# Benjamin West

> Senior Software Engineer at Optum

Location: Seattle, Washington, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/benjaminwest

As a Software Engineer, my mission is to continually improve myself and the things around me. I am drawn to learning new things and have an unquenchable desire to grow and adapt. I enjoy writing clean and reusable code, automating tasks, identifying and removing blockers, debugging layered issues, and moving in a fast but methodical direction. I truly believe in developing intuitive software with user empathy at my forefront.

I’m an enthusiastic collaborator that is excited to help develop solutions as a team. I believe in extreme ownership, extreme programming, and that software is truly a team sport. I would love to talk with you about my passion for developing software and how my personality, drive, and experience would fit into your team. Let's connect!

Languages (strong): Typescript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS/Sass, Shell
Languages (learning/familiarity): C#, SQL
Libraries/Frameworks (strong): React, Redux
Runtime environments (learning/familiarity): Nodejs
Testing: Jest, React Testing Library
Tools: Git, Github, Webstorm, VSCode, Webpack, Devtools, Visual Studio, Intellij,  Vi

## Work Experience
### Senior Software Engineer @ Optum
Jan 2022 – Present
- Led design and implementation of a framework-agnostic proxy system for Amazon Connect Chat, providing imperative API methods alongside an integrated event system, empowering partner portals to rapidly reuse code and significantly reduce engineering costs

- Owned backend architecture for a large-scale, distributed, notifications system, leveraging AWS Lambdas, EventBridge, AppSync with GraphQL, SQS, DynamoDB, and RDS

- Architected and developed a Node.js service to support runtime-configurable settings (e.g., domain whitelists), enabling dynamic updates without redeployment and reducing operational overhead

- Drove discussions in architecture meetings, providing direction on frontend design, backend integrations, scalability, and maintainability

- Stepped up as needed to serve as a lead developer, mentoring teammates, improving code review standards, and driving best practices

### Software Engineer @ LiquidPlanner
Jan 2019 – Jan 2022 | Seattle, Washington
- Re-architected top-level React routing system, reducing complexity and enabling future feature growth

- Refactored and modernized legacy class components into functional components with TypeScript, improving maintainability and type safety

- Collaborated closely with product designers to deliver intuitive, user-friendly project management views and features (e.g., Dashboard Library, Admin, Disconnected User flow)

- Championed XP (pair programming) practices of test-driven development, continuous integration, and strengthening team knowledge and delivery

- Owned the CSS/Sass/BEM architecture and provided technical leadership

### Teaching Assistant @ Code Fellows
Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | Seattle, Washington
- Troubleshoot full-stack applications and deployments in MERN, AWS, Heroku, and Azure
- Aide students in understanding data structures, algorithms, and applied concepts for white-boarding interviews
- Lead daily scrum for 4 separate agile project teams

### Freelance Software Engineer @ Independant Contractor
Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | Greater Seattle Area
Consulting in full-stack web applications, hosting, and deployment services.

### Systems Administrator @ Composites One
Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | Arlington Heights, IL
- Researched and integrated Docker, SAN Storage, Pacemaker, and Xen Windows
- Automated instrumental tasks with bash, resulting in significant reduction in time on support and monitoring
- Streamlined deployment process with remarkable improvements to error handling / reporting
- Provided end-to-end support on code release cadences, compilers, and deployments
- Served as lead admin maintaining complete health of all HPE enclosures, standalone webservers, and server blades on-prem and within tier 3 data center
- Assured 99.95% uptime on all live services by maintaining n + n redundancy in both hardware and highly available resource clusters
- Integrated Dialogflow API with an Azure bot channel for a custom Microsoft Teams bot


## Education
### Associate's degree in Information Technology & Music
College of Lake County
Jan 2008 – Jan 2013

### HP-UX System and Network Administration I in HPE Systems Administration
HPE
Jan 2017 – Jan 2017

### HP-UX 5143S: Unix Fundamentals in HPE Systems Administration
HPE
Jan 2016 – Jan 2016

### High School Diploma in General Education
Antioch Community High School
Jan 2002 – Jan 2006


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bgwest
- GitHub: https://github.com/bgwest
- Website: https://linuxacademy.com/profile/show/user/name/bgwest

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Source: https://flows.cv/benjaminwest
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/benjaminwest/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-03-22