Benjamin Keating
About Me
Born and raised in the midwest, I spent my 20s in San Francisco where I started as a UNIX System Administrator and went on to wear as many hats as I could. Silly hats included.
Heros of mine have used software I've created. Designs I've rendered have taken over subway stations and sold entire conference rooms. There is even a copy of the worlds languages floating around in outter space that I helped play a small role in. Someone pinch me.
Nowadays, I run the American Spreadsheet Company, whose main focus is creating high-quality, creative software solutions. I am a father to four incredible kids and enjoy making East Troy, Wisconsin a great place for tinkerers to call home. I also like producing computer music.
Full Stack Design Engineering
Over 27 years of experience has led me to that middle ground between Human-Computer Interaction and Software Engineering. The very magic that made me fall in love with computers is what I am passionately hoping to put back into the world. Solving complex problems more simply through better design. Intuitively skeuomorphic to seamlessly invisible; Whatever it takes to give people an exceptional connection to the machines.
Case Studies
Showcased Works Reflecting My journey in Full Stack Design Engineering and Creative Problem Solving.
Skills
27+ Years of experience and still waking up everyday excited to learn something new.
Leadership
- Team leadership and mentorship
- Project planning and management
- Stakeholder communication
- Client relationship building
- Budget management
- Agile methodologies
- Strategic planning
Design
- UI/UX and graphic design mastery
- Adobe Suite, Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD
- High-fidelity prototypes and wireframes
- Motion design & micro-interactions
- Scalable design systems architect
- Rapid prototyping and iteration
- Responsive-first design
Develop
- Web tech: JS, TS, HTML5, CSS3
- Frameworks: React, Vue, Angular, Next.js
- Databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB
- Backends: Node.js, Python, PHP
- Deployment: AWS, Azure, Vercel
- API design: REST, GraphQL
- CSS: Tailwind, Bootstrap
- Performance tuning
- Git power user
Systems
- Linux, MacOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD
- Containerization: Docker, Kubernetes
- Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, Kibana
- Hardware diagnostics, forensic analysis
- CI/CD: GitLab, GitHub Actions, CircleCI
- Network security: Wireshark, Nmap
- Infrastructure: Terraform, Ansible
- Cloud: AWS, GCP, Azure, Vercel
- Shell scripting: Bash, Zsh
Work History
Senior Software Engineer
Senior Software Engineer on the Global Measurements API Team, responsible for designing and developing APIs with a focus on data stream aggregation and telemetry to enhance the performance and reliability of power utility software. Created API load testing and benchmarking tools to ensure system robustness under high demand, while collaborating with an international team to deliver scalable solutions using Python, Django, AWS, and Datadog.
Director of UI/UX
Recruited by the CTO to lead innovative software solutions, I designed and developed a custom agricultural CRM system, replacing Microsoft Dynamics with Django, Svelte, and Mapbox-driven geospatial tools. Managing 50k customers across 60 locations, I boosted customer satisfaction from -90 to +73 (NPS), enhanced support with React-based Twilio Flex, and improved analytics via PowerBI.
Senior Software Engineer / UX Engineer
Earned AWS Cloud certification and advanced the internal design system as a Senior Software Engineer/UX Designer. Developed a Vue.js virtual athletic app and a React Native voice-to-text tool for compliance, while leading market research that grew the client base by 25% via B2B partnerships. Promoted Svelte and reactive programming through impactful talks.
Full-stack Developer
Product Marketing Engineer
Developed innovative hoop house monitoring and dairy farm automation software using AWS, Django, React, and GraphQL, adopted by major industry players. Led front-end design with RxJS and Apollo, designed 3D-printed hardware enclosures, and drove marketing strategies so impactful that expo bylaws were rewritten.
President, Board Member
Personal IT/Sysadmin Assistant
UNIX System Administrator
Sysadmin, Designer & Developer
Directed design systems for brand continuity, branding TEDxDeExtinction and designing standout logos for The Interval, Rosetta Project, and more, while launching a membership program that grew to over 12,000 members. Played a role in the ESA Rosetta Mission. Oversaw website redevelopment and migration using Django, jQuery, and MySQL, ensuring data integrity, and led a seamless server transition to AWS (EC2, S3, RDS, CloudFront), enhancing scalability and efficiency. Coordinated live events, managing A/V, speakers, and venue logistics with precision.
Designer, Programmer, Sysadmin
My career as a knowledge worker started here, when I was lucky enough to convince the boss to move me from the factory floor to the front office to help design our product brochures and establish a web presence. This eventually led to working with an investor and taking on the challenge of creating an inventory and invoicing system written on a LAMP stack.
Outside of Work
Founder, East Troy Computer Club
02013 — Present in East Troy, Wisconsin
- Presented on 70+ original topics
- Created and grew the club to 400+ Members
- Designed logos, and signage for community / local govt
- Led transparency projects, workshops, and mentorship
- Enhanced digital literacy and tech skills with educators
- Featured in PBS's Around the Corner with John McGivern (S04E13)
Life Calendar
Each square amounts to a week. Each row, a year. The red dot is now and the total sum represents 82 years of life. Slower is faster. Less is more. Enjoy it.
13th week of year 42