Hey there, I'm Ben... but owing to the fun of corporate username creation policies, I picked up the moniker 'BLink'. Then an awesome manager who hired me once wrote my onboarding doc in the style of 'Legend of Zelda' quests (because when you're a nerd and you have a last name like 'Link', you're subject to ALL THE PUNZ! 🤣) and later when I decided to do some public dev content, I fused these two thoughts together to establish...

My Adventures are posted to a DEV blog and a Youtube channel. We have a sort of "main quest" consisting of Blog + Youtube releases (Spring and Fall) and then there are "side quest" items like Advent of Code and blogs about leadership principles, DevOps, agility, and other career-oriented topics.

My first job out of college was in a Radio Shack. I loved helping people solve problems, but I didn't love the need to constantly feel like a salesman. My happiest moments at work there were when someone came in looking for some obscure thing to solve a problem and I knew enough electrical stuffs to help them find what they needed. (That becomes important later! 😬)

Then I went to work at a foundry as part of a two-person I.T. department. Building workstations, managing the email / website / other stuff that had computers attached to it... learned a lot of LEAN principles in a manufacturing environment (with really high ambient temperatures! 🔥🔥🔥)

After several years there I moved to the largest private employer in my state, where I tried on a lot of wildly different hats within the corporate IT and technology space from "Support Technician" to "Data guy" to "(Rogue) Developer" to "System Design Leader". I discovered "Developer Advocate" was a Thing® and spent a couple years at Twilio doing that. I've found along the journey that nothing makes me happier than connecting with developers who are building cool stuff and helping them get unblocked. And have I got stories to tell you... 😏

This section is a bit about me that might help you understand how to interface with me. Use this to understand how to work with me.

• I spent a lot of my career believing I wasn't good enough. I might need you to remind me sometimes.
• I hate when people "spare my feelings" while giving feedback. They waste time and I don't learn from diluted thoughts - be direct. I'll respect you more for it.
• I like to run with ideas rather than wait on permission. Bureaucracy delay is a big problem for me.
• My name - Benjamin - means "Son of my right hand". Being helpful is literally my identity and I value opportunities to help others above all else.
• I don't mind shifting priorities on short notice, but I expect you to explain why things changed!
• I've struggled with perfectionism in the past. I've had some good coaches and I feel like I've grown a great deal here!
• I love to write - guess that's what attracted me to the blog!
• I need to believe in what I'm doing. If you don't win my heart, you don't get the full Blink experience.