Over the past month or so, we’ve been rolling out short bios of some the amazing folks that we get to work with on a daily basis. The last two folks, Andrew and Jesse, are relatively new to TGG. Today we introduce you to someone that’s been on our team for over seven years!
What is your name? Ben Sainsbury
What is your favorite color? Blue.
Right, off you go.
Sorry. Where were we? I’m Ben Sainsbury. I’m the Geospatial Solution Architect for the Gartrell Group.
OK. Wow. What does that actually mean? It means that I wear a variety of hats at TGG.
I work as a sys admin to ensure our infrastructure is operating correctly and our users have the access they need.
I work as a database administrator to ensure that queries are running smoothly and to modify/query data for clients as needed.
I work as a dev ops leader ensuring code is checked in and that our team is following proper protocol with branching/merging/releasing.
I work as an analyst providing geospatial and statistical analysis to our clients.
I work as a developer to compose and modify code in JavaScript, Python, C#, and SQL.
So what’s your favorite part of your job? I guess it would be a tie between getting to work with the people that I work with and the variety of things that I get to do.
Do you have any favorite projects? I love projects that involve some deep geospatial/statistical brainstorming. For these types of projects we use nTendril, a web app that we created that ties together disparate data types and makes them all play nice.
Where did you grow up? Seattle.
Besides having your fingers in so many pies at work, what do you do for fun? I like to Mountain Bike, Stand Up Paddleboard, and Snowboard. I’m also into exploring caves, and souping up diesel VWs.
Exploring caves? Tell us more! I ~ along with several others ~ discovered and mapped the (currently known) deepest cave in the United States.
Why spelunking (the act of crawling about in caves)? I like all aspects of caving; the psychological challenge of being in a dark, cold, forbidding environment, the athleticism and flexibility required to physically navigate, the camaraderie of problem solving and surveying as a group, the thrill of discovery and exploration.
Did mapping get you into caving, or caving get you into mapping? I discovered GIS partially through caving, and I definitely cut my teeth on GIS through caving, learning how to find data and use it to create suitability models (to find more caves to crawl through).
Besides crawling about in caves, do you like to travel? I do like to travel. I've been poisoned by trees, stung by scorpions, and trapped in flash floods.
OK, then. Remind me not to travel with you!