Benjamin Knight
Verified Expert in Engineering
JavaScript Developer
Benjamin brings over ten years of industry experience to the table and has worked with major tech companies like Yelp, Thumbtack, Airtable, and Namecheap. He's an expert in bridging the gap between design and engineering and helping teams establish a design language that results in quality end-user experiences. Benjamin's competent across the full web stack. He values communication and trust most when working with remote teams.
Portfolio
Experience
Availability
Preferred Environment
Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Google Chrome, Git, Unix, MacOS
The most amazing...
...and notable brand identity I've had a hand in is Yelp, spearheading the design of their public style guide and precipitating a company-wide change in approach.
Work Experience
Full-stack Developer
Namecheap
- Built a sales lead collection app for a large portfolio of high-value domains worth several million dollars.
- Coded a new marketplace using React, AdonisJs, and GraphQL. Also contributed UI/UX design.
- Worked effectively with a remote team spread across three distant corners of the globe.
Front-end Developer (via Toptal)
Thumbtack
- Built a help center from the ground up using Create React App.
- Built a Salesforce integration layer using Salesforce's Force.com platform.
- Developed a dispute settlement application also with React and Redux.
- Worked effectively with a remote team in a distant time zone.
Front-end Developer (via Toptal)
Airtable
- Built three new blocks for their pro blocks feature, including the records block, description block, and chart block.
Front-end Developer (via Toptal)
Homely.com.au
- Implemented React component-based UIs for new product features.
- Created mobile-first, responsive interfaces.
- Utilized advanced ECMAScript 6 and 7 language features for more expressive, flexible code.
- Worked effectively with a remote team in a distant time zone (Australia) while living in the US.
Front-end Software Engineer
Yelp
- Worked closely with the product team to build new features for the desktop and mobile site.
- Had a lead role on the small team that produced Yelp's first UI style guide, and then made it available to the public. The style guide precipitated an organization-wide push towards modular design.
- Rebuilt completely Yelp's most important page (the business page) from scratch, using advanced CSS features for layout and interaction.
- Led the development of a complete overhaul of all email templates, including Yelp Weekly, which is sent to millions of users per week.
- Gained unique experience working on a large-scale software project with hundreds of contributors. Learned extensively about release engineering, including testing and deployment, as well as common web security vulnerabilities.
UI Designer/Web Developer
Couchsurfing
- Designed multiple experiments focused on optimizing user onboarding, using Optimizely's A/B testing platform.
- Had a fluid role within a startup environment, ranging from coding to graphic design and product management.
- Redesigned the website's primary navigation feature.
- Overcame challenges involved in modernizing the front end of a seven-year-old codebase.
Web Developer
Perch Design Studio
- Turned beautiful Photoshop designs into WordPress sites.
- Built some Shopify sites.
- Learned how to use WordPress as a framework for general application development, not just for blogging and static content.
- Built mobile sites using both custom mobile stylesheets as well as media queries when they were still a new technology.
- Got to work with many local businesses in and around my home town of Portland, Maine.
Experience
Vietnam Coracle
https://www.vietnamcoracle.comPanda.com
Thumbtack Help Center
https://help.thumbtack.comThumbtack Solution Center
Cocolist (Side Project)
https://cocolist.appYelp Style Guide
https://yelp.com/styleguideSkills
Languages
JavaScript, CSS, HTML, TypeScript, GraphQL, Python, PHP, Clojure, Apex, SQL
Frameworks
Tailwind CSS, Next.js, Material UI, Redux, Express.js, AdonisJS, Visualforce
Libraries/APIs
D3.js, React, Node.js, jQuery, React Router, Twilio API, Auth0 API
Tools
PostCSS, Create React App, Knex.js, React Apollo, Git, NGINX, Auth0
Paradigms
Responsive Web Design (RWD), UX Design, Agile
Platforms
Web, WordPress, Firebase, Unix, MacOS, Google Chrome, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
Other
Airtable, HTML Email, Style Guides, Gatsby, React Hooks, Full-stack, Freelancing, User Experience (UX), Web UX, Apollo, Apollo Server, Rendering Performance, SaaS, SA
Storage
Cloud Firestore
Education
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science
Colby College - Waterville, Maine
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