Reed Hillmar

Web Developer • Software Engineer

About

Since graduating from the Turing School of Software & Design in 2024, I’ve worked in a freelance capacity with a digital marketing and design firm, helping build and maintain ~100 WordPress sites across a range of industries.

My work spans full site builds, design implementation from mockups, and ongoing maintenance. I regularly work within Avada and similar theme frameworks, customizing layouts, troubleshooting plugin conflicts, and ensuring sites match design intent across devices.

Beyond the front end, I handle the infrastructure that keeps sites running reliably — including hosting, DNS and CDN configuration, email delivery, and performance optimization. I’m comfortable diagnosing real-world issues like caching conflicts, broken styling, and third-party integration failures, and resolving them quickly.

What I Do

How I Do It

  • Theme customization
  • Plugin integration and customization
  • Custom layouts and responsive builds

  • DigitalOcean + OpenLiteSpeed
  • Cloudflare (DNS, CDN, caching)
  • SSL, domains, and migrations

  • Caching and CDN debugging
  • Plugin conflict resolution
  • Email delivery (SMTP, DNS records)

The best time to solve a problem is before it becomes a problem.

I approach each project with production in mind, focusing on performance reliability when the site is live. Considering potential issues early can help to avoid common pitfalls and leave room to handle unexpected problems when they arise.

Increased degrees of complexity leads to increased failure points.

When possible I prioritize clean configuration and proven tools over custom solutions in order to minimize maintenance and make the end product easier for clients to use.

Things break. The goal is to fix them quickly and correctly.

I rely on a structured approach: review logs, isolate variables, and test incrementally. I’ve worked through caching conflicts, plugin incompatibles, and database issues by focusing on addressing the cause rather than the symptom.

Portfolio

Strings Music Festival

Live Site: stringsmusicfestival.com

Summary
Migrated existing events from EventON to Events Calendar after plugin conflicts created stability concerns.

My Role

  • Event plugin migration
  • Exported, cleaned, and reformatted event data
  • Updated custom fields and Avada child theme integrations
  • Tested front-end event display and admin workflows

Key Tools
WordPress, Avada, Avada Child Theme, Events Calendar, EventON

Challenge & Solution
The old and new event plugins used different data structures. I mapped the existing event data into the new format and adjusted theme-level display logic so the transition felt seamless for both the client and site visitors.

CAESR

Live Site: caesr.com

Summary
Built subscription-based tools and gated content functionality for a client site with tiered user access needs.

My Role

  • Configured WooCommerce Memberships and Subscriptions
  • Built restricted-access tools and article sections
  • Created custom forms, tables, and graphs
  • Matched tool behavior and visual presentation to client specs

Key Tools
WordPress, WooCommerce, WooCommerce Memberships, WooCommerce Subscriptions, wpDataTables, Calculated Fields Form

Challenge & Solution
Much of the site’s value needed to live behind subscription tiers. I configured tier-based access rules and built interactive tools that only appeared to the appropriate users while keeping the experience clean and manageable for the client.

Northland Skis

Live Site: northlandskis.com

Summary
Helped build a new WordPress/WooCommerce site from the ground up, including hosting setup, DNS configuration, design implementation, and e-commerce setup.

My Role

  • Set up OpenLiteSpeed WordPress hosting on DigitalOcean
  • Configured DNS, SSL, and email-related records
  • Assisted with design implementation in Avada
  • Configured WooCommerce products, payments, and shipping
  • Set up core plugins for security, forms, and email delivery

Key Tools
WordPress, Avada, WooCommerce, DigitalOcean, OpenLiteSpeed, Cloudflare, Wordfence, Contact Form 7, WP Mail SMTP

Challenge & Solution
The client needed both a polished marketing site and a functional online storefront. I helped connect the front-end build with the operational pieces behind it, including WooCommerce configuration, shipping, payments, DNS, and email delivery.

Southwest Outside

Live Site: southwestoutside.com

Summary
Helped build and configure a new WordPress site from the ground up, including hosting, DNS, email delivery, forms, and front-end implementation.

My Role

  • Set up OpenLiteSpeed WordPress hosting on DigitalOcean
  • Configured DNS, SSL, and email-related records
  • Assisted with design implementation in Avada
  • Configured site forms and SMTP email delivery
  • Helped connect Google business/email services with WordPress

Key Tools
WordPress, Avada, DigitalOcean, OpenLiteSpeed, Cloudflare, Contact Form 7, WP Mail SMTP, Wordfence

Challenge & Solution
The site needed reliable contact forms, email delivery, and production hosting. I helped configure the full stack so the site could function dependably after launch.

Roberto’s Salsa

Live Site: robertos-salsa.com

Summary
Improved an existing WooCommerce site by streamlining sales, shipping, and fulfillment workflows.

My Role

  • Connected WooCommerce to the client’s UPS shipping account
  • Configured product and package dimensions
  • Improved shipping-rate accuracy
  • Helped simplify the client’s order fulfillment process

Key Tools
WordPress, WooCommerce, UPS Shipping, Product Configuration, Shipping Rules

Challenge & Solution
The client needed more accurate shipping costs and an easier fulfillment process. I configured WooCommerce products, packaging, and UPS integration so shipping rates better reflected real-world order handling.