I’m really happy to introduce Ben Polaszek (Ben_fr on BBO), one of our new developers. Why am I saying he’s the most British French employee of BBO? Talk to him for a few minutes and you’ll have a taste of his cynical and delightful sense of humour. You may have already seen his photo if you followed our story in San Francisco.

Ben isn’t just a funny guy and a brilliant developer. In addition to his interest for TV shows with deadpan humour like The IT crowd, Ben loves travelling, is passionate about music and has a taste for good wine. And I’m pretty sure he’s a fan of Karaoke too… 😉

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Ben, you seem like a guy with many hobbies. What are your passions?

You mean my passion besides coding? haha no really I’m not joking, before being a programmer, I was already passionate about it. That’s why I became one! Easy, right?

Otherwise, I’m a music lover, I like rock, jazz as much as blues… I even play the guitar, bass and piano but I’m not ready to play for everyone, give me a bit longer please 🙂

This reminds me of a story from when I was young and a little crazy. I was such a fan of a music band that I went to a concert and I hitchhiked home haha. Arthur Rimbaud, our French poet used to write “On est pas sérieux quand on a 17 ans” – When you are seventeen you aren’t really serious. — Oh I think he was right.

I also like travelling and drinking good wine (and beer…) with my wife. Life’s little pleasures are the most important you know.

OK for music and drinking, do you work out to offset the calories from the wine and snacks?

Well… you know, I’m not really a sporty person but I’m pretty good at tennis table. But I have been fortunate to be skinny by nature. Don’t be jealous 🙂

On the other hand, even though I’m not a big fan of sports, I’m quite fond of board games with my family and we spend the weekends with games like Otrio, Blokus, Stratego, Mastermind…

Could you talk about your family? Any kids?

Oh yes, they paused almost all my hobbies for 4 years now! I have 2 kids: one in his terrible twos, the other in his horrible threes. My full-time job is now trying to answer every “Why” that comes to one’s mind while comforting the other one who is throwing a tantrum because he is not allowed to play with the oven. But I’m pretty sure they’ll end up as very good kids, we’re just paying the bill at the early stage of the process 🙂

Oh and I have a wife, and a cat, Orias, who sometimes thinks he’s a plant 🤷‍♂️

Well, you know we love cats here….

Any funny anecdote you want to share with us?

My wedding! My wife and I planned our marriage in January for May, May the 4th (be with us). As we were on a low budget, we organized a picnic in the afternoon with our friends and families, and reserved a picnic area in a park we love; hoping, back in January when we organized it, that the weather would be hot and sunny as it usually is in early May here. 

One week before the event, the weather forecast was talking about freezing wind and rain! So we called every restaurant in the area to try to make a plan B… without success. The night before, a push notification on my smartphone was even warning about potential snowfall! Can you imagine how stressed we were? A picnic, the whole afternoon, with 40 people, 15 kids under the snow… in May?! 

Well… we finally did it: no snow, but weather switching between sun and hail, and temperature close to 5°C (40°F). A picnic with blankets and umbrellas! 

Believe it or not, despite this, we all had a fantastic time: everyone contributed to the picnic, nobody complained about the rain and the cold, everybody took part in the activities, smiling and enjoying the moment. Totally worth it!

So, your passion, your hobbies… what about your colleagues? Don’t worry… I won’t tell anyone 🤐

Hmmm… My first day at work, in early November, was like… “Welcome! By the way, do you have your passport?” 3 weeks later there was the Fall American Bridge Championship in San Francisco. Do you know any better team building that travelling to the other side of the world with your colleagues? I can’t believe I could take part in that journey. And it was actually a fantastic way to know each other better. We had a terrific time out there and a Saturday night in a karaoke bar in the Castro definitely converted us from colleagues to friends!

I knew you had a secret love for karaoke…. 🤭