Ben Leffler

March 2024 - PresentDuties:

Leverage PHP, Node.js, React, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and AWS to develop and maintain kitces.com public facing site.
Perform code review to aid deployment new features for front end and back end services.
Participate in Agile ceremonies to ensure a streamlined development cycle.
Provide input on design of Kitces Advicer Database to provide business reporting as well as a single source of truth for data across multiple services.

Noteworthy Contributions:

Implemented Continuing Education Quiz ‘resetting’ to alleviate workload for the Members Services team as well as the Platform team.
Designed and implemented internal administration tool to aid and simplify workflows across the entire organizaiton.

May 2019 - March 2024Duties:

Leverage Node.js, Vue/Vuex, Python, PostgreSQL, Redis, and ElasticSearch to develop new features for existing and new CMS for multiple clients
Perform code review to aid deployment of new features across organizations
Participate and foster Agile ceremonies to ensure a streamlined software development cycle for clients
Mentor and assist with onboarding of new contractors and full time developers
Perform peer coding exercise interviews for potential new Swarm developers

Noteworthy Contributions:

Is a ‘go-to’ senior engineer for a multinational news organization’s flagship initiative to rebuild their technology backend from the ground up for all of their digital offerings, including their website, mobile apps, and OTT app.
Implemented multiple core features of of the CMS, including real time collaboration between multiple editors on a page, and selective republishing of content on leaf content and landing pages
Refactored, and implemented the editing experience for image galleries which contributes to hundreds of millions of page views per month
Aided in the creation of the news organization’s video streaming service, creating the web front-end, editing interface, and the back-end service driving OTT streaming applications

January 2014 - April 2019Duties:

Managed the company AWS account including VPC, networking configuration using subnets and ACL, EC2, Elastic Beanstalk, SQS, and S3
Worked closely with security vendors to perform audits and pentests
Acted as DBA, managing shared replica-set MongoDB deployment

Noteworthy Contributions:

Designed, developed, and automated the deployment processes for all company microservices, which would pull latest changes for each service from Git and install dependencies and credentials. Ended up being adopted by multiple companies in the start up incubator
Designed and developed ETL systems to securely process large batch files containing client data, as well as event log data for use in ML processes
Designed and developed a scalable, high volume data processing and logging system that enabled real time processing of event data, a critical component of the ML stack

December 2011 - January 2014Duties:

Extended and developed multiple web applications to improve client experience and provide extra functionality using PHP and MySQL

Noteworthy Contributions:

Integrated with multiple third parties including Amazon, eBay, and Craigslist so sellers could list their products on multiple storefronts
Implemented many features of the eBay listing process including sales tax tables, multiple international ship-to locations, and multi-variation listings
Extended client credit application to send leads to USA Coverage, generating extra revenue stream for the company

March 2011 - December 2011Duties:

Maintain legacy web application allowing customers to customize their telephone on hold playlist and messaging.

Noteworthy Contributions:

Participated in planning of complete overhaul of existing software including database design, business logic, and user experience using C# ASP.net MVC and MSSQL
Extended the base SOAP class and consumed Fedex’s web service to integrate it into legacy shipping application to provide customers with more shipping options

Benjamin Leffler