Hi Bitrisers, this is Amy Tom – your new Content Writer here at Bitrise, *puts on the fictitious theatrical hat* and I’m coming to you live from the beautiful city of Amsterdam, Netherlands to bring you engaging content that is so beautiful it will move you to tears. Kidding, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
Over five years ago, I was whole-heartedly captured by the tech industry and haven’t been able to escape ever since. Or maybe I just really love it and have willingly fallen deeper and deeper into the ever-changing technological abyss. Who knows.
TL;DR: I’m a bit of a nomad, but I’ve always loved writing and creating content in the tech industry.
Vancouver born, internet raised
I grew up in Vancouver, BC in Canada in the 90’s with Web1.0 in the age of dial up and landlines. As a young woman, I had my sights set on becoming a digital marketer – and I did just that.
I started my career as a Search Engine Optimization Specialist for a marketing agency in Vancouver. I learned all about how the internet works in the age of Google algo Penguin 3.0, but most importantly, I learned how to create content that gets seen by the right people.
Following that, I was lucky to foray into a more technical role as an Account Manager at Absolute Software – a SaaS company that does endpoint security. I started that role asking people what a BIOS meant, and by the end of my tenure there, I was pitching security plans to CTOs in New York City.
That time I almost died and then bought a plane ticket
In 2018, I got into a snowboarding accident that changed my life. My post concussion symptoms of headaches, fatigue, and confusion lasted for 2 years; during that time, work became very hard for me to keep up with.
Here comes the cliché: I realized life is too short to not do what you want. So in 2019, I bought a one-way ticket to Tokyo and didn’t come home for 9 months. I travelled to Australia and South East Asia; I did social media for a dive shop in Indonesia, I did SEO for an amber museum in Myanmar, and I had the greatest adventure of my life. The time abroad helped me rest and heal from my concussion, but also made me realize I really wanted to move abroad and explore technology in the rest of the world.
One pandemic later, I joined the WFA Movement and came to Amsterdam
When the pandemic hit, I went back to Vancouver to spend an embarrassing portion of 2020 playing Animal Crossing like it was a full-time job. Then, when I realized that the current situation wasn’t about to change, I adopted the work-from-anywhere movement and got a remote job as an Editor and Podcast Host at HackerNoon – an online technology publication. As a Podcast Host, I interviewed tech startup founders, developers, crypto experts, and got to talk to so many interesting people.
I fell in love with the process of understanding complicated technological concepts and translating them into plain English for non-technical people to understand.
Working at HackerNoon led me to the Netherlands to visit a coworker in 2021 and I absolutely adored all its intricacies. Earlier this year in 2022, I made the official hop over and moved to Amsterdam, which led me to Bitrise. I’m so excited that I am joining the team and I can’t wait to create some fun content for y’all.
Thank you, next
I’m quite excited about my new chapter at Bitrise. Mobile is where it’s at and I couldn’t be happier to join a cool remote team with an even cooler product. And what’s next for me? Well, look out for me in the Bitrise community where I’ll be writing and sharing whitepapers, blogs, and e-books – oh my!
So, what’s next for the Bitrise blog? Well, you’ll continue to receive great mobile engineering content and thought-provoking pieces from the Bitrise team. Beyond that, I’m throwing out an open invite to you – the industry expert – to come share your expertise on the Bitrise blog. As always, I’ll be waiting for you on the other side with some structured editorial advice and feedback to help you become a better internet writer ;) So check back here for more on that later.
Until next time, I’ll see you on Twitter or LinkedIn! If you’re interested in joining me at Bitrise, why not check out our career page.
