We are so excited to welcome Ben Leader to the Hoop team! Ben joins the team as a Senior Engineer from Seattle where he has had a storied career so far. Ben was kind enough to share a bit more about his story with us. Enjoy! - Stella
From space camp to software engineering
I had a ton of different interests growing up that seemed to change year to year. I was grateful to have parents that encouraged me to try out many different things, and even sent me to Space Camp when I went through my astronaut phase. When I went off to college, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study. My freshman year I was convinced I was destined to be a film major. But when I took CS 101 it clicked that this is what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve always loved solving puzzles, and I’d discovered that I could make a career out of it. And at the rate that technology is changing, there’s no shortage of new puzzles to solve.
From Amazon to startups
I began my career at large established tech companies, culminating in 4.5 years at Amazon building photo sharing features for Amazon Photos. I got to work on products used by millions of people and tackle some really interesting challenges, and along the way I learned a ton from all the talented people I worked with. By the end of my tenure at Amazon, I had a solid grasp of how things were done and a lot of ideas about what worked and what could be improved. I wanted to take all that I’d learned and try building a company and an engineering culture from the ground up, so when I was offered the chance to join a real estate startup as a founding engineer, I jumped at the opportunity.
In working at an early stage startup, the scale might not have been as large but I was challenged more than I’d ever been before. I got to wear many different hats, including product and people management hats, and I was learning new things quicker than ever. Finally, I was able to have the cultural and product impact that I was looking for.
My peers were also constantly on the lookout for ways to improve our processes and our product. It was refreshing being on a team where everyone’s only goal was the company’s success. There were no promotion documents to fill out or internal politics to navigate. I was working harder than ever before, but feeling much more satisfied with the work I was doing.
Why Hoop?
When I left my company earlier this year, I promised to take some time off before looking for my next role. I hadn’t taken a break longer than two weeks since I graduated college, and I wanted to give myself a chance to really consider what I wanted to do next. At first it was a little jarring. I hadn’t realized how much I was using work to ground my identity. But after a few weeks of “work detox” I found myself developing some healthier habits. I was getting more sleep and exercising more. I had time to complete house projects I’d been putting off for literal years. And when I did take time out of my day to work, whether that be on personal projects or technical interview practice, it was easier than ever to focus on the task at hand and make the most out of my time.
I realized that I’d been guilty of inflating the relationship between effort and impact. At the end of the day, my job is to solve puzzles. To make the most impact, I have to figure out the right puzzles to solve and I have to solve them efficiently. Both of those things are much easier to do when I can focus entirely on work. Without that focus, it takes much more effort to achieve the same result. Of course I still need to work hard to achieve the highest impact, but it’s equally important to have the clarity of mind to make sure I’m doing the right work. And that clarity can only exist when I have enough time and energy for my personal life.
I believe that you don’t have to sacrifice personal fulfillment to achieve professional success. Hoop is making that same assertion, not only through our company culture but through our product tenets. Nothing sounds more professionally fulfilling than helping to spread these ideas throughout the corporate world.
A bit about me (and my cats)
I grew up in Massachusetts but I currently live in Seattle with my wife Katherine and our two cats. I’ve lived here for almost a decade now and I absolutely love it. There’s no better place than Seattle in the summertime, and I try to make the most of it by getting out hiking and paddle boarding. Katherine and I both love to read and can spend hours chatting about fantasy novels. We also both love to travel and try to plan at least one international trip each year.
Besides that, I never outgrew my early love for video games. My dad likes to remind me that I was playing Super Mario 64 before I learned to read, and I’d have to ask him to read me all the instructions. I also started playing poker a few years ago and have really enjoyed studying the strategy and watching the big tournaments.