About this experience

At Aïkan, I worked on the maintenance and enhancement of a SaaS platform designed for insurers and brokers.
The solution managed the entire client and contract lifecycle, serving a wide range of stakeholders, including international groups such as Turo.

This experience immersed me in a unique technical environment built around vTemplate, an open-source framework from 2004.
Despite its age, I was impressed by its raw performance — its full server-side rendering approach (pure PHP) delivered incredibly fast load times, almost like a precursor to modern SSR frameworks.
While the framework was stable, it required a very different mindset from today’s standards (Laravel, Symfony, etc.).

Through this, I learned to work efficiently within legacy systems, handle PHP compatibility challenges (notably the migration to PHP 8), and maintain a high-performance platform based primarily on server-side logic.

Initially hired to participate in a Laravel refactor project, I eventually focused on client requests and maintenance tasks.
Nonetheless, I conducted an in-depth analysis of the existing data model (20–40 tables) in preparation for a future migration, identifying the system’s structural complexities and refactoring opportunities.

Main responsibilities

Maintenance and evolution of the SaaS platform

• Debugged and improved a mission-critical SaaS solution used daily by insurance professionals
• Developed new features while working within the limits of an old technical stack
• Adapted continuously to the vTemplate framework’s unique syntax and architecture

Working with an old open-source framework (vTemplate – 2004)

• Understood and manipulated a historical full-PHP framework with strong server-side performance
• Managed an “early SSR” approach with highly optimized rendering times
• Resolved PHP compatibility issues related to version upgrades (especially PHP 8)
• Gained insight into old-school development patterns structured around templates and a minimal MVC model

Custom export scripts (CSV generation)

A significant part of my work involved creating custom CSV export scripts for:

• insurers,
• brokers,
• international partners.

Each export required unique business logic, data mapping, and exception handling.
These exports were essential for transmitting policyholder data to external partners.

SaaS environment management

Each client on the platform had an isolated environment. I was responsible for:

• creating new client environments (e.g., Turo),
• configuring access credentials and settings,
• managing onboarding and communication with client teams.

Preparing for the Laravel migration

Even though the migration project was not yet launched, I contributed to the technical groundwork by:

• studying the database schema (20–40 tables),
• understanding the existing business logic,
• identifying key areas for future restructuring,
• considering UI/UX continuity to ensure a smooth client transition.

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Summary

My experience at Aïkan gave me valuable exposure to legacy code maintenance and technical adaptation.
I learned how to operate efficiently in a non-standard, old but robust environment, and how to analyze and prepare a system for modernization.

Beyond technical skills, this role taught me adaptability, patience, and precision — essential qualities when working with long-standing production systems while planning for future refactors.