Being a big personality but a humble person, I struggle taking credit for my accomplishments sometimes. So in a single post I can update and link to as necessary in the future, I want to take credit for my accomplishments.

In just two years as an enterprise web developer, for example, here’s some feedback I got:

“Your zero-state React project was maybe the best or second-best development I’ve ever seen on our application. Fast and perfectly executed.”

“Your reporting project is the most important on our application. The VP is watching this one. I trust you.”

“You spend a lot of time helping others.”

That last one was meant to be somewhat critical, but it’s criticism I’m proud to have gotten. I’ve also won student-nominated and departmental awards for teaching. Won contests for my writing. Volunteered, but really, this post is about realizing it would be faster to brag about and list the things I haven’t accomplished in my career.

Not Me!

Check out this book: Good Bounces and Bad Lies by Ben Wright. I did not write it. That was a different Ben Wright, presumably also a golfer though.

And this one: Bonds of Salvation: How Christianity Inspired and Limited American Abolitionism (Antislavery, Abolition, and the Atlantic World) by Ben Wright. I did not write it. That was in fact, a third and different Ben Wright. But I’m sure it’s a good book. The Ben Wrights are a talented bunch.

I also was not alive to play Herr Zeller in The Sound of Music, nor do I play trumpet for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Those are two other Ben Wright figures, both very talented. I would love to take credit for these accomplishments, but I can’t.

Academia.edu keeps asking me if I am this Ben Wright. The answer is no, but I applaud Ben for doing very interesting psychological research.

The Bottom Line

The Ben Wrights are a very talented bunch. You’ve probably heard of at least one of us. If it wasn’t one of these Bens, there’s a good chance it was me, especially if it was a rumor about a top-notch web developer.