Six Months In: Ana, Ben & Dean
As Kobalt moves into a new phase of technology development, its team continues to expand at a rapid pace. We speak to Ana, Ben, and Dean, a few of the technology team’s recent starters and find out where they’ve come from and what encouraged them to join the company.
Tell us the journey you took before joining Kobalt?
Ana: Having worked in the music industry previously, Kobalt was an obvious choice for me. The opportunity here came just at the right time when I was looking for the next step in my career as a Database Developer. Starting with my first interaction with Dan, one of the Recruiters, I felt that Kobalt had a culture I wanted to be part of. Throughout my interview process, I was convinced it was the right place to work and 6 months on, I’ve never looked back.
Ben: I’m originally from Cheltenham but then moved to Bristol for University. I ended up working there for a couple of years in software consultancy and got to a point where I felt like I needed a change of scene and industry, so I applied for a place at Kobalt’s London office.
Dean: I actually interviewed with Kobalt before for a Delivery Manager position but it wasn’t quite the right fit. I still remained a fan of the business though, and I was then made aware of an Engineer opportunity through someone at Kobalt who then referred me. I’d previously worked at BrightTalk — where a few of my Kobalt peers use to work as well — but then I left there in the summer of last year and took some time off to do a major project on my house. After that, I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to join the AWAL team as a Frontend Engineer.
Why Kobalt? What drew you to working in the music industry?
Ben: Being able to combine that with my passion for technology made Kobalt the ideal company for me to join. Having only worked in the finance industry, I wanted to move into a sector that I had more of a personal connection with. Kobalt seems like the kind of place that is making a real positive change in this industry, and it’s great to be a part of that.
Ana: I agree, Kobalt’s mission is to put creators first and I love the idea that my tech skills contribute to their success. I wasn’t gifted with any musical talent but I did play the guitar, unsuccessfully for a while. I love listening to music and I appreciate people who can create it.
Dean: What really got me interested is when I found out that Kobalt represented Deadmau5, a DJ I’ve been a big fan of for a long time. Kobalt certainly isn’t a household name (yet) but once I started to do more research, it was great to see what this business does for the music industry.
What are you going to be working on?
Dean: At the moment I’m working on the AWAL Uploader. This is where artists and managers upload music and all the supporting information into our system, where it then goes through a system of validations. It’s a big project and we’re consistently fine-tuning it.
My next project is building on some exciting functionality that many of our partners don’t have yet, meaning that when they are ready, we’ll be ahead of the game.
Ana: I’m currently working on an onboarding project which involves getting publishing data into our system so that our writers and creators can be paid by societies. I’m also consistently contributing to the development of this process, improving its features, speed and reliability — which is a great feeling.
Ben: Right now, I’m working on moving old software and processes out into the cloud so the business can scale beyond its wildest dreams.
What are you listening to?
Ana: Everything that sounds good to my ear and it suits my mood or can change it in a better way — from electronic, alternative rock or pop music to traditional, classical or jazz. I can’t say I have a favourite band or singer but Coldplay, Jessie J, Eros Ramazzotti or Andre Rieu are on my concerts-to-go list.
Ben: When I was younger I listened to a lot of my parents’ favourites, stuff like The Beatles and David Bowie. I had a bit of an indie rock phase as a teenager but then figured out Talking Heads were better than pretty much everything else.
Dean: I’m actually listening to Spotify’s Daily Mixes “made for you” list. Through machine learning, this is a playlist of new artists curated based on my music tastes. It’s great as I’m always discovering new artists. Through it, I recently discovered R3hab, another artist Kobalt and AWAL represent.
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Find out more about Kobalt and how we’re changing the music industry on our website.
Interested in joining the team? Head to our careers page.
