Ben Borowski (@TypeOneError) is a software developer and programmer based in British Columbia, Canada. In past years, Ben run a small studio doing web development for top agencies, but has recently made a move to create his own project, and is working on that full-time.
Ben is one half of Oki Doki, along with Designer & Digital Strategist Marie Poulin. Together, the duo are hard at work on Doki, a web platform to build and run online courses and communities. In this conversation, Ben discusses the creative side of programming, the definition of a “coder”, and the challenges of putting aside client projects for the endeavor of building your own app.
Catch up with Ben on his site, Type One Error, or check out Doki.io.
Listen Now
Get The Episode
- Download The Busy Creator Podcast, Episode 62 (MP3, 46:17, 22.5 MB)
- Download The Busy Creator Podcast, Episode 62 (OGG, 46:17, 39.8 MB)
Subscribe to Get New Episodes
Subscribe to The Busy Creator Podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Google Podcasts, on Stitcher, on iHeart
Show Notes & Links
- Marie Poulin was a guest on The Busy Creator Podcast last year
- Ben defines himself broadly as a web developer, but more specifically as a programmer in Ruby, and other disciplines
- TWiT – This Week in Tech
- Ben doesn’t subscribe to the idea that “Coders aren’t necessarily programmers”
- If Statements, For Loops – essentials in programming
- Mark-up is code
“I've met many computer science guys ... who are completely stumped by CSS.”
—Ben Borowski
“If you're building a website and you write HTML tags, you're a coder.”
—Ben Borowski
- Markdown, the coding format for Reddit comments
- Dustin Hartzler, WordPress Engineer and host Your Website Engineer Podcast
- Podcast Movement Conference
“Programing is more technical ... but making software is creative.”
—Ben Borowski
- Product Designer, as the term applies to web design, can incorporate development/programming
- Open-Source, a place for inspiration
- Ben consults and develops cross-platform games, and other projects
- Doki, currently in development as a consulting platform and will be a public product soon
- Previous guests on The Busy Creator Podcast have discussed online teaching, such as Karen Marston, Steve Dotto
- Javascript framework Ember.js (similar to Ruby-on-Rails for the front end of the website)
- Prescott attended Drexel University, a school set up on the quarter system.
- Alpha testers
“Nine people can't make a baby in one month.”
—productivity adage
- Unit Tests or Feature Tests are useful for programmers when merging code and error-correcting
- Material Design, from Google — hard to describe because it’s almost like a framework … for design
- Facebook asks developers to work on the main product in their first week
- Gone in 60 Seconds, writing on the walls in detergent and using a blacklight
- Type One Error
- Oki Doki
- Ben Borowski on Twitter
- Ben Borowski on Facebook
Tools
- HTML to Markdown converter
- Markdown to HTML converter
- WordPress
- Jetpack, the official suite of plugins for WordPress
- Infusionsoft
- MailChimp
- Google Analytics
- WishList for WordPress
- Platform-as-a-server
- Amazon web services
- Heroku
- EngineYard
- 9Folds
- Sit or Stand adjustable GeekDesk
- MacBook Pro
- SublimeText
- GitTower, a GUI application for managing Git projects
- iTerm, Terminal replacement for Mac
- Homebrew, a Ruby Framework
- Vagrant, custom virtual machines on your system
- Teamwork.com
- EcoStatic Slickynotes
Techniques
- Write your WordPress entries in Markdown — it’s fast and simple
- Examine where you can reduce lines of code, load time, etc.
- Launch first, and then go back and optimise
- More team members always help the progress of a programming project
- Give your team the building blocks, for design or programming alike
- Develop a naming and organization system — any system — for your team to follow
- Require new [programming] employees to push live code to the site on day one; this teaches them the entire process
- Head to a coffee shop or co-working space 2-3 days/week even if you prefer to work from home
- Keep a clean image of your system after a fresh reinstall
- If you can, go full-time toward developing a product rather than try to cram it in “after hours”
Habits
- Jog or Rock-Climb
- Take breaks to walk (or wrestle with) the dog
- Do some exercise in the morning, even stretching
- Drink and eat in the morning (write it down if necessary)
Try Audible.com Free for 30-Days
Visit BusyCreatorBook.com for your free trial
Join the Discussion
Add your experiences in the Comments section below.
Enjoyed this article?
More insight and resources delivered in our newsletter. Sign up below to receive site updates.
