Tom Clements

Some more about me

Ever since my first ZX Spectrum aged 5 I’ve been hooked. That my hours of programming could make some letters move across the screen amazed me, and over the years I hacked (with varying degrees of success) on BBCs, Acorns, Ataris - and after I started playing guitar at 13, combining the two was a logical conclusion. After a stint at Salford University studying Audio Technology I spent the next 7 years touring the UK and Europe as a professional musician, releasing two albums to critical acclaim and playing hundreds of shows alongside some of the biggest names in rock music. In between tours, I began designing flyers, websites, album covers and band logos for other bands. During this time I learnt a lot about thinking on my feet, there’s nothing quite like life on the road to teach you agility.

But then it was time for a new challenge. After becoming increasingly depressed by PHP I discovered Ruby/Rails in 2007 and never looked back. I started up Goodcleanfunk and began working with Rails full time - Turns out shifting my creative drive in a new direction was the most natural thing in the world. Over the coming years I took many commercial projects from conception to deployment and beyond. From e-commerce solutions for the music industry to online pawnbroking systems, from content management systems to social networking, I designed, built and delivered sites from the ground up. In 2009 I realised I was missing a team, and took a job working on one of the UK’s biggest Rails sites, where I’m now a senior developer. I love ruby, love testing, and I still play a mean guitar.