People you can Trust: Peter Cox

In this series, we're giving you an insight into the people that make RockWave the trusted partner that keeps our clients coming back for more. They are the people you will work with on your seismic project, so it helps if you know something about them before you start. Break the ice, so to speak. Don't forget to collect your RockWaver bobble-head at the end.

1) On your bacon sandwiches… do you reach for the red sauce, the brown sauce, or no sauce at all?

Red sauce, TOMATO sauce! Definitely, yeah, yeah. Why is that? Are you going to send me a bacon sandwich or something?

2) What did you want to be when you were 10?

Wow, hmmm… probably a footballer. Yes, professional footballer. I wanted to play for Tottenham 😬.

3) What was your first job and did you learn anything that you still use today?

I was a waiter in a golf club. And so, some evenings would be very quiet because there was barely anybody there. It was just the odd golfer coming into the bar and stuff. But then other days, there'd be big events like weddings and company parties. The chefs in that kitchen, or ANY kitchen for that matter, deserve credit. Because those are noisy, and messy places and they had to work seriously hard. I’d just be taking food in and out of there for hours on end. I’ve got that job to thank for giving me the ability, to this day, to carry quite a lot of plates in my arms, which people, family people are often quite impressed by.

4) Do you like it when companies post interviews with their staff 👀? 

Oof. Do you want my honest answer? Because I’m afraid that, in general, marketing doesn’t really float my boat. Nor is it my cup of tea. I have the fairly cynical viewpoint that marketing is just there to try and lure you into spending money. Unless it's RockWave marketing of course, where I happen to be a director. In which case it's absolutely fine, insightful and especially truthful!!!

But in all seriousness, I think companies posting about their people can be good, as long as they’re genuine. I must say the RockWave ones I’ve been impressed by. I find them quite entertaining. And I suppose, with a bit of inside information, I do know the people, so I can see that the impression you get of them and the information shared is truthful. It is real. So I do have trust in those posts. Whereas sometimes I read similar company posts and they don’t feel genuine, but maybe that’s just because I don’t know the people and don’t know if it’s a true reflection of them. They’re not something that hugely excites me, put it that way. When I see a company post about their people, I’m not massively intrigued to read it. But on the flip side, sometimes the right marketing hits you and makes you realise you want something you didn’t even know you wanted before, and that can be good.

5) What specifically about RockWave appealed to you, and what keeps you here? 

I had to think back a surprisingly long way! It’s interesting that it’s now nearly six years since we started. What attracted me was the opportunity to try and do something new, to set up a seismic processing company but do it slightly differently and, I would say, do it better. And to do it with you guys, the Co-Founders, who I consider a really talented group of people. At the beginning it was a real adventure. We didn’t really know how it was going to work out, especially with COVID and the crash in the oil price. But six years on we’re still here, probably going from strength to strength, branching into different avenues and the adventure continues. So yeah, I can say that I’m very proud of what we’ve built in a relatively short space of time. We seem to have done a lot. Built a lot. And overall, the trajectory feels like we’re going in the right direction.

What really keeps me here is the culture. We truly have remote and flexible working, and that makes it such a good fit for me and my family, and I think for most of the team. In fact, I’ve always believed talented people thrive when you give them time, space and trust to flourish. And so I think the culture that we have of truly flexible working where people can decide exactly how and when they work, really facilitates them to perform at their very best.

The work itself has really taken us on a journey. You know, we started out and had never seen ultra high-res data before. I’d worked on high-res P-cable, but I’d never even seen ultra high-res seismic. And so we’ve gone from being in a position where we’d never even looked at it, to, I would say, to quote Carlsberg, becoming probably the best UHRS processing company in the world. To get to that point within a few years is really quite incredible, to be honest.

And for me personally, I’ve really enjoyed the variety of seismic data types I’ve been able to work on. In the past it was all low frequency exploration seismic. Then I started at RockWave and we were pretty much straight into UHRS data, seeing the whole suite of data types that come with that and all the challenges. And then very recently I’ve been able to get my hands dirty on OBN data again, which I’ve really quite enjoyed actually. It’s a very different type of seismic, very different to standard streamer data, whether that’s ultra high-res or low frequency, and it is a challenge. But it’s clearly kind of the future for very high-end geophysical seismic data because of the benefits it brings in terms of azimuth, imaging and illumination. So that’s been great.

And I think as a small company we’re well primed to make those changes. We can pivot what we’re doing quite easily. We’re not pigeonholed into a certain area or group and then stuck there for a long time. We can move around and really take advantage of the full breadth of seismic data that’s out there and that could benefit from our expertise. And I think that’s a big part of what keeps it interesting, and what keeps me here.

6) What makes your day better?

Coffee. Good coffee. Drinking good coffee.

It's a massive rabbit hole - freshly roasted beans, freshly ground, experimenting with water mineralization and so on - but it's something that I'm able to do when I'm working from home because I have all the kit available in the kitchen. So instead of fuelling myself with kind of substandard commodity coffee like back in the office days, I've been able to really enjoy the learning experience of getting into speciality beans. Despite the hit to my bank balance! So that would be one thing that I'm able to enjoy every day with working from home. I mean, of course, I could do it if we were in the office as well, but would I want to be that guy?  

7) Can you think of any standout examples of a time outside geophysics when you experienced exceptional service?

So our oven broke, just before Christmas! Potential nightmare! It was the heating element and of course its hidden right behind the oven so hard to access AND of course turns out it was out of warranty! So I was pretty grumpy and pessimistic when I called up the manufacturer.

To my surprise, the person I spoke to was fully competent. I called up, explained that I couldn't find the serial number where it was supposed to be on the oven because they give details on the website. They were very understanding when I couldn’t find the serial number and explained how to find it. Very patient, very calm. She was knowledgeable. She knew what she was talking about. It's brilliant! But then the best bit (if you can believe this) was, she said at this time of year, you know, they're normally very busy. They’re a manufacturer of all sorts of home appliances. But she said they prioritise ovens at that time of year because they don't want anybody to be at home with a broken oven on Christmas Day.  So I was booked in for Christmas Eve! Cutting it fine. But the engineer had all the parts, got it fixed, and EVEN proactively took his shoes off, which impressed me again! From that point on, I always take my shoes off when processing 😉.

8) Desert Island Velocities: If you had a week of velocity picking on a desert island, what one audiobook or podcast and what one album/artist would you bring?

I’m listening to a podcast called The British History Podcast by a guy called Jamie Jeffers. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him. He’s good. He’s actually American, which I was slightly surprised by at first, considering it’s about British history. But it’s very detailed. He goes all the way back to pre-history and then works his way through. I’m somewhere in the middle of the Roman period at the moment, which is really interesting. So yeah, I’d definitely be listening to that.

The reason I’m listening to it is because I’ve always loved history. I studied it to A-level and at one point was considering taking it further. I’ve always enjoyed reading and researching into it. But there are many periods of British history that I don’t feel I know that much about. I’d probably say I know more about certain parts of world history than British history, which is a bit odd considering I’ve lived here all my life. There are things I’m learning all the time that pleasantly surprise me. It’s nice to learn new things.

One thing the podcast really highlights is how little solid historical record there is before the Romans. It’s kind of obvious when you think about it, but I hadn’t really considered just how little written evidence there is from that period. So even though the Roman period to now feels like a long time, it’s actually relatively short compared to everything that came before it, and yet that deeper history is still not fully understood. I find that fascinating.

And I do think history is important. As the wise man once said, those who can’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it. It’s part of who we are now and where we all come from. I think a lot of people get consumed in what’s going on now and just don’t know the past. But there are a lot of valuable lessons to be learned from it, and that’s a big part of why I’m enjoying the podcast so much.

Music:

I like pretty much all types of music, from very calm and relaxing classical music all the way through to, as you know, more heavy metal type of music. Although if I was going to pick something for kind of calm background music when I'm listening, when I'm picking velocities at the moment, I'd say I'd go back to Selected Ambient Works by Aphex Twin.

Some of Aphex Twin is absolutely crazy. Like you would never listen to it while you're picking velocities, because it is challenging to listen to, shall we say. But then on the flip side, he can make the most beautiful, calming and relaxing music as well. So yeah, really talented guy.

Read Peter's RockWave profile here.