Ten Years of Laravel and Counting: The Artisan of the Day Is Andy Hinkle.
Andy Hinkle’s career began with a simple problem: managing hundreds of employees with nothing but pen, paper, and spreadsheets. Today, he’s Lead Software Developer at Wilber, building applications and giving back to the community that helped shape his path.
Early Challenges in Scheduling
In 2014, Andy worked at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana. As a ride operations manager, he had to schedule hundreds of seasonal employees while navigating lifeguard certifications, labor laws, and shifting roles. “It was chaos,” Andy recalls.
To bring order, he created a complex system in Microsoft Excel using VBA macros. The system automated staffing alerts and caught the attention of the IT department, who suggested he build it as a proper application.
Discovering Laravel
That night, Andy searched for ways to build employee scheduling software. He started with PHP but quickly found Laravel. “Everything clicked, I was all-in,” he says. Following Matt Stauffer’s Laravel: Up & Running, Andy spent late nights building and learning, solving real problems at work, and gaining confidence in application development.
Launching a Development Career
With no degree or professional experience, Andy applied for his first web development job armed only with side projects. The gamble paid off. Over the last decade, he has moved from managing spreadsheets to building production-ready Laravel applications, attending multiple Laracons, and steadily growing as a developer.
Recently, he gave a talk at Laravel Worldwide Meetup, titled Keeping Laravel Elegant When Business Gets Messy, where he walked through real-world approaches for managing shifting requirements and tight deadlines without sacrificing clean, maintainable code.
He also shares his knowledge with the wider Laravel Community by co-hosting The Midwest Artisan Podcast, where, alongside Dalton McCleery, he talks about Laravel and all things web development.
“I’ve been writing Laravel full-time for a decade. I’ve worked at a handful of companies and built a life that I’m proud of. The community, the people, the tools, and the energy give me a career that I love,” Andy says.
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