Thomas John
Web / Mobile / Desktop interactive developer
41 years old
Driving License
Bruxelles (1040) Belgium
Freelancer
Open to opportunities
I love to solve problems, debug, create tools, learn new things, bring ideas to life and get better at it.
I started developing around the age of 16 using Visual Basic 6. Did quite a few things such as a chess game that connected to an online server, a FTP client, a peer to peer file sharing app and a 3D Matrix screensaver emulating the matrix rain effect.
I used to share my code on various development websites such as planet source code and vbfrance.
Then Flash entered my life. It became a love story that lasted as long as it could. I worked for plenty of different clients and agencies as a flash developer. Mainly promotional and visual stuff.
On the personal side, I started developing games (as well as tools that helped me develop them), a thing I have always wanted to do and tried to integrate as much as possible into my professional life.
With that idea in mind and with 2 other guys, we started a collaboration that later became what is now reed.be, a web agency. We worked on quite some projects together. I'm no longer part of it.
After a long and slow death, I had to make up my mind about Flash and ultimately retired from it.
Transitioning to html and javascript, I followed my desire to work in a long-term project. This led me to SmartCertificate. It allowed me to touch pretty much all the aspects of a business and helped me grow in not just the technical part of it. On the side, I pursued my love for making games.
As time passed, SmartCertificate took more and more of my time and I slowly abandonned game development. I still try/sketch/think about ideas, write some stories, see if something is working or not.
Since a year, I started investigating AIs such as ChatGPT and Midjourney. I build a couple of tools to help me and close relatives in their day to day tasks. I find it quite fascinating and yet, still too limited. But this is only the beginning.
I started developing around the age of 16 using Visual Basic 6. Did quite a few things such as a chess game that connected to an online server, a FTP client, a peer to peer file sharing app and a 3D Matrix screensaver emulating the matrix rain effect.
I used to share my code on various development websites such as planet source code and vbfrance.
Then Flash entered my life. It became a love story that lasted as long as it could. I worked for plenty of different clients and agencies as a flash developer. Mainly promotional and visual stuff.
On the personal side, I started developing games (as well as tools that helped me develop them), a thing I have always wanted to do and tried to integrate as much as possible into my professional life.
With that idea in mind and with 2 other guys, we started a collaboration that later became what is now reed.be, a web agency. We worked on quite some projects together. I'm no longer part of it.
After a long and slow death, I had to make up my mind about Flash and ultimately retired from it.
Transitioning to html and javascript, I followed my desire to work in a long-term project. This led me to SmartCertificate. It allowed me to touch pretty much all the aspects of a business and helped me grow in not just the technical part of it. On the side, I pursued my love for making games.
As time passed, SmartCertificate took more and more of my time and I slowly abandonned game development. I still try/sketch/think about ideas, write some stories, see if something is working or not.
Since a year, I started investigating AIs such as ChatGPT and Midjourney. I build a couple of tools to help me and close relatives in their day to day tasks. I find it quite fascinating and yet, still too limited. But this is only the beginning.
- I have always been fascinated by movies ever since I saw Star Wars. I saw the making of it on video when I was probably 9 years old.
Since then, I keep reading about it, I watch behind the scenes, send emails to directors whose films moved me (they answer sometimes :)) and write down ideas.
- In 2005, I left with my backpack for two years and a half. I worked in farms and travelled for a year in Australia and then took a plane to Singapore, not really knowing where I was going. I didn't have a plan, nor a place to stay. From there, and during a year and a half, I made my way through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), China, Thibet, Nepal and India.
Since then, I try to leave once or twice a year for just a couple of weeks.
I like meeting new people, hearing their stories, telling them mines. Meeting people that generally travel alone is a very peculiar experience that nourishes me deeply.
- I play piano since I'm little. Mostly self-educated, I like to play personal things. I compose from time to time, whether directly on my piano or via my computer. I was part of a small band several years ago. We went on radio.
I also play guitar, a bit.
- I need exercise even if I don't do as much as I want. I do yoga almost every day, alone and with a teacher. In my youth, I played basketball and football. I also did kung-fu for 6 years. I plan to rehabilitate them in the near future, step by step.
- I draw what crosses my mind: game ideas, characters, project, all sorts of concepts but mainly oriented towards games and apps.
I never really pushed that part of me as I did with programming or even maybe music but I think that this side of me brings a lot to everything I undertake.