Tom Brien
Research Scientist at Cardiff University
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Summary
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RockstarTom Brien is a research scientist and postdoctoral researcher based in Cardiff with seven years’ experience at the intersection of astronomical instrumentation and software engineering. He works on the MUSCAT instrument and LEKID detector development for the LMT while contributing substantial open-source code and documentation across the Home Assistant ecosystem. His contributions span mobile iOS UX improvements, front-end migrations to Docusaurus V2, back-end API integrations (notably Coinbase support), and technical writing—demonstrating comfort across full-stack development and developer-facing docs. Tom combines hands-on instrument lab work with pragmatic software delivery, often smoothing the developer experience through better docs, search, and UI polish. Colleagues benefit from his blend of research rigor and practical engineering, reflected in both published instrumentation projects and widely used open-source platforms.
7 years of coding experience
Github Skills (26)
javascript10
ios10
python10
apidoc10
api10
mobile10
home-assistant10
swift10
docusaurus10
frontend10
react10
documentation10
develop9
markdown9
user-interface9
Programming languages (11)
Github contributions (5)
home-assistant/companion.home-assistant
Apr 2019 - Sep 2022
:book: Home Assistant Companion docs
Role in this project:
Technical Writer
Technical WriterContributions:181 reviews, 345 commits, 369 PRs in 3 years 5 months
Contributions summary:Tom primarily contributed to the documentation of the Home Assistant Companion App, focusing on updating the documentation structure and content. Their commits reflect changes to navigation links and content organization. The user also fixed typos, improved the formatting of documentation, and addressed issues related to the display of documentation.
assistanthacshome-automationhome-assistantcompanion
home-assistant/developers.home-assistant
Feb 2020 - Jan 2022
Developers website for Home Assistant.
Role in this project:Front-end Developer
Front-end DeveloperContributions:103 reviews, 35 commits, 124 PRs in 1 year 10 months
Contributions summary:Tom primarily focused on updating and migrating the Home Assistant developer documentation website. Their contributions involved migrating the site to Docusaurus V2, adding redirects, and enabling search functionality. They also implemented UI changes, including adding the Home Assistant logo to the homepage banner and integrating recent blog posts. Furthermore, they removed scrollbars and added a link to the "Getting Started" section to the menu.
assistanthasshome-assistanthomeassistantiot
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