Hey, I'm Ben

I build delightful user experiences
that are fast, accessible,
responsive, and
maintainable.

I also try to enable others
to do the same

I grew up in Petrolia, ON, Canada. My passion for coding started with the help of my Grade 10 computer science teacher Mrs. Ruypers. My first programming language was Visual Basic - something about being able to build cool things by typing a few buttons on the keyboard was fascinating

Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia, Ontario

I moved to Kitchener, ON for school where I went to Conestoga College for Software Engineering Technology. Since then I've built a 7+ year career specializing in frontend development and won some awards. My recent experience includes leading frontend development at Postmedia I/O, starting my own consulting company, and most recently working as a Staff Software Developer at ApplyBoard Inc.

You can checkout my linkedin here for more info

Victoria Park, Kitchener, Ontario

Values

Be Kind

Kindness is a good enough value by itself, but kindness also helps get things done. Building great relationships with people around you makes you more effective.
  • Default to trust. It's better to give people trust upfront instead of making them prove themselves. This helps make people feel psychologically safe and enables them to do their best work
  • Assume good intent. People almost always have good intentions behind their actions. If something someone does seems surprising, assume good intent and hold your judgement until you see their perspective and constraints.
  • Blame processes instead of people. It's more effective to blame and improve faulty processes (or tooling) than to blame individuals.

Be Professional

Software engineers should act the same way doctors or lawyers work. They don't betray their ethics, values, or quality standards because of tight schedules. Imagine if a doctor took a riskier move during a surgery because their manager said it was taking too long.
  • Take pride in your work. Professionals are able to send a link of their own code if needed to their peers and be proud of it.
  • Push back. Professionals push back when a manager asks them to skip accessibility, automated tests, code review, etc.
  • Refine your craft and never stop learning. Professionals try their best to keep on top of the latest best practices.

Be Impactful

You can choose to work somewhere you're proud of and where you feel like you're making people's lives better.
  • Do big things. Do work that improves the lives of many other people
  • Multiply your output. Try to find a way so every unit of work you do is multiplied by other people. This allows you to have a bigger impact than you could working alone. Be multiplicative instead of additive.

Reading

When we read we see the world through other's eyes, not just our own. It's the best way to refine your craft. Below is my curation of books I've read and some notes / comments (still need to add my notes here 😅).

Book Notes

  • Peopleware
  • The Clean Coder
  • The Manager's Path
  • An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
  • Elon Musk
  • The Ride of a Lifetime
  • SCRUM
  • Losing the Signal
  • The Martian
  • Steve Jobs
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Writing

I also write. Writing, like teaching, is the best way to figure out if you've truly internalized your understanding of a topic.

I also subscribe to the idea of a digital garden. I try to continuously tend to and prune articles I write to prevent them from becoming stale.

Here's a couple featured articles:

The No-Nonsense Styling Method
The “No-Nonsense Styling Method” is a set of guidelines that I've compiled that makes styling less surprising and more predictable.

Consulting

I currently only take projects that are both well-paid and interesting. If your project fits that criteria, you can pitch it to me here (I'm especially interested in helping organizations become compliant with accessibility laws):

consulting@lorantfy.com
(please provide details in the first email)