Ruben van Engelenburg: Tenacious, Driven Problem Solver

July 2019 Consultant of the Month

Ruben van Engelenburg is a web developer with a passion for well designed, maintainable code. His knack for tackling the toughest problems head-on and solving them quickly make him a favorite “go-to” tech guy for clients he serves. Ruben is not just the wizard implementing code behind the scenes. He is also comfortable communicating technical aspects of web development into broader terms that make sense to marketing managers and ultimately help achieve their goals.

Ruben van Engelenburg is a web developer with a passion for well designed, maintainable code. His knack for tackling the toughest problems head-on and solving them quickly make him a favorite “go-to” tech guy for clients he serves. Ruben is not just the wizard implementing code behind the scenes. He is also comfortable communicating technical aspects of web development into broader terms that make sense to marketing managers and ultimately help achieve their goals.

Ruben has a variety of projects that keep him fulfilled. For one, he recently helped launch this beautiful, new EM Marketing website! Currently, he’s part of an all-star EM Marketing team, working on a website redesign for Illuminate Education. Additionally, he is helping a fast-growing startup to change the culture of distracted driving with his backend work on the Lifesaver mobile app. If that’s not enough, he does development for Smack Happy Design, a web solutions firm. No matter the workload, you can count on Ruben to be professional, communicative and responsive.

Fast-Paced and Rarin’ To Go

Ruben hails from the Netherlands and got his start in traditional software development. During the Internet boom, he began dabbling in web technologies and is now constantly learning new ones. He loves the fast pace of web development, where one must stay on top of changing technology and anticipate what the next big thing will be.

Learning as you go is very common among software and web developers, and Ruben often takes courses on Udemy and Coursera to keep up to date. Right now, the hottest technology he’s focused on originates from Facebook, called React. Operating on a Javascript framework, it allows for “awesome” (according to Ruben), real-time, responsive UI. He has used React in conjunction with WordPress to customize websites for clients, but some may not realize what’s under the hood, so to speak. “As long as it works, it looks good, and it’s fast, clients are happy,” Ruben says.

California Dreamin’

So what brought Ruben from the Netherlands to sunny Orange County? Well, it started with a popular game, a chat room, and a budding online, long-distance relationship that ended happily ever after. Back in his home country, Ruben was running the server for a multiplayer Tetris game — apparently that chat room has produced a few married couples, including him and his wife, Tiffany (who is from California).

With the perks of flexibility and remote work as a consultant, Ruben has been able to enjoy month-long trips visiting friends and family in the Netherlands. But he is loving life in SoCal. Notably, he has changed his European taste buds favoring Belgian ales. He is now especially fond of the local microbrewery, Bottle Logic. So much so that he will stand in long lines for special releases, including his all-time favorite, a bourbon barrel-aged, imperial stout. “Prost!” to Ruben’s enthusiasm for a solid craft beer.

Ruben’s energy and passion flows in his work too. He likes to strike down issues as fast as possible and keep code clean. Clients are impressed and pleased with the results.