About
Welcome! My name’s Tom, and this is my home on the web.
I’m a technical product manager and web developer based in London, with the past 5 years focused on building fintech products. To read more about my experience, check out my CV.
This website
I started Bennet.org in 2014 as an experiment in hand-coded web development. That is, writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript line-by-line without a CMS, framework, or theme. While I wouldn’t recommend this long-term, it’s a great way to learn rapidly.
A few years later I discovered the JAMstack movement, which at that time was popularized by Netlify. Excited by the promise of static site generators, I migrated to Hugo in 2017 and then to Astro in 2023. For me, Astro strikes a good balance: it enables developers to use modern UI frameworks like React, while sending zero JavaScript to the client by default. This appeals to the old schooler in me. I still scrutinize every line of code.
This site uses no cookies, trackers, tag managers, or invasive analytics software. Instead I use Plausible, a lightweight and privacy-conscious analytics tool to discover how many people visit my website.
My writing
On my blog I write about whatever I find interesting. That includes web dev topics, Raspberry Pi tutorials, video game retrospectives, articles on Bitcoin, fintech, and more.
I used to do freelance writing, focusing mostly on video games. I’ve had features commissioned by publications including Polygon and RockPaperShotgun, and have interviewed game developers including Naughty Dog and CD Projekt. I try to share links to these articles on my blog when they’re published.
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 editorials which you can browse here. These haven’t been updated in years and long predate the Astro-powered incarnation of this website, but long-form content design 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. The site’s interactive tools and maps have been referenced by the BBC, Kew Gardens, the RHS, and the Eden Project.
More about me
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, our kids, and a greenhouse full of unusual plants.