Bennett Adams just finished the Web Development Immersive course at General Assembly, a 12-week, full-time course focusing primarily on Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, and AngularJS. This self proclaimed “stats geek” is eager to learn, has a knack for writing, and is interested in working for a startup. He’s riding high off of a few weeks of amazing travel and now he’s ready to land an entry level development gig. Check him out:
What past tech projects have you worked on?
My most recent project is ElevATL, an Atlanta-focused data visualization app I built with Michael Gurliaccio. We both have strong connections to the city and wanted to incorporate D3.js to illustrate some migration and economic trends here. It’s AngularJS on the front end, Rails on the back end.
Prior to that, I worked on Locative, an AngularJS/Rails social media app that allows users to create and share journeys from their Instagram posts. Locative mines the Instagram API for a user’s posts that are hashtagged #locative, then plots those posts on a Leaflet map according to their geocoordinates and optionally works out a route between them. It’s great for sharing highlights from a road trip, a weekend hike, or an itinerary of recommended restaurants, museums, whatever.
Check out his GitHub for more.
What are your best technical or creative skills?
I have some background in freelance writing and copy editing, and I’m very detail-oriented, which can be a great asset when crafting and troubleshooting code. I also enjoy diving into and learning new technologies, which made working with the D3 and Leaflet JavaScript libraries on these last two apps really challenging and rewarding.
What’s next on your list to learn?
I am going to explore more D3 — I am a stats geek, and I absolutely love how elegantly it can communicate relatively complicated information. Also, we built all of our WDI apps on Rails with SQL databases, but I have a couple passion-project app ideas that I’d like to build using Node.js and MongoDB on the back end.
What’s your ideal internship/job?
An ideal opportunity would be to join a team working on a problem that interests me, in an environment that strikes a balance between allowing me the autonomy to continue to learn and attack problems on my own, but also providing a tier of support and guidance to rely upon when needed.
An ideal employer invests in the growth and development of its employees. And whether the company is solidly established or a bootstrapped startup, a positive company culture that encourages individuality and creativity is very attractive.
Interested in startups?
Absolutely! Startups are attractive to me for a number of reasons. The smaller teams allow tremendous opportunities for learning and creative problem solving, as well as the feeling that, even as a junior developer, my work is having a meaningful impact.
Post graduation plans?
Well, I just returned from a wonderful week in Munich and Prague, which was probably a nice reprieve for my laptop as much as it was for me. I also volunteered/attended the Rails Conference in Atlanta April 21-23 and then enjoyed a few days in Denver with friends and family. The job search now begins in earnest.
