Tom Moore tells us everything we’ve wanted to know, and more!

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m Tom and I’m from Carlisle, Cumbria, in England. And yes, it rains almost every day(!). I’m a Marketing Designer and Systems Developer and I’m in the middle of moving to a nice new house just outside of the city. I’m starting my own business soon in Xekko, providing the usual plugins and software, but also providing hospitality for local events.

How much time do you spend on the MyBB project weekly?

It depends really – usually on how much Ryan pesters me into doing something(!). I spend most of my day at work working with MyBB and if there’s a bug or two hanging around I’ll normally have a go at fixing it. My lovely girlfriend would like to point out at this time that she thinks I spend too much on the project.

Apart from MyBB, what do some of your hobbies include?

I like spending time outside and visiting the lakes (what’s the point in living in a natural park and spend all day inside?), but I like going to the cinema and enjoying the nightlife too. I’m an avid fan of Guitar Hero – I’m the drummer of our band – where having a deaf neighbor comes in handy.

What is a feature that you would like to see in MyBB one day and why?

I don’t really have a particular feature I would like to see in MyBB, to be honest – it’s already the best “forum” software you can get without all the unnecessary addons you don’t really need to run a community. Well, except for what’s planned for MyBB 2…

I work with MyBB in so many applications that I know you can do whatever you want with it.

If you could do anything you wanted for one day, what would it be?

Hmm, a day without coding would be good! There’s too many things for one day though; I would probably have to live the life of a celebrity (famous one), and go out for a night out I think. Can’t really complain at getting free drinks all night…

What made you want to join the MyBB staff?

I started using MyBB for an open-sourced alternative to Invision. I had enough free time to help out other people and I quickly grasped (almost) all aspects of MyBB. I guess I just wanted to help people out as much as I could, and then the opportunity came to join the team. Now as a developer, I really enjoy giving people headaches with the bugs I cause.

Tell us a bit about your job

I really love my job; for the past two years, I’ve been a Marketing Designer and Systems Developer for one of the UK’s largest suppliers of civil engineering and drainage products (basically, they sell the sort of things to build roads and houses or public/industrial buildings, and drainage systems for things like football stadiums, car parks etc). I mainly do all of their advertising, literature and posters as my marketing part, but the other part of my job is to develop software systems to help the company. The part I hate the most is the printing out. I enjoy designing all of the leaflets and things, but really, really hate printing anywhere up to 5,000 of them – then putting them all into envelopes and stamping them. I also look after their website (which I hate, as I didn’t make it!) and I’ve just finished making an e-shop for all the products we sell. Of course, it’s powered by MyBB. 

What is your dream career?

In school, I did graphic design and always wanted to be a designer. So actually, I’m already in my dream career. A Ferrari or two wouldn’t go a miss though…

Your most memorable day was…

I’ve had a few that come to mind, but I’ll have to say my first day at work (where I work now). Before then, I was unemployed and getting into things I really shouldn’t have done. It started a whole new chain of events which turned my life round for the better, and without that happening, I really don’t know where I would be now. I met people that have truly changed my life, and I even met my girlfriend there too. So (so far), that’s my memorable day.

Anything else you would like to add?

For those wanting to get into MyBB, don’t underestimate it’s ability to do whatever you want with it. It’s structure and plugin system is the most powerful and easiest to learn out of all the free forum systems (and the paid ones too, come to mind). Take some time to learn it, and you’ll find out just how much you can do with it.

Also, MyBB 2.0 will kick ass.