Jose Gabriel Fontanilla

jgf digital · Mt Maunganui, NZ

Is your old system quietly costing you?

Technical rescue, integration, and fractional CTO support for businesses running on code that's outgrown its original plan. Thirteen years of production work, most of it spent making other people's systems reliable again.

Currently taking new engagements

13+ years in production code  ·  energy, workforce SaaS, recruitment, BPO, e-commerce

Track record

Systems this experience comes from.

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Energy & utilities

Powerco

Salesforce-based public customer platform, geospatial SOAP APIs, Sitecore CMS upgrades.

Salesforce · Sitecore · Azure

People Presence SaaS

OnLocation / MRI Software

Five years on people-presence tracking, REST APIs, and Outlook/Graph integration.

Node.js · TypeScript · Zend

Recruitment tech

e-Cruitment

Custom CRUD applications built around client-specific hiring workflows.

Yii2 · MySQL

Education marketplace

UniTutors (co-founder)

Tutoring marketplace grown to 395 tutors and 5,560 members from scratch.

Yii2 · Bootstrap

BPO / enterprise intranet

TaskUs

Intranet for 7,000+ staff and a ticketing system that cut handling time by 75%.

Internal tooling · BI

E-commerce & distribution

4D Systems

Centralized multi-role platform: shopping cart, payments, inventory, support.

PHP · MySQL

Why this works

Built to hold up, not just launch.

Every engagement runs through the same four phases, in the same order, whether it's a two-day audit or a six-month rescue.

Inspect

Read the code, the infrastructure, and the support history first. No changes until it's understood.

Draft

A short written plan with a fixed scope or a retainer shape, and a real estimate, before any work starts.

Build

Working software shipped in stages, visible to you as it happens, not delivered all at once at the end.

Maintain

Handover and documentation either way, with an open door if ongoing advisory support is useful.

Get in touch

A clear answer, fast.

No sales call needed to begin. Say what's going on and I'll reply with whether it's a quick fix, a bigger rescue, or something in between.

What are we looking at?

  • What the system is, and what it runs on if you know it
  • What's slow, breaking, or nobody wants to touch
  • Rough timeline: this quarter, or just gathering information
Email [email protected]
Email
[email protected]
Phone
+64 27 580 0991
Location
Mt. Maunganui, Tauranga 3116, New Zealand
Availability
Audits and fixed-scope work, remote-first

Common questions

Answered straight, before you ask.

Do you only fix legacy PHP, or build new things too?

Both. Legacy rescue is the strongest fit for the track record, but a good share of engagements are new internal tools, integrations, or CI/CD setups built from scratch.

Is this cheaper than hiring an agency?

Usually, because there's no account manager or bench to cover. You're working directly with the person writing the code, on a fixed-scope or retainer basis.

Do I own the code afterwards?

Yes. Whatever's built is handed over in full, in your own repository, with documentation for anyone who maintains it after me.

What if I don't know what's actually wrong, just that something's off?

That's what the audit is for. It's a structured look at the codebase and infrastructure to name the actual problem before spending on a fix.

Fixed price or retainer, how does that work?

Audits and legacy rescue work are usually fixed-scope. Advisory and ongoing support run on a monthly retainer. Either way, scope and cost are agreed before work starts.

Can you work alongside a team I already have?

Yes, that's common for the integration and advisory work in particular. Just as often, it's taking something over solo where there's no team yet.

Where are you based, and do you work outside New Zealand?

Based in Mt. Maunganui, NZ, and remote-first. Past work has spanned New Zealand, Australia, and the Philippines.

How long does a typical audit take?

Usually one to two weeks depending on the size of the codebase, ending with a written report and a straight answer on what's next.