a huge advantage. It’s similar to TailwindCSS, which abstracts away a lot of the complexity of CSS. Tools like Livewire help backend developers build dynamic interfaces without constantly switching hats between backend and frontend.

Still, we can’t master everything, so I had to make a choice. But that could always change in the future!


Devrims: How would you architect a Laravel application that needs to handle high traffic spikes?

Deryck: Laravel is a fast framework, so it’s up to us as developers to make sure we don’t slow it down. That’s one of the most important aspects of working with it. I start small, and keep adding layers of complexity to my developments. It’s like the mobile-first approach, but for development. By doing this I can easily detect when performance suffers, due to a new feature I’ve added.

Database design plays a huge role in performance, but how you query that database is just as critical. Keeping an eye on performance, and leveraging caching as much as possible is key. Laravel provides built-in caching APIs and has great support for Redis, making it easier to speed things up.

For heavy tasks, they should always be queued and processed as jobs to keep the typical HTTP request cycle fast and avoid timeouts. If something doesn’t need to be executed immediately, it shouldn’t be blocking the response.

You can also use Laravel Octane to significantly boost performance by keeping applications in memory, reducing the overhead of bootstrapping Laravel on every request. Now, with Laravel Cloud and the upcoming Laravel Nightwatch, there’s a whole new world of possibilities. I haven’t fully explored them yet, so I can’t give real feedback, but they look promising.


Devrims: What are the must-have features you look for in managed Laravel hosting? After past hosting challenges, what capabilities have become essential for keeping your production apps running smoothly?

Deryck: The first thing I look for in Laravel-managed hosting is an easy deployment workflow. That’s always my top priority. A smooth, efficient deployment process saves time and reduces potential errors in production.

Beyond that, full support for Queues, Server-Side Rendering (SSR), since I use Inertia.js with React, Task Scheduling, and easy env file management are essential. I also prioritize built-in SSL certificates, automated backups, and the ability to quickly create or destroy servers when needed. All of that, having the database on a diferente instance, of course.

I use Laravel Forge because it provides all of these features and more. Recently, I’ve started exploring Laravel Cloud, which looks powerful, though not as customizable as Forge. At least not yet. I’m still in the early stages of testing it, but it’s definitely an exciting option.

Devrims: Please give us a glimpse of your workstation setup. 

Deryck: For me, mobility is everything. That’s why, besides my MacBook Pro, I rely on my AirPods Pro 2, a pen, and a mid-sized notebook for quick notes and ideas.

Gone are the days of working on a big desktop setup with a massive screen full of distractions. I’ve moved away from that. I prefer a minimalist, flexible workspace that allows me to work from anywhere. Focusing on one view at a time works best for me, which is why I’d rather use a 16-inch screen than a larger one.

Devrims: Who would we interview next in the WordPress or Laravel ecosystem that you believe is doing innovative work our audience should know about?

Deryck: WordPress: Anne Bovelett and Ryan Welcher


Laravel: Aaron Francis and Josh Cirre