Please read/sing along in the tune of the funky sounds of DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Now, this is a story all about how CartoDB teamed up with another Andrew/ Andrew with a T - and brought him to the Sales Engineering team.
CartoDB’s newly hired Andrew Thompson joined the Sales Engineering team in NYC last month. AT is fascinated by cities and town infrastructure - he studied ‘Growth and Structure of Cities.’ AT also likes board games (I present the friendly challenge of ‘longest road!’). Thompson can be found all weather bike commuting (hopefully not from Philly, where he lives, to NYC), engrossed in the travel readings of Bill Bryson, or hanging out with some Quakers in the Quaker State. If you were wondering if he knew a very fresh member of royalty that was born and raised in West Philadelphia…you’ll just have to ask him.
What is your favorite place in Philly?Reading Terminal Market - so many smells, sights, sounds, and sweet and savory tastes crammed into barely half a city block!
What are you most excited about in your new role at CartoDB? Sales Engineering is all about being that critical “bridge” between the technical side and the business side. I’m interested in how people and organizations make use of technologies like CartoDB to get things done and make a positive impact on the world. I’m super excited to explore the variety of geospatial problems our prospective clients have, show them all that’s possible with CartoDB, and work with our sales team to turn them into enthusiastic customers!
I’ve also been working with maps, open source, and civic tech for years and couldn’t be happier that CartoDB is right in the heart of those communities.
You majored in the Growth and Structure of Cities? What is that all about? The program has elements of urban studies, planning, and architecture, but also has a variety of classes in the social sciences. I had always been interested in geography and the built environment but didn’t fully realize that before I took my first Cities class - then I was hooked!
What is your favorite kind of tree? At my previous job at Azavea working with OpenTreeMap I actually thought about trees a lot! Oaks and acorns remind me of growing up in the woods in Massachusetts, but my favorite now around Philly is probably the London Planetree.
What is your favorite color? Red. It’s bright and colorful and stands out. Reminds me of tomatoes and lobster and sports cars.
What is your favorite state or country shape? Massachusetts! It’s where I grew up, and the shape is very distinctive with Cape Cod and the islands but also the long rectangle going back — even the tiny nib jutting out into Connecticut that was probably some farmer’s pasture in 1700. The shape reminds me of a lobster claw, which is fitting too.
What is your spirit object or animal? Geese. They swim, they fly thousands of miles, and they do well in cold weather. Sounds great to me! Honk!
Quick — Open Data: yes or no? Heck yeah! Philly practically invented municipal open data— especially GIS data, years before “open data” became a hot phrase.
Welcome, Andrew T.!