Developer on Fire
Episode 222 | Ben Hood - Gratefully Geeking Out
Ben Hood talks with Dave Rael about multiplying impact, product management, outsourcing, and gratitude
Ben Hood has been an entrepreneur and digital product manager for the last decade, working mainly on web and mobile applications, at companies both big and small. He most recently worked in healthcare and cybersecurity, as a director of product management at Metabiota and Endgame. He also has extensive experience working with big data analytics for government customers. He has worked in the energy sector, providing customers with an app to track their home’s electricity usage. At the beginning of his career, Ben worked on music and video at AOL. Ben has undergraduate degrees in computer engineering and physics, and a Ph.D. in astrophysics.
Chapters:
- - Dave introduces the show and Ben Hood
- - Ben, the physicist
- - Ben's software roots and getting introduced to programming
- - Awe and wonder at the many layers and levels of pieces that make computing work
- - Progress and gratitude
- - Ben's current status, GoGo Apps, life in Poland, and outsourcing software development
- - Ben's career path and how Ben got into product management
- - Ben's story of failure - getting involved in a startup with the wrong people
- - Ben's success story - Pivoting from a failure into a useful application, helping people with energy management
- - How Ben stays current with what he needs to know
- - Ben's book recommendation
- - The things that have Ben most excited
- - Ben's top 3 tips for delivering more value
- - Keeping up with Ben and GoGo Apps
Resources:
Ben's book recommendation:
Ben's top 3 tips for delivering more value:
- Really listen
- Iterate
- Be fearless