JR

John Ritterbush
  • Full Stack Developer
  • UI/UX Consultant
  • Accessibility Advocate

I’m a Senior Software Engineer (Web) at Sprout Social . Over the past years at Sprout I have worked on the marketing sites and now specialize in growth and product-led engineering to help our customers get the most out of our software.

More about me

I am a self-taught web developer with a background in art and art history. On paper those things seem disconnected, but the knowledge I gained in both practices have been critical in my growth. My interest in art and education led me to volunteer my time to improve the website of a local arts center. In return, that experience led me to pursue web development, a career I have found equal fulfillment in.

Since then I have continued the ongoing process of learning and have built a personal library of development knowledge. I am always excited to take on new challenges that let me expand and share that set of tools.

What I have learned from...

Art

My fine art practice focused on the lost-wax, bronze-casting technique. Similar to web development each step builds on the previous one—from creating a clay model to finishing the bronze—if you don’t understand all the steps in the process, you jeopardize the final product. Working in this tradition taught me to be aware of each action and its role in the project, ensuring the best result for the client and their customers.

Art History

Hours of research are the backbone for a great art historian, in the same way that hours of online research result in great development. If you run into a problem in your work, the solution is just a search away. And if that search turns up nothing, you celebrate because you just found your focus or thesis. Even when the result isn’t out there yet, the solution becomes a synthesis of existing ideas to solve your problem. Dedication, time, and a few breaks can lead to great results.

Failure

The first couple of flops (some still floating around the interwebs) are hard. Each time I wanted to walk away and give up but I soon realized that those were the best moments to learn from. Now I embrace mistakes and let them educate each subsequent project.

About this site

I’m currently rebuilding my portfolio so I took down a lot of content that felt ancient. If you have any questions about my experience you can always check LinkedIn or contact me with questions .

But why did you...?

Yeah this site is massively overbuilt. I use this site for a combination of things, but mainly as a way to play around with new technology and try new things. So yeah, it is over-built for what it is.

Accessibility first

While building any content for the web, I keep accessibility in mind. It should be part of the thought process to plan, design, and build any web content. Accessibility helps everyone, so let’s get it done.

Try again

Building for the web is iterative, and you won’t get it 100% right in the first pass. You also shouldn’t let that stop you from creating content. Just get your project out there and then fix the bugs and add the features that are in demand (not just the ones you THINK will add value).

Experience

Read more about my experience on LinkedIn