About Me

Hi, I’m Tom - a web and mobile app developer based in Bristol, UK.

I’ve been designing, architecting and building web and mobile applications since 2006, primarily using JavaScript. I’ve worked for an early stage startup and an award-winning mobile agency, and for the past 10 years I’ve been running my own consultancy Studio Zeffa, where I provide app development and training services to a variety of different clients.

Read on to find out more about the services I offer, my portfolio and previous experience. You can also check out my GitHub profile, visit my LinkedIn page or download my current CV.

If you are interesting in hiring me to work on a web or mobile application, or would like to learn more about the training courses I run, why not get in touch?

Projects

Here is a selection of projects I have worked on. A full list can be found here.

  • Candide POS

    An app to accept in-person payments using a Stripe card reader.

    Read more →

  • Chalkboard

    An app for local businesses to communicate more effectively with their customers.

    Read more →

  • Confinus

    A web-based marketplace for food produce vendors and consumers.

    Read more →

  • Flow XO

    A web app to build no-code chatbots.

    Read more →

  • RIVIAM

    An app for clinicians to track immunisations.

    Read more →

  • xplore

    An app to connect new and existing customers to independent, local businesses.

    Read more →

Testimonials

Here is a sample of kind words from past and current clients: more testimonials can be found on my LinkedIn page.

It was a true pleasure working with Tom. Right from the first point of contact Tom quickly understood and applied himself to the needs of correlating my designs to the finished app. His attention to detail was exceptional, it was incredibly refreshing to work with someone who really cared and realised the importance of detail.

Ed George

Brand and Business Strategy Specialist at Polesaver Ltd

Tom has worked with Natural Apptitude on a number of projects ranging from mobile app development to work on our backend services. During these contracts Tom has demonstrated a very high level of professionalism and impressed not only with excellent and broad technical skills, but also his soft-skills: fitting in quickly and working well with both colleagues and clients. Overall, Tom has been an excellent member of our team and we would not hesitate in recommending him to others.

Joe Woodhouse

Founder & CTO at Natural Apptitude

Tom is a fantastic full-stack JS developer. He is equally skilled in front-end and server-side work, and will work quickly and thoughtfully, whatever the task. Tom will offer constructive feedback on designs/plans where he has ideas or suggestions. Rather than simply implement blindly, he will think of the objectives and practicalities, and work to develop a solution. I don't often come across developers like this.

John Jackson

Founder at Chalkboard

Tom is excellent! He teaches our students how to build mobile apps on our coding bootcamp, and has delivered high level, bespoke, technical workshops for our clients. He is extremely personable, professional, reliable and knowledgable and never fails to deliver outstanding work.

Pete New

Founder at DevelopMe Training

Community

SWmobile

I co-founded SWmobile, a mobile-focused tech group based in the South West of England. The group has over 1,000 members and meets every month to discuss mobile design and development. The format varies, but usually involves a set of speakers presenting a chosen topic, culminating in a trip to the pub to continue the discussion.

I’ve spoken at a few meetups, most recently on React Native.

BristolJS

A 2,000+ strong meetup group that meets every month to discuss all things JavaScript.

I delivered a lightning talk at a meetup in 2015 on Express.js and Passport.js.

Experience

For more details on my past experience, please refer to my LinkedIn profile.

Technical Director, Studio Zeffa

April 2013 - Present

Designing, architecting and developing web and mobile applications for a number of clients, and offering training in software development. Available for hire for your next project or training course.

Senior Developer / Head of Mobile Web, Mubaloo

January 2012 - August 2013

  • Initially hired as a senior developer, building browser-based and hybrid mobile web applications in a fast-paced agency environment.
  • Promoted to Head of Mobile Web within a year, where I managed a team of web developers.
  • Worked on a variety of projects, including financial apps and HTML5 games.
  • Frequently involved in client meetings, scoping/quoting, user stories, wireframing, UX design, development, testing and deployment to app stores.

Co-Founder and CEO, Isca Networks

November 2007 - January 2012

  • Founded a startup building web-based touch screen kiosk hardware and software.
  • Launched product in 2009; led team to deployment of over 200 kiosks across 9 retail stores in France.
  • Duties varied from product development, handling hardware operations and logistics, liaising with customers and investors, supporting product, setting targets, reporting results to Board of Directors and handling financial forecasts.
  • Business was eventually relocated to Canada. I decided to remain in the UK and resigned from the company.

Technical Knowledge

Front-End

  • Web fundamentals: HTML / CSS / JavaScript
  • TypeScript
  • React & React Native
  • AngularJS & Modern Angular
  • Stimulus.js
  • Vue.js
  • Redux
  • Ionic & Cordova
  • jQuery

Back-End

  • Node.js & Express.js
  • Ruby / Rails
  • Postgres
  • MongoDB

Other

  • iOS and Android toolchains
  • Fastlane
  • Git
  • Heroku
  • Netlify