Shiela Sandoval

I'm Shiela.

I'm a Data Engineer with many hobbies.

I currently work as a Spacecraft Software Engineer.

Data Engineering

I build pipelines for data ingestion and analytics, mainly in Python, SQL, and NoSQL. I also create APIs and data apps.

Cloud Infrastructure

I deploy infrastructure and apps in Google Cloud and AWS. I've done data infrastructure migrations between cloud providers, as well as cloud resource optimisation.

Machine Learning

I build and deploy machine learning models and pipelines. I try to keep up with the latest ML libraries and frameworks.

Space Technology

I'm passionate in topics about space, especially in ways we can develop space technology to help solve large-scale problems on Earth.

You can also find my work in these links:

A visual timeline of my work life

My career history isn't a straightforward profession in one particular area or technology. There were tech transitions due to consulting work in my early years, or just wild fascination with the problem spaces I was in at the time. And then there were side passions, like mountaineering, which took me down the path to geography, and then GIS and remote sensing, which haven't gotten much traction but still close to my heart. I'm currently within the realm of Data Engineering in cloud environments, which is great at tying together all my data-related experience.

The long story (a.k.a., "my CV")

2014-2016 : Java Developer

I joined a tech consultancy firm right after getting my BSc in Computer Science. Java was the hottest programming language at that time...at least where I came from. After about a year in Manila as an Associate-level Research & Development engineer, I was shipped off to client offices in Japan to do Java development in various industries like construction machinery, precious metals trading, and anti-money laundering.

Tech Stack: Java Struts 1 & 2, PL/SQL, Asteria, Selenium, CVS, Subversion

2017-early 2019 : AI Engineer

I was back in Manila for a few months before being reassigned to a project involving chatbots with Rakuten in Tokyo. This assignment opened up so many doors for me, as I worked with international teams and got exposed to natural language processing for the first time. I pre-processed Japanese and English conversation data and trained chatbots for various topics like entertainment, banking, sports, and even romance.

Tech Stack: IBM Watson, Python, Javascript (AngularJS)

And then I moved to the UK...

rest of 2019 : AI Engineer

I joined another (bigger) tech consultancy firm up in Newcastle, where I built machine learning classification models for tech support teams.

Tech Stack: Python (Scikit-learn, Keras), AWS Sagemaker

2020-early 2021 : Analytics Engineer / Cloud Engineer

The pandemic halted a lot of our AI projects (because they were expensive), so my role also had to adapt. I trained myself in AWS and learned to deploy apps, models, and infrastructure into the cloud. My projects at this time were about on-premise-to-cloud migrations and creating ingestion and dashboarding pipelines for data warehouses.

Tech Stack: Amazon Web Services, Python, Shell, Oracle SQL, ElasticSearch, PowerBI, Terraform, Ansible

2021-mid 2022 : Data Engineer

By 2021 I decided to leave the consulting world behind to focus on longer-term tech-for-good projects. I joined a London-based scale-up named BridgeU, which provides a platform for students to explore international education opportunities. I was a Data Engineer in small data team and worked on data ingestion pipelines, recommendation systems, and data infrastructure.

Tech Stack: Python, Google Cloud Platform, Apache Beam, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Amazon Web Services, Terraform, Ansible, Looker, CircleCI

mid 2022-mid-2023 : Data Tech Lead

I later became the Data Tech Lead (later renamed "Data Chapter Lead") at BridgeU, and my responsibilities grew into architectural planning and data infrastructure improvements, as well as training the data team in best practices in coding, deployments, and data manipulation.

Then space was calling me...

(well, not literally)

mid 2023-now: Spacecraft Software Engineer

With a strong desire to work in the space industry, I looked for data and software engineering-related roles in Scotland where a lot of the developments in the UK space sector were happening. I joined Spire as a Spacecraft Software Engineer (my actual job title is longer than this), working on automating the data processing systems for their low-earth orbit satellites for climate analyses. I now reside in Glasgow, Scotland.

My "Extra-curricular Activities"

Not an accurate portrayal - I drink rum.

I go on long hikes, walks, and runs. I love outdoor activities, especially camping during the summer and skiing during the winter. I have a separate website for that whole other side of me: The Wide Traverse
I'm a big reader of non-fiction books, especially about space, nature, and history. I've set myself a soft rule to finish reading one book a month since mid-2021.
I do pencil portrait sketches of animals and friends.
I'm a frustrated writer of cheesy poetry.
I love cooking. But in general, I just love food.

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