Ben Junya - Lead Front-End Engineer

Junior to Senior with David Guttman

Featuring Ben Junya, js.la co-organizer and Lead Front-End Engineer at StaffMeUp

Talking Points:

• What does it mean to be a creator?
• Positive aspects of creating your own programs.
• Find the differences between SAS companies and Agencies.
• Day-in-the-life of Ben Junya.
• Ben’s process in application development.
• How to rapidly progress your communication skills.
• How to become better at predicting edge-cases.
• Challenges Ben faces when converting a website from PHP to JavaScript.
• Ben’s favorite attributes of an applicant.
• The importance of constructive disagreements.
• Advice to bootcamp graduates.
• What technology is Ben excited to start using?

Quotable Quotes:

• “Video games can teach you a LOT about UX” - BJ
• “I like to put myself in the shoes of the user.” - BJ
• “People are all very very different and by working on different teams, products, customers, you will find that everyone communicates in different ways” - BJ
• “Knowing your audience and knowing how to tailor your words to get your point across to that person is incredibly important.” - BJ
• “To learn about more edge cases, you constantly have to keep building stuff.” - BJ
• “I view coding and learning as playing. Because when you play with something you learn the limitations of it, you find what it can and cannot do.” - BJ
• “I always ask my backend team ’What is the easiest way I can send this information to you?’“- BJ
• “What I am looking for is someone who can backup their answers with facts, articles, official documentation…” - BJ
• “If a developer’s opinion was proven wrong and they are able to not take it personally, that is something I really, really look for. That thoughtfulness, that humility is what I look for when interviewing candidates.” - BJ
• “Seeing a person’s past projects is a nice little window into a person’s head. What makes them tick?” - BJ
• “Don’t stop building. Keep on building stuff. That is the best advice I can give you.” - BJ
• “After your bootcamp is over, your work is not done.” - BJ
• “A lot of programming is frustration. Every day you will be asked to do something you have never done before. [ …. ] Being comfortable with being uncomfortable is important.” - BJ
• “You have all of these amazing tools available to you on the internet to use and no one to stop you from using them. Do it!” - BJ

Notes:
Ben’s email
[e-mail]
Ben’s Medium
https://medium.com/@MrBenJ
The Book
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
Junior-to-Senior Community
community.juniortosenior.io