Building a Personal Brand
After four years of steady work through Codeable, I knew the next phase of my career required independence. In 2018 I closed my Codeable chapter and shifted my focus toward building long-term, direct client relationships. My personal website, antondevilliers.com, became my primary hub — a showcase of my skills, testimonials, and a growing portfolio of projects.
Why Independence?
Two reasons drove the shift:
- Control. I wanted to choose projects more strategically, focusing on solutions that aligned with my vision and allowed me to architect systems, not just deliver isolated tasks.
- Scale. Larger projects were starting to come my way, and the platform model wasn't designed for engagements that spanned months or required deep business consulting.
Bigger Projects, Broader Scope
This period marked a clear shift from "task-based" development to end-to-end project delivery. Some highlights:
Recycle POS
A multi-branch point-of-sale system for a recycling company with 7 branches and 350+ employees. This enterprise-grade platform featured:
- Real-time weighbridge integration
- Advanced float systems
- Comprehensive financial reporting
- 99.8% uptime requirements
- Thousands of daily transactions
This was a huge step up from single-site WooCommerce stores.
Advanced E-commerce Integrations
Shopify and WooCommerce projects matured into ecosystem integrations, linking ERPs, CRMs, and APIs for seamless business operations.
First Modern Stacks
During this time, I also began experimenting with Node.js backends and React frontends, laying the technical foundation for SaaS development in the next phase.
Growth as a Consultant
During this phase, I was no longer just "the developer." Clients sought me out for advice, architecture, and strategy. I applied lessons from Codeable — transparency, accurate estimates, and clear deliverables — but layered in business consulting:
- Should we build this feature?
- How will it scale?
- What's the impact on your operations?
Clients valued the shift. Testimonials from this era often highlight not just technical expertise, but trust, reliability, and foresight. One client wrote:
"Anton is an incredibly talented software engineer. His deep knowledge of business sets him apart from other developers. He can guide in a way that maximises investment not just what's technically possible. Highly recommended."
— Zackary Allnutt, 2019
"I hired Anton to assist with a client's WooCommerce integration. He responded quickly and professionally. His custom coded plugin integrated seamlessly with our pages and tabs. QA review was smooth, and the live move was even easier. Anton was a pleasure to work with and I would recommend him for any WordPress / WooCommerce based project."
— John Axne, 2017
"I've brought Anton onboard several projects and his development skills have been invaluable. He delivers solid products on time and at reasonable cost. I plan to use Anton for future projects and recommend him highly."
— Jonathan Silverman, 2017
Positioning for the Next Leap
By 2020, my consultancy work had matured into something bigger than freelancing. I was running projects across multiple industries, handling sensitive data, and architecting scalable platforms. My toolkit had also evolved:
- Node.js for backend development
- React for modern frontends
- PostgreSQL for robust data management
I was moving steadily into cloud-native development. This was the bridge: from independent consultant to SaaS architect — the role that would dominate the next phase of my career.