BenEskew.com Just another web developer's personal weblog.

Who Am I and What Do I Do?

I've been asked time and time again by acquaintances and some friends even "what do you do for a living? Every time I see you, you're wearing casual clothing (shorts & sandals) even when you say you just got done working." Well, as I've told many the same thing I just don't feel like explaining this all of the time so I'll just explain that now for at least all of you who browse by this site.

My name is Ben Eskew, obviously, and I've been a professional web developer/programmer for the past five years. I've been developing web projects for entrepreneurs and corporations for years and have finally settled into developing projects for myself recently. Hmm, that still may have not cleared anything up for most of you so I have a bit of explaining and definitions to do. Here we go.

No, I am not a web designer. Web designers paint the house, I make the house.

No, I am not some d-bag that goes around posting unsolicited ads on message boards and social networks (I actually dislike most social network platforms.) And, no, I will not stoop to those levels just to make a few bucks...my honor is worth way more than anything you could tempt me with.

I'm a programmer through and through. I began my love affair with programming and web development in early 1995 when I discovered how easy it is to create programs to automate tasks for me on my new PC at the time. I first began programming with Visual Basic, at the time I believe it was version 4, and absolutely fell in love with how easy it was to play with...compared to C and Java and the other lower-level languages around. I eventually came to a point where I wanted to create a web presence and began teaching myself scripting and the HTML language.

HTML was like kids play to me compared to creating apps with VB so I obviously learned very quickly and began creating basic pages and whatever using the free hosting sites at the time like Geocities and 50megs (embarrassing to admit but it's true). I had life problems and such between those times and the turn of the decade so there wasn't much output coming from me during those times except I did teach myself JavaScript. Sometime between 2000 and 2001 I stumbled on to the newly created PHP scripting language (some people classify PHP as a programming language, but this is false during that time...although nowadays it technically is both as it incorporates the usage of object oriented programming techniques) and began teaching myself everything I possibly could about it...from the history of PHP/FI to its current state as the newly created PHP3. Thus, my love affair with PHP and Linux was born.

I eventually found employment with several entrepreneurs and hit a good stride when I created my first content management system which I could use as a website skeleton for my various web projects on Linux OS machines. That content management system is still alive today (although is extremely different, and actually completely revamped from its original state now) and I've created hundreds of various projects using it. During this time and up until a few years ago I was involved with these entrepreneurs in creating their projects, which were mostly within the adult industry by the way, and gained much needed marketing knowledge.

Recently, I've formed a business entity, Killer Media L.L.C., and am finally beginning what I set out to do years ago...delving into the travel industry by way of information gathering/display and social platform engineering. My first major contribution to Killer Media L.L.C. is QueryVegas.com, which I began work on in late 2006 but have only recently been able to put major work time into it. It is currently in constant development and is technically just a prototype...but is in beta testing mode as it is very functional.

In the near future I plan to open an office either in Riverside, CA or Huntington Beach, CA for corporate use.

For those who have rejected my past employment attempts...ouch, you surely turned away the wrong guy, and now that should be completely obvious.

Sorry for the rambling!