benny\
Career Profile
Over the past 9 years, I have been both a mechanical engineer and software developer within the fields of building design, medical devices, and turbomachinery, specializing in CAD automation. From curtain wall extrusions on skyscrapers to complex injection molded parts in medical devices to massive agitation tanks in paper mills, my experience is both vast and varied. My mechanical design skills are complimented well by my ability to develop software that automates the surrounding processes, increasing both efficiency and productivity. I have developed a wide range of solutions covering everything from automatic model and drawing generation to database scraping utilities to continuous improvement tools. While my passion for mechanical design runs deep, my passion for software development (and my undying obsession with efficiency) runs deeper.
In short, I embrace challenges, take ownership, and have an unquenchable thirst for more knowledge.
Objective
- Transition into a role that focuses on software development, process improvement, and/or automation.
Education
- B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Massachusetts - Lowell (2009-2011)
- B.A. in Physics from Saint Anselm College (2006-2009)
Work Experience
-
Product Engineer, Valmet (2018-Present)
- Mechanical design of turbomachinery within the Pulp & Paper industry with a strong focus on CAD automation, finite element analysis (FEA), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
- Implemented product line automation using C# such that end users could enter a handful of inputs (or import an excel sheet), and all of the 3D models and drawings would be generated instantly, saving upwards of 40 hours of engineering time per order and, in one particular instance, $50,000 per year.
- Automated CFD analysis runs via Python scripts, saving days of wasted runtime.
- Wrote several database (SQL Server & Autodesk Vault) scraping programs to help IT migrate CAD data between systems - completed in C#.
- Developed and deployed a design checklist application to the engineering team that required engineers to check product based rules during the design phase in an effort to eliminate errors - written in C#, backed by SQLite.
- Integrated automatic update system for continuous deployment- written on top of the Heroku platform (Python).
- Managed overseas (India) CAD personnel, taking advantage of both cost and time zone differential.
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Mechanical Engineer, DEKA Research & Development (2012-2018)
- Mechanical design of medical devices including, but not limited to, dialysis machines, insulin pumps, and robotic arms.
- Spearheaded the release of a large (~1,000 unique parts) medical device (dialysis machine) to manufacturing.
- Redesigned device for manufacturability.
- Maintained top level assembly/BOM, checking the work of other engineers.
- Managed team of CAD technicians, orchestrating the timely release of drawings while maintaining accuracy.
- Coordinated with Manufacturing, QA, Electrical, Software, Controls, Service, and Purchasing departments to ensure a smooth product launch.
- CAD Export & Printing utilities (developed in C#), expediting file management and printing routines within the engineering change order process.
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Engineer, Ipswich Bay Glass (2011-2012)
- 2D/3D modeling of interior/exterior glazing applications.
- Design automation via AutoLISP/VBA/C#/VB.NET - automatic generation of curtain wall models and fabrication drawings.
Projects
-
CAD Automation Platform (2018 - Present)
- Allows engineers to automate their CAD documents by creating re-usable workflows that manipulate properties, parameters, and components within their CAD documents.
- Sole developer (C#); handled all development from concept to production - everything from the first prototype to the WiX installer. Some of the software features include: a responsive layout (adjusts based on user's screen size), a non-GUI blocking search filter using async methods, serialization/deserialization for saving/reusing workflows, undo/redo functionality, user settings, and extensive manipulation of object lists populated with CAD data.
- Developed a custom license management server (Python) that communicates with both the application and PayPal. Hosted on Heroku.
- Status: Beta Testing
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Discord Bot, Card Game (2020)
- Bot written in Python that deals various card games to Discord users. Hosted on Heroku.
- Status: In Progress
-
Static Site Generator, "benny\" (2019-Present)
- Static site generator written in both C# and Python that pulls the content from Github gists.
- Live demo can be found at https://bennybackslash.github.io/#Welcome
- Status: Completed
Technical Expertise
- C#
- Python
- HTML/CSS/JavaScript
- SQL Server/SQLite/PostgreSQL
- Autodesk Inventor/Dassault Solidworks/PTC Creo
- Various ERP, CRM, & PDM Systems including Autodesk Vault, Solidworks PDM, & PTC Windchill
- Nastran (FEA)
- Autodesk CFD