Ben Congdon
Staff Software Engineer at Databricks
Seattle, Washington, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolBen Congdon is a Staff Software Engineer in Seattle with a decade of experience designing and optimizing distributed systems for reliability and performance, currently building at Databricks after senior roles at Google. He combines deep back-end expertise with DevOps and full‑stack experience, contributing to prominent open-source projects like Zappa (serverless Python), lnd (Lightning Network), and Manifold Markets. Ben’s work frequently focuses on pragmatic system improvements—API enhancements, DNS/certificate automation, and workflow tooling—that make complex systems easier to operate and reason about. A UIUC CS graduate, he publishes technical writing and maintains OSS repositories, signaling a habit of turning curiosity into sharable engineering impact.
11 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor’s Degree Computer Science, Bachelor’s Degree Computer Science at University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignHigh School, High School at Inglemoor High School
Stackoverflow
137reputation
405reached
2answers
1question
Github Skills (64)
lightning10
data-visualizations10
route5310
rss10
git10
javascript10
postgresql10
python10
apidoc10
matplotlib10
testing10
aws-lambda10
bitcoin10
data-visualisation10
workflow-engine10
Programming languages (17)
Github contributions (5)
miniflux/v2
Nov 2020 - Sep 2021
Minimalist and opinionated feed reader
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:1 review, 5 commits, 4 PRs in 10 months
Contributions summary:Ben contributed to the back-end functionality of the feed reader, implementing API routes for marking entries and categories as read, and also for marking entries read for a user. They added functionality to set a global default User-Agent header and updated the configuration to include it, alongside updating the man page. The changes included updates to the data model, database schema, and API client to support the new features.
golangletsencryptrssrss-readerminimalist
Miserlou/Zappa
Feb 2017 - Feb 2018
Serverless Python
Role in this project:Back-end Developer & DevOps Engineer
Back-end Developer & DevOps EngineerContributions:15 commits, 11 PRs, 21 comments in 1 year
Contributions summary:Ben contributed significantly to enhancing the Zappa framework's functionality. They improved domain name management, added support for API payload compression, and integrated features related to custom certificates and Route53 DNS settings. Moreover, the user implemented testing for non-Route53 DNS handling and refactored settings related to Route53 configuration. The user also addressed documentation and import issues, indicating a focus on improving the framework's overall usability and maintainability.
pythonserverlesszappaapi-gatewayaws-lambda
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