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Ben Johnson

@benjamminj.dev
18 followers 64 following 35 posts

software engineer, especially focused on design systems, frontend architecture, and taking things from 0 -> 1

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Reposted by Ben Johnson
Atticus Finch (of Georgia) @atticus59914029.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I think this pope is consistently getting at something about 21st century life that bothers people across the political spectrum. The fact that individual people are of utmost worth. A fact lost on modern society. We can see this in many different arenas.
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Reposted by Ben Johnson
Bob Stevenson @bobstevenson.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
We live in an buzz-driven, ephemeral experience-saturated, meme-laden, AI-generated, consumer-fueled world that urges us to think little beyond the next phone ping or lulz or online purchase-induced dopamine hit. But a real world still exists. And the stakes are so high. Let's live accordingly.
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Reposted by Ben Johnson
EOC @orcma.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/n... ‘The mayor of Toms River says the church property presented “a great opportunity for parking, for recreation.”’ 🥴
nytimes.com
A Church Wants a Homeless Shelter. The Mayor Wants Space for Pickleball.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 18/05/2025
been playing with Cursor a lot more (yes I know, I'm late to the game) and suddenly it makes a lot more sense to use the integrated terminal. I'm normally a "skip the IDE terminal and use iTerm instead" type of person, but being able to yeet things into chat is super fluid. #cursor
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 15/05/2025
I'm writing less these days and that's ok. I just didn't have as much gas in the tank, and life seems more complex than it did at the start of my career benjamminj.dev/writing-less
benjamminj.dev
Writing less, and that's ok
I'm learning to be easier on myself, slowly prune thoughts into posts, and write in smaller bursts.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 13/05/2025
I remember a past job like 5-6y back had a "Clickable" component. We were supposed to wrap all interactive content in it IIRC Under the hood it as an <a> with a missing href and `onClick` prop enforced 🤦
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 13/05/2025
"we don't like to write comments, because when the code changes the comment doesn't" 🚩🚩🚩 don't variables, classes, methods, and functions all have the same problem? The computer doesn't care if you name it 'a' or 'userFirstName' idk, maybe update the comment when you change the code?
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 26/04/2025
Hot take #4: still on "clean code" — comments are good + useful when well-written. Many devs don't write nearly enough comments. Leaving them out doesn't magically make your code clean, but it DOES make it hard to remember what you were thinking when you wrote it. #softwareengineering #cleancode
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 26/04/2025
Hot take #3: "clean" and "tidy" are poor metaphors for "good" code. Most times "clean" just means "something I like". Instead of calling code "messy", say what's bad about the code. #software #code
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 25/04/2025
This same thought has been bouncing around my head for the past week too. Imagine starting a component local-first ("use service worker") and moving it server side later. Or vice versa. Or interleave server/worker/client based on your needs. ✨
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 24/04/2025
Ok hot take #2: if you squash commits, it doesn't matter whether you do 56 perfectly named commits or keep force-pushing one that says "fix" What matters is the commit that lands on main
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 24/04/2025
Started mentally tossing all the tech that could be learned into 3 buckets 1. Stuff that's interesting to me right now 2. Stuff that's professionally helpful, right now 3. Stuff that's professionally helpful, long-term Helpful to see the intersection bw categories
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 22/04/2025
Have used this approach on my app for $dayjob, and it's super nice We even do it in lieu of storybook to make dep management easier. Works well if your design system components only need to support one app or are inline with the rest of the codebase
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 19/04/2025
ugh, now the vibe coding lingo is finding its way into job listings
A LinkedIn job listing where the job title says "vibe coder frontend developer"
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 17/04/2025
if your product comparison page only shows where you're better than competitors, I don't trust it — regardless of how much you say you're trying to be fair.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 17/04/2025
hot take #1: in a lot of cases, global state stores are better than react context. especially if you only have 1 provider instance at the root of your app.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 17/04/2025
got a big backlog of software hot takes living in my brain rent-free. just gonna start a evergreen thread and keep skeeting them here sans nuance. who knows, might get around to writing fleshed out versions someday™
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 16/04/2025
3yo has been super into WALL-E this last month. banger of a film and feels super relevant for being made 17y ago. I mean, the billionaires just launched everyone into space bc that was easier than fixing their mess 🫠
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 13/04/2025
4 weeks into a 12 week parental leave, and it's wild how I have completely lost track of what day it is. both day of week and calendar date that said, so nice to have a bit of time away from work to spend with my family
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 13/03/2025
Congratulations!! 🎉🎉
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 01/03/2025
oooh I might have to try that. has always felt like that valley bw beginner and intermediate/advanced sql is especially tricky to cross.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 20/02/2025
Oh! One more I used a bunch back last time I was interviewing: - what does success in this role look like to you in 3mo? In 6mo/1y? What would make you say "wow, what an amazing hire"? Tells you a lot about what the org actually wants and is a little harder to fake.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 20/02/2025
Lastly, any questions you have about business model, funding state, and future hiring plans Good luck! Overall, I'd say bias towards asking things that address your own dealbreakers / concerns about the role. Those will feel the most natural to ask.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 20/02/2025
A couple that come to mind and that I've used in the past: - How do you as a company decide what work gets prioritized? - What problems in your company "keep you up at night"? - How do your eng org balance technical investment with moving the product forward?
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 11/01/2025
"Also, we don't actually test your CSS or HTML during the interview loop. Yes, you'll be using those a lot more day-to-day, but we really just want someone that can scale our app to Google scale." 🫠
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 21/12/2024
Just crossed the 2y mark at $dayjob. Wild to see out-of-stealth, Series A, and Series B For me 2y is a huge deal, I usually get an itch to leave much earlier but this gig is pretty dran good. ☺️
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 13/12/2024
Same year, another round of funding. Excited to finally be able to announce our Series B ✨ Excited to be along for the ride, this team kicks butt. sublime.security/blog/sublime...
sublime.security
Sublime raises Series B to… keep doing what we’ve been doing, but better
We've secured $60M in Series B funding to establish the new standard in email security.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 23/11/2024
woah. sooooo much great stuff here, very excited to kick the tires ✨✨ tailwindcss.com/docs/v4-beta
tailwindcss.com
Tailwind CSS v4.0 Beta - Tailwind CSS
Preview what's coming in the next version of Tailwind CSS.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 22/11/2024
feels like we've thrown conventional wisdom out the window, but have been SO PLEASED with our hand-built form, data table, and filtering libraries at `$dayjob` still trying to find ways to write + share about the approaches taken since they're private.
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 18/11/2024
This is about the time of year I ask myself "...now where did I put that sun lamp?"
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 18/11/2024
I feel like this year is especially darker than usual. Extra clouds during the day, which makes that 4pm sunset even harder
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 15/11/2024
didn't have bricking old phone + buying new phone on the weekly bingo card, but here we are 🫠
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 15/11/2024
👋 Loving the vibe over here, feels like a fresh start (and not as cheesy as threads) I don't post a ton (at the moment), but when I do it's usually software + frontend related ✨
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 15/11/2024
somehow the chaos + beer helps focus, idk. #adhd
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 15/11/2024
ah man, if I was in portland. doing the same thing up in seattle this afternoon 🍻
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 29/10/2024
Another option could be a local music store, they often will have networks of private instructors as well
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 29/10/2024
Yeah definitely -- probably the easiest way is to go thru a local college with a music department. They prob have a list of alumni that live in the area + teach, faculty may also teach privately (although that will cost more $$$)
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Ben Johnson @benjamminj.dev · 29/10/2024
My wife plays cello and has taught it for years (I also play double bass). My main recommendation would be to get some private lessons, even as a beginner — getting the bow + LH technique can be tricky when you're just starting out ☺️
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