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01 — whoami

About Me

Full-Stack Developer & AI Specialist based in Utrecht.

Ismet Ozkan
Fig. 02 — Ismet Ozkan, Utrecht

— Toolkit

34 tools

The tools I reach for.

01 Languages
  • PHP
  • JavaScript
  • TypeScript
  • HTML
  • CSS / SCSS
02 Frameworks
  • Laravel
  • WordPress
  • WooCommerce
  • Svelte
03 AI
  • Claude Code
  • Codex
  • OpenCode
  • Cursor
  • Grok Bot
  • OpenAI & Gemini APIs
  • MCP integrations
  • AI tooling & automation
04 Frontend
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Bootstrap
  • Twig
  • Blade
  • WCAG
05 Backend & data
  • REST APIs
  • OOP
  • MySQL
  • Relational databases
  • Redis
  • Queues & Cron
  • PHPUnit / Pest
06 DevOps
  • Docker
  • GitHub Actions
  • Nginx
  • Linux
  • Git

— The story

My first encounter with coding was with the C microcontroller programming courses I took at Cukurova University. Then came simple data analysis and machine learning applications we built with a Raspberry Pi. Being able to make something tangible with Python libraries triggered my interest in coding. I would like to thank my teacher there, Ercan Avşar.

During my education years I had to work full time for a long while due to financial circumstances, and I found a “Planning Manager” position at Aliment Certification. I gained experience in managing a team of engineers and using human resources efficiently, even though it was outside my interest. I left to take a step towards the profession I really wanted.

After graduating, I started looking for an internship to enter my dream profession, software development. That is where I crossed paths with Ron Digital, a delightful company (they actually won “the best workspace” awards 🤗). I took basic PHP courses, coded some simple CRUD APIs with Laravel, and learned how a website’s CMS works. I left because of our plans to settle in the Netherlands with my wife.

After we got married, my wife and I settled in the Netherlands as planned. I followed Udemy and YouTube courses to improve myself, built small applications and demo websites, and looked for a place where I could learn more. I got an internship at a wonderful company in Amsterdam called Shop Like You Give a Damn (SLYGaD). They gave me a great opportunity to grow my technical and social skills during our new life in the Netherlands. In a short time they became sincere friends, and I started taking responsibility and felt like a real team member.

Looking to take my skills to the next level, I came across Social Brothers and, after a series of interviews and technical cases, started as a trainee. I learned a lot about WordPress there and worked on demo projects as well as real ones. I became sure that backend work excited me most, and I focused on growing in that direction.

When my traineeship ended, both sides were happy and they offered me a junior software developer position, which I gladly accepted. I made good friends and could feel my experience and social skills growing fast (special thanks to Jascha van Aalst for sharing all his knowledge 🫡).

Since then the company has grown into District 35 (formerly Social Brothers · WP Brothers), and so have I. In September 2026 I became Full-Stack Developer / AI Specialist, working across PHP, WordPress and Laravel and bringing AI tooling into our daily work. On the side I build my own products under the Phly name: phly.app and butter.phly.

Thanks for reading!

— Off the clock

08 hobbies

When I’m not coding.