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Ben Pochily, Software Developer in New York, NY, United States
Ben Pochily

Software Developer in New York, NY, United States

Member since December 15, 2020
As a consultant at Pivotal Labs, Ben advised and collaborated with teams at United Airlines, Allstate, and Blue Cross Blue Shield to deliver an impressive array of applications and APIs. He has crafted modern software products for over a decade, ranging from full-stack web apps to Linux loadable kernel modules and everything in between. Ben brings craftsmanship, creativity, and discipline from his classical music training to produce high-quality, thoroughly tested, and highly readable code.
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Portfolio

  • Hyperion
    Stripe API, JSON, REST APIs, ECMAScript (ES6), CSS, HTML...
  • NS8
    Stripe API, JSON, REST APIs, ECMAScript (ES6), CSS, HTML...
  • Pivotal Labs
    JSON, REST APIs, CSS, HTML, Software Architecture, DevOps, Architecture...

Experience

Location

New York, NY, United States

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Git, WebStorm, IntelliJ IDEA, MacOS

The most amazing...

...thing I've built is a hybrid AI algorithm, using principles of Monte Carlo search, machine learning, and heuristic evaluation to play the board game Monopoly.

Employment

  • Software Engineer (Co-team Lead)

    2020 - PRESENT
    Hyperion
    • Assisted with transforming a small, old-fashioned software department into a modern Agile team while serving as the co-team lead.
    • Played a central role in architecting the rewrite of a primary software product while simultaneously maintaining and interfacing with legacy systems.
    • Advocated for and implemented new processes, including continuous deployment, trunk-based development, and a focus on well-tested code.
    • Created and deployed several automated monitoring systems, catching multiple production incidents before customers were impacted.
    Technologies: Stripe API, JSON, REST APIs, ECMAScript (ES6), CSS, HTML, Software Architecture, DevOps, Architecture, AWS Lambda, Node.js, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Continuous Deployment, Test-driven Development (TDD), Agile, SQL, PHP, Docker, Grafana, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Angular, React, TypeScript

  • Software Engineer II (Team Lead)

    2020 - 2020
    NS8
    • Led a team of five engineers, providing technical guidance, enabling productivity, and promoting individual growth. Promoted to team lead after seven months at the company.
    • Designed, implemented, and oversaw the migration of customers to an updated product version with zero downtime and zero data loss.
    • Advocated for and participated in Agile software craftsmanship in a rapidly growing startup.
    Technologies: Stripe API, JSON, REST APIs, ECMAScript (ES6), CSS, HTML, Software Architecture, DevOps, Architecture, Serverless, AWS Lambda, Amazon DynamoDB, Node.js, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Test-driven Development (TDD), Agile, SQL, Stripe, Terraform, CircleCI, React, MySQL, TypeScript

  • Software Engineer

    2016 - 2017
    Pivotal Labs
    • Enabled and guided enterprise software teams to facilitate rapid Agile development and adherence to coding best practices while serving as a consultant.
    • Practiced the extreme programming methodology, including test-driven development and 100% pair programming.
    • Created a robust, user-friendly Android app used by United Airlines baggage handlers to scan, track, and load baggage.
    • Built a web application with Spring Boot and React/Redux, enabling Allstate call center associates to efficiently collect information and dispatch assistance to disabled vehicles.
    • Engineered a microservice-based API, facilitating reliable communication with more than 16 million Blue Cross Blue Shield policyholders by aggregating, organizing, and intelligently recommending contact info from multiple sources.
    • Created a Java/Spring API and Gemfire in-memory database, supplying lightning-fast access to Blue Cross Blue Shield basic member information.
    • Built a Kotlin API, performing pre-processing of insurance quote requests for CNA Insurance by integrating with existing SOAP and REST APIs.
    Technologies: JSON, REST APIs, CSS, HTML, Software Architecture, DevOps, Architecture, AWS Lambda, Continuous Deployment, Test-driven Development (TDD), Agile, Extreme Programming, SQL, JavaScript, Jenkins, Maven, Gradle, Docker, Android, Kotlin, Angular, React, Redux, Redis, Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF), RabbitMQ, IBM Db2, MySQL, Spring, Java

  • Computer Engineering Co-op

    2012 - 2012
    Assured Information Security
    • Documented Linux kernel internals and facilitated kernel-level development by prototyping Linux loadable kernel modules.
    • Conducted research and modeled applications, using proprietary techniques and classified information in a high-security environment.
    • Became an expert on the Linux ELF file format by creating several ELF loaders and utilities.
    Technologies: Agile, Operating Systems, Security, Linux, Linux Kernel Modules, Linux Kernel, C

Experience

  • Monopoly Artificial Intelligence
    https://bpochily.github.io/calculating-monopoly-probabilities

    One of my more exciting personal projects is artificial intelligence to play the board game, Monopoly. It's the first serious Monopoly AI ever created. This is an intriguing problem with quite a few unique challenges; most notably, a massive decision tree that is far larger than the trees in games like chess.

    To solve this problem, I devised a hybrid algorithm based on precomputed probability calculations, machine learning, and Monte Carlo tree search. The application uses a flexible, object-oriented design to facilitate customizable board configurations, house rules, and adaptive AI behavior. It’s still in progress, but when last benchmarked, it was able to simulate over 10,000 complete games of Monopoly per second!

    You can read more about the probability component of this project at the GitHub link provided.

Skills

  • Languages

    JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, C, SQL, HTML, ECMAScript (ES6), CoffeeScript, Kotlin, C++, Go, Python, PHP, CSS

  • Frameworks

    Spring, Express.js, Angular, Redux

  • Libraries/APIs

    Node.js, React, REST APIs, D3.js, Stripe, Stripe API

  • Paradigms

    Clean Code, Test-driven Development (TDD), Extreme Programming, Agile, Continuous Deployment, DevOps

  • Other

    Music, Collaboration, Software Engineering, Linux Kernel, Linux Kernel Modules, Operating Systems, Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Genetic Algorithms, Calculus, Teamwork, Serverless, Architecture, Software Architecture

  • Platforms

    Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Android, Linux, MacOS, AWS Lambda

  • Storage

    PostgreSQL, MySQL, JSON, MongoDB, IBM Db2, Redis, Amazon DynamoDB

  • Industry Expertise

    Security

  • Tools

    Grafana, CircleCI, Terraform, RabbitMQ, Gradle, Maven, Jenkins, IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, Git

Education

  • Double Master's Degree in Viola Performance and Chamber Music
    2017 - 2019
    University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI, USA
  • Immersive Program in Software Engineering
    2015 - 2016
    Hack Reactor - San Francisco, CA, USA
  • Bachelor's Degree in Viola Performance
    2012 - 2015
    Eastman School of Music - Rochester, NY, USA
  • Coursework Toward Bachelor Degrees in Computer Engineering and Viola Performance
    2010 - 2012
    Binghamton University - Vestal, NY, USA

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