❯ whoami

Ben Block

software engineer · educator · builder

Ben Block

❯ cat intro.md

Builder who teaches, at the edge of AI.

I'm a software engineer and an educator. I ship production software, and I teach non-programmers to build it - including ENTR-451, "Building Software Products in the Era of AI," at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. Builder first; teacher always.

❯ cat work.md

work

Work

I'll teach on any stack, but home is Ruby on Rails -- unapologetically -- because its values are mine: convention over configuration, developer happiness, and shipping product over chasing stacks.

Fourteen years of my engineering work lives inside proprietary production systems -- health tech, hospitality SaaS, logistics -- so it can't be linked here. The lessons below are the parts I can put in your hands; for the rest, get in touch.

❯ cat teaching.md

teaching

Teaching

Kellogg School of Management · since 2021 · 2-3 sections a year.

I created ENTR-451 because MBA students wanted to understand how software actually gets built - so they could lead the people and products that build on it. Ten weeks take founders, product leaders, and operators from zero to a full-stack product they deploy live, built around the distinction at the heart of working with AI today: the gap between vibe coding (prompt, paste, hope) and agentic coding (directing AI inside guardrails of tests, specs, and structure). AI keeps rewriting the how, and the course evolves with it, every quarter.

ENTR
451

Building Software Products in the Era of AI

"Despite working in technology companies my entire career, I had not ever considered a role in software development. [Professor Block's] support and influence was so profound that at this point I'm actively entertaining ways to integrate software development into my future career path." -- MBA student

❯ cat lessons.md

lessons

Lessons

Things I built to make abstract ideas about AI tangible.

essay · written the way I'd teach it

What AI-native professionals need to learn right now

Why production got cheap, judgment didn't, and what to teach instead - the five durable skills, named and numbered, with the full lesson waiting inside a live activity.

read it →

signature classroom activity · live demo

The Literal Machine

The hands-on companion to the essay above: instruct a hyper-literal robot (played by Claude) to make a PB&J, and feel firsthand why specs, verification, and reuse matter. In 90 seconds, students feel all five skills at once.

play it →

❯ git log --career --graph

experience

Experience

# 14 years, reverse-chronological · click any commit to expand the diff

HEAD → teachingKellogg · Northwestern

commit: created ENTR-451, "Building Software Products in the Era of AI"

+ non-programmers → a deployed full-stack product in 10 weeks
+ swap the entire toolset every quarter, on purpose
~ the fundamentals are the curriculum; tools are examples

▸ expand diff▾ collapse

mainSalesAndCatering.comhospitality SaaS

commit: back in the weeds - shipping production Rails, every week

+ still building alongside teaching, on purpose

~ "the material never goes stale when you're in the weeds"

▸ expand diff▾ collapse

IntelliCare by Adaptive Healthhealth tech

commit: owned the technology org top to bottom

+ built and led engineering for a digital-health product

− funding paused, 2024 - advisory since

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independentThe Mom Project · Anthem · Eight Bit

commit: five years of shipping for whoever needed it built

+ clients: The Mom Project, Anthem, SalesAndCatering, Eight Bit Studios

~ learned to scope, spec, and deliver as a team of one

▸ expand diff▾ collapse

merge: acquired by AnthemScale Down

commit: grew from writing the code to running the people who do

− Lead Developer
+ VP of Engineering
⑂ merged into Anthem

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merge: acquired by DelivWeDeliverlogistics

commit: wrote code and ran ops - the producer instinct, applied to a startup

− Developer
+ Chief Operating Officer
⑂ merged into Deliv

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Halfaker and AssociatesDept. of Veterans Affairs

commit: first real engineering job - junior to leading the team

+ learned to code as an adult, on the job
+ Agile / Scrum Master - process as a tool, not a religion
~ "I remember exactly where the floor drops out"

▸ expand diff▾ collapse

rootfilm + ideas

commit: Co-producer, feature films → Associate Producer, Chicago Ideas Week

+ co-produced feature films, $1M-$30M budgets
+ associate producer, the inaugural Chicago Ideas Week
~ project management → learning to code → an entirely new career

▸ expand diff▾ collapse

Adjunct Lecturer → course creator

Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern · created and teaches ENTR-451, "Building Software Products in the Era of AI"

2021 - now

Senior Software Engineer

SalesAndCatering.com · hospitality SaaS · production Ruby on Rails

2024 - now

Chief Technology Officer

IntelliCare by Adaptive Health · health tech · advisory since funding paused in 2024

2022 - now

Freelance Software Developer

Independent · The Mom Project, Anthem, SalesAndCatering.com, Eight Bit Studios

2017 - 2022

Lead Developer → VP of Engineering

Scale Down · acquired by Anthem

2015 - 2017

Developer → Chief Operating Officer

WeDeliver · logistics · acquired by Deliv

2014 - 2015

Junior Developer → Lead / Scrum Master

Halfaker and Associates · Dept. of Veterans Affairs contractor

2012 - 2014

Before code - film & ideas

Co-producer of feature films ($1M-$30M) → Associate Producer, the inaugural Chicago Ideas Week. Project management led to code led to a new career.

2006 - 2011

Full history on LinkedIn · résumé (PDF)

❯ cat contact.md

contact

Get in touch

email linkedin github résumé.pdf