Ben Shaw

Background

About Ben Shaw

I am a full-stack Software Engineer with over 18 years' experience. I work with companies from startup to enterprise to deliver high quality products. My past clients include Kordia (business automation and network monitoring), Vodafone NZ (online CMS for the main web site and backend systems integration) and Yellow (front-end team lead of their internal CRM, from inception to BAU). I also have side projects, most notably working at a startup, building a web-based schema-less database. I designed microservices for growth, and an application promotion deployment pipeline. One challenge of this role was using Postgres' JSON fields: they looked good, but poor performance meant a standard schema was eventually used. Other projects include dealshrimp.co.nz, a daily deal aggregator; deadalert.net that monitors web sites' last update; whoshared.it, for identifying the source of an image leak using steganography; and my blog. My previous long contracts have been varied. At Image Centre the work was design/mockup to HTML/JavaScript, back-end/database design, PHP, and WordPress customisation. My final project was creating a CRM for magazine subscription management. Prior to that I worked at Web Drive, mostly BAU of their PHP web Control Panel. The best part of the role was transitioning to Python, the first stage (a new billing system) was completed while I was there. I'm passionate about development being done right, and am looking for roles where I can apply my experience for best practice in software design and delivery. I do generally enjoy my work, but it makes a big difference when these processes are invested in up-front. I have a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Auckland. I love helping others learn: since 2014 I have been involved in mentoring junior devs, and I have given technical presentations at Kiwi PyCon since 2013. I’m always interested in hearing from past coworkers and other developers, so please get in touch if you’d like to connect.