Liberty IT’s Sarah Whelan discusses the skills she uses every day and how she reacted to being nominated as part of Liberty IT’s Culture Stars programme.
“I’m the principal software engineer in the data space at Liberty IT, leading the data pipeline and testing capabilities to help product and analytics teams deliver reliable data and run tests quickly,” said Sarah Whelan.
Designing reusable patterns, templates and tools and working across functions to improve visualization, assessment and delivery processes, Whelan says no two days are the same and she co-chairs the women in STEM group.
She told SiliconRepublic.com, “Besides my day job I chair the Women in Tech staff group and mentor young engineers, providing career guidance and technical training.
“That work focuses on removing barriers through skills workshops, career development resources and forums where diverse voices can share knowledge. The group holds mentorships, workshops and virtual events that create tangible opportunities and help normalize career paths.”
If there is such a thing, can you describe a typical day at work?
My day balances technical and collaborative tasks. I’ll scan pipelines and implementation health first, address emergency alerts, and then focus on code reviews. For me, reviews are an opportunity to advise, to reveal better ways and to make our work more sustainable. I set aside time for architectural discussions and writing decisions so that future work is clear. I spend time working with our product teams to shape the roadmap, meet with stakeholders to understand their problems and identify solutions, and liaise with other teams to resolve dependencies. I also plan and run mentoring sessions and events for Women in Tech, organizing speakers, agendas and logistics.
What types of projects do you work on?
My work is delivering reliable data platforms for analytics and machine learning. I build production-grade data pipelines that provide teams with reliable data sets, with the right tools. To make delivery repeatable, I design test frameworks, templates and patterns that reduce manual effort. I focus on visibility, testing and scaling to keep pipelines running and lead empowerment sessions that teach people how to use tools and perform tests without heavy engineering support.
What skills do you use every day?
I use basic data engineering skills every day. Python for transformations and orchestration, SQL for modeling and validation and testing and monitoring to maintain reliable systems. I pair that with careful, experimental thinking, small tests, metric tracking and incremental releases, so changes are low-risk and measurable. On the people side of things, clear communication, active listening and regular collaboration help turn technical work into useful results. I focus on creating easy ways to success by mentoring colleagues, running pairing sessions for practical learning and producing playbooks that allow teams to apply themselves.
What is the hardest part of your work day
The hardest part is switching gears, going from fixing urgent production problems to designing workshops or running hands-on pairing sessions can really break your flow. I try to facilitate in agreement with the priorities of the team, protect the obstacles of concentrated work and keep documents up to date so that I can pick up where I left off. Fast delivery and regular check-ins also keep long-term work visible.
Do you have any productivity tips to help you through the workday?
I use a to-do list to keep track of outstanding tasks and review it every morning to organize and prioritize my day. I block off focused time in my calendar for upside-down work, which helps me avoid switching contexts. I document everything in a central, easily accessible place so the team never ‘finds something’ twice. I also make coaching a recurring calendar thing, so coaching happens regularly.
When you started this job, what were you most surprised to learn was important to the role?
I was surprised how much context and communication is important, technical solutions alone are rarely successful without stakeholder buy-in and agreed processes. I also didn’t expect the visibility and intensity of the test to be so average. Good monitoring, testing and repeatable testing procedures are what make pipelines reliable in production. Finally, a number of documents and small, consistent practices (such as decision logs and runbooks) were quickly identified, saving time and preventing fires.
How has your role changed as the industry has grown and developed?
The advent of GenAI has raised the bar, requiring high-quality, well-branded data, feature management, strong data contracts and privacy controls, and new lines of thinking and embedding and model visualization, making the role more strategic and multi-functional. At the same time there is a constant stream of new tools and platforms, so it is an important skill to separate the really useful technology from the marketing hype and choose tools that solve real problems.
What do you enjoy most about work?
I enjoy making things better for the people I work with. Most of my role is about facilitating data delivery so that users can get reliable, timely data sets and make decisions quickly. Every day I try to keep the team open, I stay on top of potential problems so that my colleagues can continue their daily work without the slightest conflict. What I love most about work is knowing that my job makes other people’s lives easier, whether that’s a data user who gets answers quickly or a colleague who has one less thing to worry about. I also enjoy helping others build skills and confidence and access opportunities. Essentially, that looks like one-on-one tutoring, structured pairing sessions, and setting repeatable playbooks so people can succeed without always relying on one person. I often do information sharing sessions or demos to share what I’ve learned and get feedback. It’s great to see the patterns I’ve created being adopted by other groups. When I see incremental improvements or hear someone say that change saved them time, it reminds me why this work is important.
You received a nomination as part of Liberty IT’s Culture Stars programme, tell us more about what this nomination means to you?
Nominations in the “Be Smart” category recognized training, teamwork and effective technical leadership. Seeing my coach secure a promotion was a proud, tangible result, showing the real, human impact of focused coaching and regular feedback. The nomination also praised the team’s day-to-day work and the practical improvements I support to make our pipelines more reliable. The recognition was to ensure that consistent, sometimes unpleasant work, supporting others, documenting decisions and removing roadblocks, makes a difference.
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