Joe Osborne is the Senior Data Manager at Zapmap. Joe looks after Zapmap’s dataset as a resource, and has built a team to help him do so.
See how Joe is finding life working at Zapmap, how he got to where he is, and why he wanted to join Zapmap in the first place.
Working at Zapmap
“Working at Zapmap is rewarding, fast paced, and often a laugh,” says Joe Osborne at the start of our call.
“It’s right on the edge of a really interesting and changing industry. As a business we are surfing a wave of explosive growth in the whole EV space.”
As the conversation progresses, we get on to what Joe does at Zapmap.
“Broadly speaking, my role is all about looking after our dataset as a resource,” he says. “That means maintaining the inputs to that resource, and looking after the quality of it too. And that’s a full-time job for four people!”
He continues: “I like what I’m doing at Zapmap, and the results I’m achieving here, because I can see we’re using the data ethically and it’s being put to good use.
“Also the dataset is very cool. It’s a great set of problems to work on.”
“One highlight for me is that I’ve really enjoyed building a team,” Joe continues. “I joined as an individual contributor, and had a whale of a time doing that. But as the problem set has grown beyond one person, we've been able to build a team – and that’s been really fulfilling.”
"The dataset is very cool. It’s a great set of problems to work on."
There are a couple of reasons why this is a highlight for Joe.
“I enjoy the mentorship, and training people,” he says. “I also like building systems, and teams are a system of a kind. Part of that is finding the right person to solve a problem, but also seeing them work with other people on a particular issue.”
Joe has had some lows to counter the highs, however.
“My most embarrassing moment at Zapmap was probably when the music broke at the Christmas party karaoke,” he says, “and I decided to solo Michael Buble’s ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ without a backing track…
“But the people here are a good bunch. It’s a very enjoyable workspace.”
Why Zapmap?
Before working at Zapmap, Joe worked as a data analyst, one step down the ecosystem.
“My role was essentially as a data consumer,” he says. “I used to receive quite badly checked datasets to work with. In that role I didn’t have the opportunity to fix issues at source. Now, in this role at Zapmap, I can. I have that capability."
So why did he choose Zapmap?
“I joined Zapmap because I love working with datasets, and because the data is put to good use,” says Joe.
“The people here are a good bunch. It’s a very enjoyable workspace.”
“I also underestimated how much of a difference it makes working for an ethical company,” he continues.
“Generally speaking, a lot of the applications of working with data can be questionable. For example, a lot of it tends to be user data – and it’s tricky to find somewhere that uses that data ethically.
“It’s really enjoyable working for Zapmap, because when I succeed in what I’m doing, the company succeeds in what it is doing and I’m very on board with that.”
Outside of work, Joe spends much of his time talking with friends over a beer or a video game, and doing a surprising amount of programming for someone who isn't a programmer.
As a business we are surfing a wave of explosive growth in the whole EV space.
