Ample is a place for smart, interesting, and passionate people to call home. It’s also the first call for anyone seeking great digital work.
When you have a problem you can't solve, a message you can't deliver, a site that doesn't convert—you call the A team. Ample brings a crew who obsessively delivers on time and with excellence, just as their Midwest work ethic demands.
Ample started around a dining room table. We designed, wrote, and coded while cooking and sharing meals. As we’ve grown, the setting changed (and a few of the faces) but the family style atmosphere remains. Food is still important…heck, our office kitchen table is a 10-foot slab of California redwood. And like in any home, it’s where we congregate. Talking politics and tech, football and family. We start our weeks with yoga on Mondays and celebrate the week’s end with drinks on Fridays. In the middle, we work our tails off.
Stop in sometime. If you’re lucky we’ll be eating a Lotta Trotta or a Bearcat (best pizzas on earth). If you’re unlucky we’ll be playing MindTrap (worst game on the planet).
This is a place that believes in hiring smart people who take pride in their work and then affording them the freedom to act in our client’s best interest. It’s a team of creative thinkers who aren’t afraid of letting their freak flag fly.
Leave this to me. I believe the right way of doings things is the only way of doing things. Why write code unless it’s elegant and scalable? Why cheer on a basketball team other than UK? Why brew something other than an IPA? Do it right the first time and you need not worry about your site going down during the Cats game.
Stories matter most. Facts are facts. In all fairness, I was a writer first, content strategist, and father of three girls. I’m writing client stories by day and making up fairy tales at night. I may be a little biased. However, without the story on the page, it's tough sledding to get someone to buy your product. And that's a fact.
Collaborate and listen. You’ll love me. I’m like 90s rap. I’ve got the technical know-how you want, mixed with just enough of that sincerity to let you know I care. I’m Tupac’s lyrics over Biggie’s beat. If you don’t get that, it’s cool. Let’s say this... “if there’s a problem, I’ll solve it. Check with my devs so we can resolve it.”
I’m the best of both… The focus of an obsessive introvert, but the smiling personality of an enthusiastic extrovert. I’m the nerd who switched to IT because it seemed more exciting. But...let’s be real: Do I seem like a nerd to you? I’m cool as "funk." If you want the best of both worlds, say "hola" a la chica bilingüe.
Development is magic… It’s a secret language that powers everything we do today. You might look at my work and think, “Silas? You're just typing a bunch of boring looking lines of code.” Then… PRESTO, I push that baby live and you got a website. I’m not saying I work at Hogwarts... but I am about to go all Harry Potter on these keys.
I like people… despite their efforts to dissuade me. Ever notice how they miss details, forget timelines and need constant reminders of what we covered in previous meetings? Well, I’m that odd person who finds that endearing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll bring the hammer down, but I’ll do it cheerfully and with donuts.
A worldly palette for problem solving. I’m from the Netherlands but have lived in China, Spain, the UK and now NYC. It has all flavored my view of the world and has given me a unique perspective. No matter the task, the answer is to start picking apart what is large, into bite-sized pieces. This goes for tech and dinner.
Gaming is good for you. As a kid, my friend Andrew and I were really into video games. Like, “we were hosting our own game servers.” I loved it! Do you know what it’s like when you find your passion early? It’s a cheat code. It led me to choose the right school, the right degree. It led me right here.
Code is the base track of the internet. I’m a drummer. And what I learned in my past life while touring still applies. A consistent beat is key. When the band needs a break, go solo. Once in a while, riff and try something new. Admittedly, I have fewer fans, but on the flip, devs don’t get booed off stage when a build fails.
We don’t find ourselves, we build ourselves. My own professional construction started at age 12, surrounded by books and teaching myself to code. Twelve cities and [redacted] years later, here I am, still working on websites, still reading and learning. Will construction ever be complete? I hope not. I’d rather keep adding on and leveling up.
Follow your passion, even to a dead end. I had thought, “I love video games, I should build ‘em.” I went to college, locked, loaded and then… disappointed. Turns out playing games is way more fun than building them. NOW WHAT?! The answer was just a classroom away, where I fell in love with software development and found my real passion.
Imagine this: I almost became a dietician. Now, rather than thinking about macro and micro nutrients, I’m thinking about the server and client sides of Ample’s next great website in progress. Who knew that watching a JavaScript tutorial would save me from watching what others are eating.
Writing is a labor I love. I’m ecstatic when I craft the perfect language for a project. However, it’s the process to get there where I truly find joy. I put thoughts on paper and then go over them again and again — sometimes hundreds of times. Some might see that as tedious. Not me. Let’s start brainstorming.
Tear it down, build it up. Some may call me obsessive, but what can I say? I like to see a job done well – that’s why I went from tinkering with machinery and making custom mods for my video game dog to becoming a programming master who isn’t scared of ctrl+alt+delete. But holler if your video game dog needs spotted ears or a fluffy tail.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages… The circus to marketing pipeline is more straightforward than you think. First, you’ll become an aerial performer for your local circus. Then, realize your creative problem solving and interpersonal skills shine in and out of the big top. Accidentally fall in love with marketing, and leave the circus life behind to follow your dreams. Cue a round of applause.
Reorganize, reboot, repeat. I got viral views for Tetrising my living room furniture to perfection, but watch out – my next move is gonna be configuring eighteen different schedules so that our project is delivered on time, on budget, and with pizazz. I can’t come to your house and reorganize your life, but I can make sure your new site is received with thunderous (digital) applause.
What do you think? Sound like your kind of place? You might be right. We’re always on the lookout for new, interesting, talented people. If you like to have fun, if you have a personal drive to do great work with excellence and you aren’t afraid of challenge, Ample could be for you. We work and celebrate as a team, but it’s the individuals, their personalities and voice, that make it all happen.
