Nate Bennett

About

Designer and

full-stack developer.

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Passionate about the outdoors, great people, and creating beautiful technology experiences.

 

Nate Bennett

I’m a designer and developer based in Boulder, CO. I graduated in May 2020 from a technical design program called Creative Technology and Design at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering.

During my time at college, I explored pretty much every form of design that involves technology, including graphic design, photography and videography, game design, physical computing, product design, music production, and more. All of the projects on my portfolio exhibit one (or more!) of these skills that I learned during my time at CU.

After college, I worked at Talus Analytics as a full-stack developer, telling stories through data and building websites to help people understand what’s happening in the world. After that, I worked for the outdoor & travel gear company Cotopaxi, designing and building features to enhance their online store and improve workflows for their e-commerce team.

When I’m not coding or designing, I try to be in nature and with friends as much as possible. I love backpacking, climbing, mountain biking, skiing, and mountaineering my way through Colorado and beyond.

In my spare time, I am also a member of Boulder County’s mountain search and rescue team, helping to locate, provide medical care for, and assist people who get into trouble in the outdoors.

 

Resume

Education

University of Colorado Boulder, College of Engineering // May 2020 // 3.98 Cumulative GPA - summa cum laude
Bachelor of Science in Creative Technology & Design

Experience

Full Stack Engineer, Cotopaxi // Mar 2022 – July 2024
Designed, built, and shipped internal and user-facing features to support Cotopaxi’s e‑commerce team and online storefront, optimize workflows, and improve efficiency.

  • Modernized frontend tech stack for storefront and reconfigured build process to enable hot-reloaded development and faster deployments

  • Implemented CI/CD pipelines for all codebases, including storefront & API servers

  • Spearheaded the introduction of automated testing framework for mission-critical APIs

  • Led cross-team meetings to discuss ongoing projects and day-to-day concerns

  • Reduced latency between systems using webhooks to revamp data sync processes

Full Stack Developer, Talus Analytics // July 2020 – Mar 2022
Constructed several data visualization dashboards and helped to develop novel frameworks and APIs for data ingest, maintenance, and access.

  • Built out complex, data-powered web apps with bespoke visualizations using React/Gatsby frontends, Python/PostgreSQL backends and AWS infrastructure

  • Contributed to decisions surrounding data ontology and taxonomy, UI/UX design, database architecture, technology stack, and geospatial data handling

  • Brought to market a new alert forecasting dashboard for healthcare facility data, including design, development, and product demonstrations with potential clients

Front-End Web Developer, Open Source Hardware Association // July 2019 – May 2020
Maintained and developed system of Wordpress websites for the Open Source Hardware Association, migrated sites from Squarespace to Wordpress platform, organized and styled dynamic content, managed DNS and SSL updates.

Freelance Digital Artist, Danone North America // May 2019 – June 2019
Produced vector artwork and photo composites; developed professional large-format materials to be displayed at Danone North America’s National Sales Conference, including signage and posters for merchandise and advertising.

Front-End Web Developer, Engineering Excellence Fund // May 2019 – Dec 2019
Worked to complete a full redesign of the Engineering Excellence Fund's website, including improvements in content structuring, cohesive styling, and interactivity. Developed the front-end interface to support a funding proposal submission system and searchable database.

Teaching Assistant, University of Colorado Boulder // Jan 2019 – May 2020
Coordinate with instructor and teach class of 12 students for a physical computing course; explain concepts, assist with labs and projects, help grade assignments and provide feedback.

Mountain Bike Instructor, Avid4 Adventure // May 2018 – Aug 2018
Seasonal instructor for single-sport mountain biking camps and multisport adventure camps including kayaking, canoeing, hiking, mountain biking and rock climbing. Worked with kids from 6-12 years old, helping them to grow confidence, challenge themselves and develop critical thinking skills for taking calculated risks in the outdoors. Presented parents with regular feedback about their children's development and areas for further attention.

Resident Advisor, University of Colorado Boulder // Aug 2017 – May 2020
Managed floor of 40 residents; connected with students frequently and helped them navigate college, enforced community and safety standards, mediated conflicts and documented incidents.

Skills

Design
Adobe Premiere, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and Lightroom, Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, MS Office, Figma, wireframes, prototyping, user-centered design techniques

Programming Languages
TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Sass/SCSS, PostgreSQL, MySQL, GraphQL, Python, Swift, Dart, Kotlin, Java, Arduino, C++

Programming Frameworks & Libraries
Vue, Angular, React, Gatsby, Webpack, Jest, Express, FastAPI, D3.js, Flutter, Pandas

Tooling & Cloud Infrastructure
CI/CD pipelines, Git/Github, AWS (EB, S3, RDS, VPC, EC2, Lambda)

Physical Computing and Fabrication
Soldering, circuitry, motors, serial communication, laser cutting, 3D printing and modeling

Languages
Conversational Spanish

Extracurricular

Volunteer First Responder, Rocky Mountain Rescue Group // Aug 2016 – Present
Respond to technical rescue operations across Boulder County, including emergency backcountry patient care and evacuation to ambulance services for injured and lost hikers, climbers, skiers, and mountain bikers.

Awards & Accolades

Recipient: ATLAS Institute’s Outstanding Undergraduate Award

Nominated: CU College of Engineering & Applied Science’s Undergraduate Service Award

Certifications

Avalanche Rescue, American Avalanche Association, AIARE

Avalanche Training Level 1, American Avalanche Association, AIARE

Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness Medical Associates International, NOLS