Sarah Neenan

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT SARAH NEENAN

I am currently a Chief Engineer within an IBM Consulting Public Sector Account. Having worked for 9+ years at IBM, I have become a proficient Cloud Full Stack Engineer and enjoy using javascript frameworks, including Vuejs, building serverless applications on AWS and acting as a UX/UI designer and style SME for my account. I also like to dabble with AI and build POCs using various models including WatsonX and AWS Bedrock.For the past 4 years I have been the Applications Lead/Technical Lead on my client account and day to day do Full Stack Engineering on AWS using serverless architecture and Infrastructure as Code, with a Vue.js front end and javascript backend in lambda. I also lead on our automation testing which uses Cypress and Gherkin/Cucumber. I am Skills Lead for the IBM UKI AWS Practice helping to coach and upskill engineers in the Practice as well as planning and organising training sessions and advising on AWS Certifications. I am also a keen volunteer and engage in a lot of giveback & outreach activities including running a free coding bootcamp in HTML/CSS called Code the Future, organising and taking part in Women in Tech panels, providing mentorship opportunities for mentors and mentees and running Tech Talks and Hackathons for universities. I also sit on the University of Southampton MBA Advisory board and the University of Leicester School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences Industry Advisory Board. Previously, I undertook an Engineering Doctorate within the Industry Doctoral Training Centre in Transport and the Environment at the University of Southampton. My research focused on constructing models to assess the impacts of noise pollution on fish populations for the enhancement of Environmental Impact Assessments. This involved designing and building online tools that can be used by marine consultancies to assess and mitigate impacts from shipping noise.I constructed a map of ocean shipping noise using AIS data transmitted from ships. This involved calculating noise emissions for rows of AIS data and running cumulative noise and propagation models in Java. Alongside my doctorate, I enrolled in a part-time MBA which has provided the skills, knowledge and confidence necessary to succeed in my career. The MBA allows me to draw upon and learn from the experiences of colleagues, and gain insight into many different types of business and the problems they face. The course has prepared me for future challenges in the workplace and taught me how to reflect, think and solve problems in logical and innovative ways.