Howdy! I'm BenJamin and I'm a professional PHP web developer...

I live in Phoenix, AZ and I've been doing web-related development since 1997. For 14 years, I've been helping amazing people to make the web work for them and their businesses!

Let me tell you a little bit about myself and why I might be the guy to help you and your business!

Why should I hire you?

Reason #1: I'm a seasoned developer. You've heard the old joke about the old plumber tapping on a pipe and invoicing the client $500, right? Why? He knew exactly where to tap. A newly minted developer may be ambitious, but he is missing out on the experience long-term developers have thru episodes of blood, sweat and tears.

After 14 years, I know which buttons to push, where to find solutions to problems, who to speak to in the industry, when to buy instead of develop and I have a sixth-sense for seeing potential problems miles down the road. You will pay less in the long-term, deadlines will happen on time and you sleep well at night knowing you have a seasoned pro fighting hard for you.

Reason #2: I'm a business-minded guy. I'll admit: I'm a huge geek. And I've also been an entrepreneur since I was young. (Most kids did lemonade stands. Instead, I had the short-lived "Dandelion Demolition Crew"!) When I talk to you, I won't talk about programming, I'll talk to you about the problems you need solved in your business. And then I'll solve those headaches for you with technology. That's something I get excited about!

Reason #3: I keep my word. I was raised on a small farm in the Midwest, driving tractors and milking cows. I was raised to understand the value of a man's word. And today, I bring all of that to every project I'm asked to be part of. If we've agreed on a deadline Sunday at 6am, wake up and expect it to be done!

What technology do you use?

I really dig PHP. I've been programming in PHP for 7 years. Over that time, I've flexed PHP's muscles to do just about everything. I enjoy programming in different flavors of OO MVC-based PHP frameworks such as CakePHP and CodeIgnitor. (I enjoy using other languages, too, including Ruby/Rails, Python, ColdFusion and Perl.)

I use a lot of tools in developing with PHP, so let me tell you about a few of my favorites. I'm head over heels for CSS3. I hand-coded my first line of CSS in 2001. (I remember, because it was the first time I decided that enough browser support existed to finally use CSS in a client project.) Now I'm excited again to see how CSS3 will rock the browsing world. I love development using powerful libraries like Boilerplate and LESS in tandom with CSS for fast, consistent development.

I remember first seeing Javascript. What started as nothing but a toy-language is now the most widely used programming language on the planet. Speakig of Javascript, I adore jQuery. The terseness of jQuery mixed with it's gorgeous chainability had me saying 'heck yeah' the first time I tried the library. When it's time to really rachet up the horsepower, I've use the extremely powerful ExtJS library for several projects.

I used a lot of databases, and MySQL keeps turning up in nearly all the projects I work on. You'll normally find a terminal window open on my computer, talking to all flavors of Linux servers around the planet. (I'll put a shout out to Apache, too, last member of the LAMP-stack. You, me and 'mod_rewrite' buddy!)

I can't leave out Photoshop. I've been using a lot of tools for a long time, but Photoshop and I are attached at the hip. I started using Photoshop when it was just a toddler, version 2.5, circa 1994. (It didn't even have layers then! It really didn't!) I have to admit — most of the time, I'm rocking code, but I really have a blast when I get to fire up Photoshop for a few hours on a client project.

A few other tools I use include Git and GitHub for code version control. I love how easy Git makes it for keeping an eye on my code — and allowing me to work as part of a bigger team. I also love the cloud, including Amazon's AWS stack. I use EC2, S3, SQS and other services that Amazon provides. Even though it has never become super popular, I like using Adobe AIR to create cross-platform applications.

What projects have you worked on in the past?

Over the years, I've been involved with a variety of projects and clients. Here are a few types of businesses I've helped out...

I help small businesses — for instance, Laurie Handlers has a Tantra business named Butterfly Workshops, helping singles and couples in improving their love lives. I've worked extensively with Laurie on updating her site's existing infrastructure, including her Wordpress system — to give her more time in her day to interact with her clients one-on-one.

I work with mid-sized business — for instance, a bowling company named PinChasers. PinChasers is a Tampa Bay-area company that owns three area bowling locations and was ready for a complete site overhaul. I contracted with a design firm named Sparkfire and worked tightly with a small team. I handled all the back-end development work, where we started from scratch using PHP and CakePHP.

I develop for multi-million dollar companies. Dan Kennedy, a world famous copywriter, hired me to manage the technical logistics for a million dollar product launch. I wrote custom software and used existing industry-grade products to quickly scale up both software and infrastructure to handle the launch. (Which went smoothly, by the way!)

And when I have free-time, I work on my own pet projects. One that I've had a ton of fun with is AppBlender.com. It is a system I created that allows folks who are not programmers — to create their own custom software that they can brand specifically for their market. I used PHP, Amazon's AWS cloud and Adobe AIR to develop a robust system for customers. (AppBlender has had zero downtime since it's launch — it continues "blending" up software 24/7!)

How much does it cost to hire you?

It can vary depending on the type of work you'll want me to do and the length of time you'll need my help. My hourly fee ranges between $60/hr and $90/hr. If you'll email me with details on your project, and I will give you a rough estimate within 1 business day.

How do I contact you?

Drop me an email, I'd love to hear about what you have going on. I'm at bprater@gmail.com. You can also catch me at Google+ here.