Picture of Ben Friedland

Ben Friedland

resume@bugben.com

http://www.bugben.com

A full-stack software engineer in the Bay Area, California

Profile Summary


Links


Superpowers

Web Application Development

Python, Django, Django Rest Framework, Flask, React, HTML5, JavaScript/ES6, Material UI, Bootstrap

Programming Languages

Python, JavaScript ES6, Microsoft .NET, C#, SQL, Bash

Databases

MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle

Testing

Python unittest, pytest, Test Driven Development (TDD), Selenium, CI (Jenkins, Bamboo, Travis CI), Page Models, Test Reporting

Other Skills

Bash (shell scripting), Zsh, VIM, Tmux/screen, ORM, GIT, Heroku, Amazon (EC2, S3, Boto, Elastic Beanstalk, Route 53, RDS, Lambda), Docker, Docker Compose, Vagrant, Apache, GIS, Reporting, Video/Audio Processing and Production, Graphic Design, Image Editing


Community Contributions

Grumpy Bot
A text message partner using OpenAI / ChatGPT.

Integrates with OpenAI API to invoke a conversation with a less-than-polite bot. Feel free to try it out, send a friendly conversation opener to: 717-746-9969.

  • Send a text to: 717-746-9969
  • Don't worry, your number is safe. In fact, I don't even store or log texts sent to this number.
HSTS Super Cookie
Creates a HSTS Supercookie to fingerprint a browser

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is a web security standard implemented by browsers via a Response header which instructs the browser to send subsequent requests to this particular URL over HTTPS, even if the original request was made using HTTP. When a browser receives a HSTS instruction, that instruction is retained no matter what. Even if you go incognito or private. This is a proof of concept self-hosted application which will lay a 'super cookie' using the HSTS web standard.

BART Crimes
A site to publish daily crime reports on BART

BART chose to stop publishing daily crime reports, and turned it into an email list which requires approval. This site is an attempt to bring back this public information.

Featured in SF Chronicle, SF Weekly, KRON4 News, KTVU Channel 2 News, and East Bay Times.

Shower Texts
A service to send a daily Shower Thought to your phone.

A web application which allows users to sign up and receive a daily bit of inspiration from Reddit's ShowerThoughts subreddit. Pulls the top post of the day and sends it to all subscribers.

Featured in Wired Magazine's Gear section:

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/4-new-apps-use-shower-texts-bar-roulette/

Git Draw
A Chrome Extension which allows you to draw pictures in your GitHub heat map.

This is a Chrome extension which will allow you to freely draw on your GitHub heat map. You can then export your drawing to a script containing a git commit log. Once you've run and pushed this script to a new repository, your commit log will match the drawing you made. Listed on GitHub's Trending Repositories on the day it was released.

Rick Roulette
A Chrome Extension so you can finally Rick Roll yourself.

This is a Chrome Extension which will randomly Rick Roll you.

Whenever you visit a YouTube page, you'll have a 1 in N chance of having the video element replaced with a Rick Roll. The value of N is 6 by default but you can configure this to whatever number you choose.

Riker Ipsum
Generates text - like lorem ipsum - but uses real English. Taken from random samplings of dialog spoken by Commander William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation

Generates random text using real English - taken from random samplings of the entire catalog of dialog spoken by Commander William Riker in every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Useful for provisioning sample data to test a DB, or creating filler text for a design.

Since the entire catalog of dialog from every episode is included, endless possibilites of gibberish can be expected.

Profanity
A library to check for (and censor) profanity in text strings.

This library was designed to be an easy way to check text for inappropriate content. It includes a basic word list and can be used with custom word lists.

This package has been submitted to PyPI and can be installed with a simple: pip install profanity

PyDvorak
A Python curses application to help teach the Dvorak keymap.

A console application written in Python to help teach me to type in Dvorak - which is an alternative to the Qwerty keymap.

Home Control
An application for home automation

Pre-dating Amazon Alexa and other home assistants, I wrote this for similar functionality. Parses your voice and executes commands based on input.

Some commands it understands:

'Turn office lights on'
'Turn the house red.'
'Turn upstairs lights blue.'
'Set temperature to 68'
'Turn living room into a rainbow.'
'Set staircase brightness to 5.' (1-10 scale)

Bo.gg
An open source calorie tracker for nerds.

(under development)

A command-line focused calorie tracker which focuses on simplicity, privacy, uptime, and open source. I started this project in early 2016 as a solution for people who just want a simple way to log their calories/fitness without using all the silly apps that are available today. I'm working on this project daily and plan to release it in Summer, 2016.

My Resume
A Django project which hosts my resume.

My resume itself was a project of its own. Written in Python/Django - it makes it way easier to maintain my profile. And since all the data is stored in a database - it is easy to export my resume in any format.

I have released the source on GitHub for anyone to view and/or use.


Experience

Zenefits
Principal Engineer

San Francisco, CA
March, 2016 - Current

Shape Security
Tools / Automation Software Engineer

Mountain View, California
February, 2015 - March, 2016

Clutter
Principal Architect / First Hire

Los Angeles, CA (Working remote from SF Bay Area)
December, 2013 - December, 2017

KIXEYE
Lead Tools Engineer

San Francisco, California
August, 2013 - March, 2014

TiVo
Senior Unix Engineer / Tools Developer

Santa Clara, California
June, 2011 - August, 2013

MedicAlert Foundation
Senior Software Engineer

Turlock, California
November, 2008 - June, 2011

American Medical Response
Senior Software Engineer

Modesto, California
November, 2006 - November, 2008

MedicAlert Foundation
.NET Engineer (Consultant)

Turlock, California
January, 2006 - July, 2006

Stanislaus County Superior Court
.NET Engineer (Consultant)

Modesto, California
July, 2004 - December, 2005

LowerMyBills.com
.NET Engineer

Santa Monica, California
November, 2003 - June, 2004

University of Southern California (USC)
Software Developer - Consultant

Los Angeles, California
February, 2013 - August, 2013

California CAD Solutions
Senior Programmer / Architect

Modesto, California
December, 2001 - October, 2003 / June, 1999 - January, 2000

Therapeutic Research, Inc.
Contract Position: Application Developer / Database Architect

Stockton, California
October, 2000 - July, 2001

Admail West
Team Leader, Intranet Application Development

Sacramento, California
June, 2000 - October, 2000

KeraVision, Inc.
Contract Position: ColdFusion Developer

San Rafael, California
June, 2000

marchFIRST, Inc.
ColdFusion Developer

San Francisco, California
January, 2000 - June, 2000

Big Valley Internet
Webmaster

Ceres, California
April, 1998 - June, 1999