At Claim Academy, our greatest assets are the people that make each class interesting, engaging, and valuable: the instructors. To help you get to know our instructors a little better, we will be featuring our instructors periodically on our blog. To get us started, here's a little bit about Andrew Benz, one of our three .NET instructors for the April 18th .NET cohort.


Quick Facts


What projects are you working on now?

Andrew: I'm working on a website and apps that will turn doing chores into a game!

What's your favorite project that you've worked on in the past?

Andrew: When CD-Roms were big, I worked on two interactive cookbooks. It was cool working with video and multimedia, but even better to to taste the meals prepared by some of the biggest chefs in St. Louis and Chicago!

What got you into programming to begin with? What was that spark that made you say "I want to be a programmer"?

Andrew: We had an Atari 400 when I was a kid and I remember having a Games in BASIC book. I'd spend hours typing in the programs and the knowledge that I was controlling what the computer was doing hooked me!

In your opinion, what's the most exciting thing happening in the world of .NET right now?

Andrew: Microsoft is radically changing how asp.net works and is not only supporting it on MacOS and Linux, but open sourcing it as well. This is something I never would have expected to happen and it's made the ecosystem that much more exciting!

If you could hang out with anyone from the tech world (alive or dead), who would it be and why?

Andrew: Miguel de Icaza, because I think the work he's done with Mono and Xamarin would be fascinating to discuss. Plus, he seems like a cool guy.

What's your favorite thing to do besides programming and teaching class?

Andrew: Play and record music; I enjoy playing bass, guitar, and drums.