About me

I’m Ryan Jarrard — a Senior IT Systems Analyst and at VCU. I support servers, services, and the full lifecycle of custom web applications, with a focus on bringing clarity and simplicity to complex workflows.

I’ve worked in the IT field for over 25 years, spending time in help desk and desktop support, networking & information security, and application development. That breadth has shaped how I approach problems: with an eye for infrastructure, usability, maintainability, and the real-world needs of the people relying on the systems.

In recent years I’ve moved deeper into application development— mostly Laravel, MariaDB/MySQL, and higher-ed systems. I especially enjoy taking outdated or manual business processes and turning them into modern, reliable applications that reduce friction for faculty, staff, and students.

What I like working on

• Complex workflows where off-the-shelf software doesn’t quite fit
• Role-aware, multi-department systems with clear permissions and audit trails
• Migrating legacy PHP/Rails apps into a modern Laravel ecosystem
• Making admin interfaces and long forms feel less painful to use

What I use

• Laravel, Livewire, PHP
• MariaDB / MySQL
• Tailwind, Blade, a bit of Alpine/JS where needed
• Rocky Linux, Apache/Nginx, cron jobs, queues
• CAS / SSO and role-based access control in university environments

This site is a small overview of my work, approach, and ongoing projects. If you’d like to compare notes on workflows, registration systems, or building internal tools, feel free to reach out through the contact form.