About Me<!-- --> | Ben Robertson

About Me

Hi, I'm Ben! I'm an independent web dev developer living in Greenville, SC. In my free time I enjoy hiking, reading, riding bikes with my wife and children, and indie hacking.

💼 Work Experience

October 2023

Launched ColorBliss

Launch

Feb 2023 - Sep 2023

Netlify - Global Director of Technical Support and Customer Success

Leading a world-class team of support engineers, providing 24/7 assistance to enterprise customers adopting composable architecture.

Jan 2020 - Feb 2023

Gatsby - Senior Director of Customer Success

Started as sole Customer Success Engineer, built team to support 1,400+ paying customers. Successfully acquired by Netlify in February 2023.

Dec 2017 - Jan 2020

Mediacurrent - Senior Frontend Developer

Led front end development for complex architectures utilizing Gatsby, Drupal, Auth0, and Apollo Server.

Feb 2015 - Nov 2017

Up&Up Agency - Front End Developer

Spearheaded agency adoption of pattern libraries, wrote about it for CSS-Tricks.

Netlify

Feb 2023 - Sep 2023

Global Director of Technical Support and Customer Success

Leading a world-class team of support engineers, providing 24/7 assistance to enterprise customers adopting composable architecture.

Expanding the acclaimed Concierge program from Gatsby to serve a larger audience of developers using different web frameworks.

Introducing Customer Success as a critical function, defining responsibilities and identifying opportunities to reduce churn and drive expansion.

Leading the initiative to merge Gatsby and Netlify support teams post-acquisition.

Gatsby

Jan 2020 - Feb 2023

Senior Director of Customer Success

Started as sole Customer Success Engineer, built team to support 1,400+ paying customers.

Implemented monetized Gatsby Concierge program generating six figures ARR at 40% margin.

Rolled out quarterly business review process resulting in $500k+ expansion revenue.

Successfully acquired by Netlify in February 2023.

Team BuildingCustomer SuccessRevenue Growth

Mediacurrent

Dec 2017 - Jan 2020

Senior Frontend Developer

Led front end development for complex architectures utilizing Gatsby, Drupal, Auth0, and Apollo Server.

Refactored React/Redux application for major insurance company, increasing test coverage by 1370%.

Performed accessibility remediation for enterprise clients to achieve WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.

Spoke and wrote on accessibility, component-driven development, React, Gatsby, and remote work.

ReactGatsbyAccessibilityDrupal

Up&Up Agency

Feb 2015 - Nov 2017

Front End Developer

Spearheaded agency adoption of pattern libraries, wrote about it for CSS-Tricks.

Developed award-winning Drupal 7 site for University of Kentucky.

Led team in documenting front-end best practices and streamlined build tools.

🎤 Speaking

🚀

MagMutual.com: On the JAMStack

DrupalCon Global 2020

Shared decoupled architectural approach combining Gatsby, Drupal 8, and Serverless.

View Slides →

Move Fast, Don't Break Things

Gatsby Days 2018

Discussed trends in modern web development and moving away from "CMS-Centered Development".

Watch Recording →

Common Accessibility Mistakes

DrupalCamp Asheville 2018

Four principles for developing accessible websites and how to avoid common mistakes.

Read More →
🧱

Component Based Development

DrupalCon Nashville 2018

Full day training on component-driven development workflows and UI Patterns.

Learn More →

🚀 Side Projects & Volunteering

💒

Engaged Encounter

My wife and I are presenting couples for South Carolina Catholic Engaged Encounter, providing weekend-long marriage preparation retreats. I also serve as treasurer.

Visit Site →
📝

Second Nature Journal

2013 - 2017

Started and ran an online journal for critical thinking about technology and new media in light of the Christian tradition.

View Archive →
🏛️

IISTC

2013 - 2017

Executive Director of the International Institute for the Study of Technology and Christianity, the non-profit we started to publish Second Nature.

Learn More →
🛠️

About This Site

This site is a Gatsby site I designed and built. The type is set in IA Writer Duospace.