Reviews/Ben Donahue
Ben Donahue
Power Platform Developer | Canvas Apps Specialist
September 26, 2019 · Ben reported to Mike directly
Verified LinkedIn recommendationThe work this recommendation is about
Ben was a software-engineering intern at Testimonial Tree during Mike's director-of-engineering years. The recommendation is about how Mike staffed stretch work: assignments that looked past someone's current ability, then a hands-off loop that made the team teach itself.
Mike Henken is, of course, a talented, creative and experience coder in his own right, of course. His personal accomplishments have demonstrated that time and again. What really impresses me about Mr. Henken is his ability to inspire and motivate his team to greater and greater levels of accomplishment. His sense of exactly which projects would challenge and develop the members of his team I found to be uncanny and impressively on-point. That he does all this with a markedly "hands-off" approach allows his team to rise, on their own, to the challenges he sets before them, and also by collaborating with the other team members. This collaboration, in turn, puts those team members being consulted in training positions, raising their knowledge of the subject matter and their ability to train and converse among themselves.
While working for Mr. Henken, I was often given tasks that seemed too far beyond my current ability, and, at first, I questioned him on this. But, after accomplishing the tasks he set before me one after another, I grew in leaps and bounds as a coder and contributing team member, and my respect for Mr. Henken skyrocketed. I would, without question, work for Mr. Henken again in the future, and am envious of anyone who is offered that opportunity.