Laravel/PHP Application Reliability Developer

We are looking for an individual Laravel/PHP developer for a long-term role supporting an existing production application. This is a long-term position, expected to continue 6+ months for the right developer. This is not a normal feature-development-only role and not a traditional QA role. The work is closer to Laravel application reliability / backend-aware QA support. You will help review an existing Laravel codebase, investigate production issues, check logs, MySQL data/state, Redis, queues/jobs, Horizon behavior, and write clear technical findings or ticket-ready notes for the team. Required: - Strong Laravel/PHP - MySQL debugging/query experience - Redis for cache/queues/sessions - Laravel Queues / Jobs - Laravel Horizon preferred - Git/GitHub - Production debugging/troubleshooting - Comfortable with existing codebases - Clear written English Very important: - Must be available to start immediately - Must actively work during U.S. business hours - Must respond quickly on Slack during agreed working hours - Slack response time should generally be within 5–10 minutes - If you step away, you must leave a quick status note - Must use Upwork Time Tracker - Must work as an individual developer, not through a team or agency - Budget: $10–20/hr depending on fit and experience Typical work: - Review Laravel modules and business logic - Investigate reported bugs or broken user flows - Check whether issues come from code logic, database state, queues/jobs, Redis, Horizon, or third-party integrations - Read logs and error reports - Isolate likely root causes - Write findings, reproduction notes, and recommended next steps - Support technical tickets for developers - Code fixes when assigned To apply, answer these questions: 1. Can you start immediately? 2. Can you actively work during U.S. business hours? 3. Can you respond on Slack within 5–10 minutes during agreed working hours? 4. Will you personally do the work as an individual developer, not through a team or agency? 5. Can you use Upwork Time Tracker? 6. Are you comfortable working through remote VPS/server/client environments? 7. Does $10–20/hr work for you? 8. Briefly describe your real experience with Laravel/PHP, MySQL, Redis, Laravel Queues/Jobs, and Horizon. 9. Describe one real Laravel production issue you personally debugged: - What failed? - How did you detect/reproduce it? - What did logs, DB, Redis, failed_jobs, queue workers, or Horizon show? - What was the root cause? - What did you change? - How did you confirm it was fixed? Please do not send a generic proposal. We need someone responsive, reliable, immediately available, and experienced with real Laravel production issues.