Publishing admin rebuild
React · @wordpress/data · REST
Replaced a maze of meta boxes with a routed admin SPA. Cut editorial workflow steps by roughly a third.
About
I'm Earle. I make WordPress act like a platform.
Senior web developer and architect in Sarasota, Florida. 20 years building things on the web, most of them with WordPress somewhere in the stack.
For a long time "WordPress developer" meant themes and plugins and not much more. That is not the job anymore. The interesting work now lives at the seam between WordPress and the modern JavaScript ecosystem: React running inside Gutenberg, Web Components bridging old themes, admin screens that feel like real software instead of forms from a decade ago.
This site is where I write it down. Patterns that held up in production, things I had to tear out and rebuild, and the occasional lesson I learned the hard way so you do not have to.
Currently: Senior WordPress Developer at Aristotle, building advocacy and political technology platformsExperience
Jun 2024 to present
Senior WordPress Developer
Aristotle · Washington, DC (remote)
Building and maintaining WordPress platforms for political advocacy, compliance, and campaign tooling. Custom Gutenberg blocks, REST integrations, and admin workflows that have to hold up under real election-cycle traffic and tight deadlines.
Mar 2020 to Jun 2024
Senior Web Developer Architect
DDC Public Affairs · Washington, DC
Led front-end architecture across public affairs and advocacy builds. React inside Gutenberg, custom block libraries, democracy-facing platforms, and the glue code that keeps legacy WordPress themes talking to modern JavaScript.
Feb 2012 to Mar 2020
Director of Development
Eleven11 Group · Tampa Bay area
Ran the dev team for an agency focused on nonprofits and mission-driven orgs. WordPress at scale, shared component libraries, client training, and enough project management to keep dozens of sites moving without everything living in one person's head.
Jan 2011 to Jan 2014
Backend Web Developer
Zealth web development
PHP, MySQL, custom plugins, and the unglamorous work of making WordPress do things it was not originally built for. This is where I learned how the database layer and hook system actually behave when a client asks for something weird.
2006 to 2012
Customer service staff and manager
Publix · Sarasota area
Started in retail customer service and moved into management at a Fortune 100 company. Sounds unrelated, but it shaped how I think about users, deadlines, and why your admin UI should not require a training manual.
Selected work
Custom block library
Gutenberg · TypeScript · esbuild
Shared block package used across three properties. One build pipeline, one design system, zero duplicate React copies.
Legacy theme bridge
Web Components · Shadow DOM
Dropped modern interactive modules into a theme the client could not afford to rewrite. No jQuery collisions, no framework lock-in.
What I work with
WordPress and CMS
Where most of my day-to-day work lives.
Modern front-end
The JavaScript side of WordPress projects.
Architecture and tooling
Build pipelines, performance, and how the pieces fit together.
Backend and data
The server side when WordPress needs more than posts and pages.
Leadership and delivery
Running projects and teams, not just writing code.
Industry context
Sectors where I have shipped production work.