eTarifare V2 — Legacy Modernization

Situation

The client was running a mission-critical traffic tax system on a legacy PHP stack that was difficult to scale, hard to maintain, and lacked modern security standards. The project required rebuilding complex legacy modules while preserving existing business logic, migrating legacy data safely, maintaining system performance and security, and integrating secure payment gateway flows within a tight delivery schedule.

Task

Modernize and rebuild a critical traffic tax control system used by citizens, transport operators, and administrative authorities in Romania, replacing outdated legacy infrastructure with a maintainable and scalable modern application.

Solution

Led the backend engineer team of eTarifare V2, restructuring the application around a modern modular monolithic architecture with RESTful APIs.

Rebuilding core legacy functionality into modern Laravel modules.
Preserving existing business logic during modernization.
Designing scalable architecture for complex, high-stakes features.
Establishing modern Laravel development patterns and coding practices.
Integrating secure payment gateway flows.
Refactoring the codebase for long-term maintainability.
Supporting production deployment on Linux VPS infrastructure.
Using AI-assisted / AI-first development approaches to accelerate feature implementation.

Contribution

As Technical Leader, I was responsible for the technical direction and ground-up modernization of the system. I:

Designed and proposed the overall application architecture.
Led the technical implementation of the V2 rebuild.
Designed scalable architectural solutions for complex features.
Restructured the codebase from the ground up.
Converted complex legacy modules into modern modules without losing business logic.
Guided backend engineers in Laravel best practices and modern design patterns.
Established and enforced code quality standards.
Reviewed architectural and implementation decisions.
Mentored and managed the backend engineering team.
Guided the integration of payment gateway functionality.
Used AI-assisted development techniques to accelerate important feature development.

Technologies

Languages: PHP
Frameworks / Libraries: Laravel
Databases / Storage: MySQL
API / Integration: RESTful APIs, Payment Gateway Integration
Cloud / Infrastructure: Linux VPS, Web application infrastructure
DevOps / CI/CD: GitLab, Laravel deployment pipelines
AI / Development: AI-assisted / AI-first development

Results

Successfully delivered eTarifare V2 into production.
Modernized the architecture of a critical traffic tax control system.
Rebuilt core legacy functionality using Laravel and a modular monolithic architecture.
Improved overall system performance.
Improved code maintainability and development flexibility.
Established modern engineering and Laravel development practices.
Enabled continued development of complex features on the modernized platform.