About

My name’s Tom, and I’m a web developer and technical product manager based in London. My background is in SEO and digital marketing, and I’ve been working in this industry for over 10 years. If you’d like to read more about my experience, check out my job history.

This page is about my interests outside of work.

Writing

I was once a freelance writer, focusing mostly on video games. I’ve had features commissioned by publications including Polygon and RockPaperShotgun, and have interviewed video game developers including Naughty Dog and CD Projekt.

During this site’s early years I combined my enjoyment of web development with my passion for writing, and put together a series of individually-designed long-form editorials which you can browse here.

These haven’t been updated in many years and long predate the Astro-powered incarnation of this website, but art direction for long-form content on the web is still something which interests me.

Carnivorous Plants

Since I was a child I’ve been fascinated by carnivorous plants like the Venus Flytrap, and I now have a website dedicated to this hobby: Tom’s Carnivores.

Developed continuously since 2017, the site now has a large social & email following as well as a big SEO presence. It’s built using Hugo and hosted on Netlify. The site’s interactive tools and maps have been referenced by the BBC, Kew Gardens, the RHS, and the Eden Project.

Other Stuff

Fun fact, at one time I was an active skydiver. I earned my FF2 freefly rating and logged over 250 group jumps in both the UK and internationally. I’m the one on the right wearing the yellow-and-blue parachute:

As I’ve gotten older my interests have mellowed considerably. I now enjoy reading science-fiction, brewing coffee, and eating very dark chocolate. I live in the UK with my wife and kids, and a greenhouse full of unusual plants.