Sierra (she/her) is a member of Sparrow’s Engineering team. Let’s get to know Sierra!
How did you get to where you are?
In college, I studied applied math and statistics, which led me to an internship and full-time role in data analytics at PayPal. While I learned a lot and enjoyed working in tech, I wanted to help people in a more tangible way. I wasn’t sure if this was possible in tech, but I was lucky to find my next role at a nonprofit called EducationSuperHighway which operated like a startup and worked to provide high speed internet access to all US public schools (and later, historically underserved neighborhoods). I loved not only the culture, but the opportunities that working at a smaller company provided: I wore more hats and learned more skills. I found I could have the greatest impact there by becoming a full stack engineer, building the backend infrastructure to clean up previously under-utilized government data, and also the frontend tools that made the data easily actionable for the mission. After 5 years there, I wanted an engineering role at another startup whose mission I aligned with, and Sparrow was a great fit!
What is a fun fact about you?
I lived in Switzerland from ages 12-16. I was young enough to become fluent in both French and German fairly quickly, and it was great to experience another culture early on in life. Unfortunately, since so much time has passed I’ve lost a lot of the fluency, but I try to practice by occasionally watching Netflix in those languages 😆
Why did you join Sparrow?
Having gone through an unexpected and stressful medical leave early on in my career, I could see the clear need for Sparrow’s product! I wished it had existed when I personally needed it, so I was excited to take part in building software to help others navigate complex leave situations.
What is your favorite part of working at Sparrow?
Definitely the team! It’s such a supportive and uplifting environment where everyone is similarly driven by the mission of helping others through important and trying times in their lives.
Have you picked up any hobbies since COVID?
I’ve become quite an indoor plant fanatic; I had around 60 plants at my peak! I also got back into music by taking piano lessons in 2022 (I used to play a few other instruments when I was younger).
What are you most proud of in the last year?
Besides landing my job at Sparrow, I also purchased my first condo on my own. Having grown up in a low-income, mostly single-parent household, I didn’t think this would be attainable for me, but I’m both lucky and proud to have found the opportunities to make it happen.
Want to join our team? Check out our careers page and apply!