--- title: "Career posts — bencodezen" description: "Growing as a developer and navigating a career in tech." canonical_url: "https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career" meta: "og:description": "Growing as a developer and navigating a career in tech." "og:image": "https://www.bencodezen.io/images/og/default.png" "og:image:alt": bencodezen "og:image:height": "630" "og:image:type": image/png "og:image:width": "1200" "og:title": "Career posts" "twitter:image": "https://www.bencodezen.io/images/og/default.png" --- > Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://www.bencodezen.io/llms.txt) [← All posts](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog) Tag # Career **8** posts tagged *Career*. `/` - - [Mindset](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/mindset) - [Career](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career) ## [Living by Design](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/living-by-design) June 8, 2020 In life, we have a choice to either live by design or by default. This post reflects on a turning point in my career where I was faced with this very choice. [Read more: Living by Design→](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/living-by-design) - - [Career](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career) ## [When Is It Enough?](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/when-is-it-enough) January 7, 2019 My thoughts on the concept of whether there is ever a time when learning is enough. We will examine common responses along with what I think is the correct answer to this question. [Read more: When Is It Enough?→](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/when-is-it-enough) - - [Career](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career) ## [Starting My Design Journey](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/starting-my-design-journey) August 7, 2018 As most frontend developers are aware, one of the most frustrating aspects of our job is that we are often evaluated based on the quality of designs that we are building. Whether we like it or not, it is the first thing people see when we send them portfolio items / projects we've worked on. So while this is not as crippling to those with design skills, those of us that fall on the more technical side often have to resort to templates and design systems in order to work on projects without a designer. [Read more: Starting My Design Journey→](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/starting-my-design-journey) - - [Career](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career) ## [Be a Builder, Not a Barrier](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/be-a-builder-not-a-barrier) November 20, 2017 Over the past few years, I’ve had the chance to talk with multiple designers about their work and what their environment is like. And perhaps I was naive, but I was surprised at the number of times I heard that they were told by developers that X feature they wanted to do was “not possible.” Then when I would ask more about the requirements of X feature, I would often be boggled by how simple the request often was. So that got me thinking, “Why are developers often so quick to say no to what designers want?” [Read more: Be a Builder, Not a Barrier→](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/be-a-builder-not-a-barrier) - - [Career](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career) ## [My Thoughts on "Full Stack"](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/my-thoughts-on-full-stack) November 4, 2017 Being a full-stack developer is all the craze right now. It seems like all bootcamps with web developer programs are selling people on the idea of being full-stack. And to top it off, it seems like a lot of companies are interested in hiring them. So one might conclude that more developers should try to become full-stack right? Nope. I think not. [Read more: My Thoughts on "Full Stack"→](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/my-thoughts-on-full-stack) - - [Career](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career) ## [The Importance of Fundamentals (No Matter How "Experienced" You Are)](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/the-importance-of-fundamentals) August 18, 2017 As a self-taught developer, I've hit a couple of key milestones in my career: (1) managing to get a job in the field without any formal training and (2) proving that I was able to keep up with everyone and push forward regardless of the challenges in front of me. That said, there is always a question of what to do next. New framework? New language? New technology stack? [Read more: The Importance of Fundamentals (No Matter How "Experienced" You Are)→](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/the-importance-of-fundamentals) - - [Career](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career) ## ["Cheap" Outsourcing](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/cheap-outsourcing) May 6, 2017 I was reading my daily Quora digest this morning and the following post: \\"What did you do to make your software career better?\\" To my surprise and disappointment, one of the most upvoted answers was "to quit ... \[because of] cheap outsourcing." And while outsourcing has had an impact on the job market, this answer is complete nonsense [Read more: "Cheap" Outsourcing→](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/cheap-outsourcing) - - [Career](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career) ## [Developers. Don't Get Too Comfortable](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/developers-dont-get-too-comfortable) March 11, 2017 I recently read "Ten Things I Have Learned" by Milton Glaser and was struck by the notion of the idea of "never having a job." [Read more: Developers. Don't Get Too Comfortable→](https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/developers-dont-get-too-comfortable) ## Stay in the loop A weekly newsletter sharing my thoughts on software, workflows, and the human side of engineering and productivity. No spam. I’ll never sell your information. Unsubscribe anytime. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://www.bencodezen.io/#website","@type":"WebSite","inLanguage":"en","name":"bencodezen","url":"https://www.bencodezen.io/","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.bencodezen.io/#identity"}},{"@id":"https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career#webpage","@type":"WebPage","description":"Growing as a developer and navigating a career in tech.","name":"Career posts","url":"https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.bencodezen.io/#website"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://www.bencodezen.io/blog/tag/career"]}]},{"@id":"https://www.bencodezen.io/#identity","@type":"Person","alternateName":"bencodezen","name":"Ben Hong","url":"https://www.bencodezen.io/about","image":{"@id":"https://www.bencodezen.io/#/schema/image/1"},"sameAs":["https://bsky.app/profile/bencodezen.io","https://www.twitter.com/bencodezen","https://youtube.com/@bencodezen","https://twitch.tv/bencodezen","https://linkedin.com/in/bencodezen","https://github.com/bencodezen","https://www.instagram.com/bencodezen","https://www.codepen.io/bencodezen"]},{"@id":"https://www.bencodezen.io/#/schema/image/1","@type":"ImageObject","contentUrl":"https://www.bencodezen.io/images/about/headshot.jpg","inLanguage":"en","url":"https://www.bencodezen.io/images/about/headshot.jpg"}]} ``` ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](https://www.bencodezen.io/sitemap.md) for all pages.