Ben Keegan
Software Engineer
Full stack developer with over 2 years experience designing, building, and deploying applications for web and mobile
About Me
Hello! My name is Ben and I am a Software Engineer from Liverpool, England. My initial interest in coding stemmed from my longterm curiosity and desire to understand how things work. It wasn't until I took my first Computer Science class at Duke University that I realized just how much fun I had building software. Ever since, I have fallen in love with bringing ideas to life, designing and building digital experiences that leave a longlasting impression on everyone that uses them!In my Senior Year at Duke, I had the privilege of co-founding a start-up, Pathbreaker, a social travel-mapping platform. I moved to San Francisco and spent 18 months designing and building full stack applications to bring Pathbreaker to life on web, iOS, and Android.I spent the following 13 months as a Full Stack Software Engineer at Study.comworking to make education accessible. Here, I led and worked on projects that have delivered impactful educational technology solutions for Teachers and Students. I am now eager to join a dynamic team and I am confident in my ability to contribute positively and significantly to any organization.
Skills
Languages
Java
Javascript/Typescript
Python
SQL
C/C++
GraphQL
Swift
Frontend
React/React Native
State Management - Redux, React Context, Mobx
HTML5 & CSS3/SASS/LESS
Angular
UI/UX Design
Next.js
Backend
Java Spring Framework
REST API Design
JPA & Hibernate
Flask
Django
Node.js & Express
Relational Database Design
gRPC
Quality
Selenium
TestNG
Test Coverage Design across Unit, Functional, Integration, and End-to-End Tests
Jest
JUnit
PyTest
Tools
Git
OpenAI & Prompt Engineering
GitHub/Crucible Code Review tools
Splunk
Apache Maven
Jira
Jenkins
Firebase
Docker
Xcode
Android Studio
General
Object Oriented Programming
Functional Programming
Code Review Practices
Software Architecture Design
Responsive UI Design
Cookies & Caching Strategies
HTTP & DNS Protocol
Load Reduction & Performance Optimization
Database Query Optimization
Agile/Scrum Methodologies
DevOps & CI/CD Practices
Work Experience
Software Engineer @ Study.com
Feb 2023 - Mar 2024 · Mountain View, CA
- Led development on Active Learning initiative for K-12 product, building a comprehensive suite of highly requested features for Teachers and Students including bookmarks, interactive video slides, graphic organizer activities, and new practice question types, contributing to a new sales demo that secured millions of dollars of pipeline revenue and renewals, including the largest renewal in company history
- Drove initiatives to position the company as a leader in educational AI technology: won Team of the Quarter with an AI Tutor and AI Teaching Assistant; team leader in annual Hackathon finishing 2nd place amongst 22 teams with novel AI text analysis assistant.
- Accelerated company goal of aligning educational content with state standards, engineering full stack and database solutions incl. developing a curriculum navigator to facilitate relevant lesson and practice discovery, and mapping asset pages to state standard codes for teachers across all 50 states
- Implemented 10+ successful A/B tests including video paywall CTA and new lesson landing page for paid traffic that drove a 15% increase in registrations and revenue on the most visited asset page across the site.
- Improved code maintainability and readability by enhancing code review processes, resulting in a 20% reduction in bug fixes post-release. Advocated for, executed, and ensured best practices on my team in automated test coverage in my role as Quality Champion
Some Projects I’ve Built
Featured Project
Pathbreaker Web
Web app for building informational travel paths on an interactive map. Represent your journeys with greater granularity - show where you went, what you did there, and how you navigated between places. Build your passport to contextualize your travels, showing important factors that influence how you move.- Javascript
- React
- Mapbox
- Python
- Flask
- SQLAlchemy
- Firebase
- Cloudflare
Featured Project
Pathbreaker Mobile
iOS and Android mobile platform for building and sharing your travels. Map your journeys as an interactive path, showing where you went, what you did there, and how you navigated between places. Build your passport to contextualize your travels, showing important factors that influence how you move. Share your travels, and see highlights of your friends' favorite trips.- Javascript/Typescript
- React Native
- Mapbox
- Python
- Flask
- SQLAlchemy
- Firebase
Featured Project
Spotemy
Web app for visualizing personalized Spotify data and generating music recommendations with OpenAI. View your playlists, top artists, top tracks, recently played tracks, and detailed track information. Generate recommendations based on your favorite songs, artists, and albums.- Typescript
- React
- Next.js
- Styled Components
- Spotify API
- OpenAI
Featured Project
Portfolio Site
Personal portfolio site with links to resume, work experience, and projects.- Typescript
- React
- Next.js
- Styled Components
Other Projects
gRPC Image Processing Service
Command Line Python gRPC service for processing images pixel by pixel, applying rotations and/or mean filtersDuke Marketplace Web Application
My first full stack web application, built for college class project. Duke eBay-style marketplace web application where students can list items, search through item directory, and make a 'mock' purchase.Spotify Stats Mobile App
React Native app I made to explore the Spotify API - view your playlists, top artists, top tracks, recently played tracks, and detailed track information.Football Brickbreaker
Champions League style Brickbreaker game, built for Duke class project with Java FX.Tower Defense Game Engine
Large group project built for Duke class. We built a Game Engine for authoring, building, and running interactive Tower Defense games.Cellular Automata Simulator
Cellular Automata Simulator build to run various simulations such as Conway's Game of Life, Fire, Percolation, and Predator Prey