# Donnie Ellstrom

> Staff Software Engineer @ Betterworks, Certified AWS Developer

Location: Greater Seattle Area, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/donnie

I am a Software Engineer with a passion for the natural sciences and technology. I have experience programming in JavaScript/Typescript, Python, and Golang utilizing frameworks including Node/Express, Angular, React, & Django.

At Betterworks we strive to build world-class HR talent management solutions aimed at enabling exceptional performance by putting employee experience at the heart of how companies align, motivate, retain and develop their people.

## Work Experience
### Staff Software Engineer @ Betterworks
Jan 2024 – Present | Seattle, WA

### Senior Software Engineer @ Betterworks
Jan 2021 – Jan 2024 | Seattle, Washington, United States
- Designed and implemented notification engine in Golang leveraging event-drive architecture to reliably provide customer notifications across various channels.

- Designed and implemented custom content repository to automate notification template creation and translations, providing customers with flexible controls for tailoring dynamic content.

- Developed and delivered contract-derived OAS spec-compliant public API documentation, ensuring customers have access to comprehensive and strongly typed resource definitions. Implemented CICD pipelines to enable autonomous updates.

- Refactored the customer-facing API to adhere to OpenAPI 3 specifications, providing internal development teams and customers with industry-standard tooling for documentation and generating API client code.

- Designed and implemented microservices in Golang to handle RBAC application authorization, utilizing gRPC and Protocol Buffer for efficient communication.

- Developed Python and Node SDKs to facilitate seamless communication with language-agnostic microservices.

- Enhanced the local development workflow by integrating Docker containers, streamlining the development process and improving consistency across environments.

- Implemented robust CICD pipelines using GitHub Actions and CircleCI, ensuring code quality and testing coverage through automated processes.

### Software Engineer @ Fresh Consulting
Jan 2018 – Jan 2021 | Greater Seattle Area
Contributed to internal and public-facing applications serving customers in the commercial real estate and health insurance sectors. I utilized modern JavaScript frameworks (Angular & React) along with Python-supported server technology (Django) to provide cutting-edge services to commercial real estate brokers and the general public. Developed cloud infrastructure (AWS Certified) and resource containers (Docker).

Symetra:

- Served as frontend developer lead for a public-facing health insurance portal, offering automated and accessible customer data via Angular and .NET technology frameworks.

- Mentored developers and architected cloud infrastructure to support CI/CD in Azure and AWS.
Enforced code quality and best practices for a growing team of developers all contributing simultaneously.

CBRE:

- Made extensive contributions to a major platform migration (AngularJS -> React), including implementing an intermediary solution to ensure stability in customer experience and new feature cadence.

- Launched a major feature within the flagship commercial real estate product to enable automatic submission of commercial real estate deals, processing over $2 billion USD in 2019.

- Implemented a React-based metrics platform with interactive graphs via D3 to empower the data science team with automated platform metrics.

Contributed to cloud architecture (AWS), server-side (Django), and frontend (React) features for a public-facing web application servicing commercial real estate customers in the San Francisco area.
Provided engineering solutions for interfacing with the Microsoft Graph API to enable platform syncing of customer contacts and emails.

### Junior Software Engineer @ Fresh Consulting
Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | Bellevue, Washington, United States
Worked with CBRE to build international commercial property voucher processing platform using Angular and Django with a focus on:
  - Accessibility
  - Internationalization
  - Performance
  - Modern UI with reusable components

### Web Development Immersive Student @ General Assembly
Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Seattle, WA
Studied full stack web development and garnered skills in Javascript, Python, modern frameworks (Angular, React, Node, Django), popular database applications (MongoDB, postgreSQL) and user experience focused web design via HTML5/CSS3. Completed 6 project sprints using agile workflow methodologies and version control.

### Head of Settlements - Alaska Commercial Fishing Vessels @ In-Balance Bookkeeping, LLC DBA Vessel Management
Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 | Greater Seattle Area
Managed incoming packer data for +$35 million in commercial fishing revenue. Provided customer support for day-to-day operations and processed AP / AR. Prepared and dispersed crew settlements for multiple seasons across +20 clients / vessels.


## Education
### Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology
University of Arizona

### Web Development Immersive in Computer Software Engineering
General Assembly


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/donnie-ellstrom
- Website: https://donnellstrom.com

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