Sarah Schaab
Solutions Engineer and Web Developer
Sarah Schaab is an artist, barber, and now self-taught coder and web developer working within multidisciplinary industries in Brooklyn.
Photo by Vivian Strosberg
My work doesn’t fit into a specific category. Everything I do is really based in design, but my job is also very technical.
After realizing that a traditional college education was not for her a year into school, Sarah decided to no longer pursue a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art and jumped at an opportunity to move to New York City, training at a barbershop while walking dogs and showing apartments for a local broker. Passionate about art and making in 3D, Sarah saw a lucrative way to utilize her skills and love of working with her hands in cutting hair. In her real estate and tech jobs, however, Sarah also discovered some of the more unsavory aspects of being a woman in a male-dominated industry. She attempted to pursue a real estate license, but soon after turned away from a career in sales due to persistent workplace sexism. The barbershop community that she worked in was a far more inclusive environment, but Sarah wanted more, and eventually looked toward computer coding.
Initially worried that a desk job might not provide the enjoyment of working with her hands, Sarah has found great satisfaction in coding as an introduction into the technological world and new opportunities. Now a Solutions Engineer at Datadog, she works with customers on technical needs, while also gaining the resources to start her own business through working with her own clients on web and graphic design projects. Recently, she’s become passionate about helping others build success in tech and computer industries through supporting women’s and LGBTQ coding groups.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Schaab
PErsonal History
Photo courtesy of Sarah Schaab
Childhood Interests
“I was always drawn to starting something of my own. I told my dad when I was in middle school that I wanted to drop out and start my own business.” Growing up in suburban Pennsylvania, Sarah loved being in nature and skateboarding. She built skate ramps using her dad’s power tools at the age of 10. The youngest of three, she was influenced by her older sister’s “artsy friend group,” motivating her to join art clubs and even become president of the art honor society in her highschool.
New Start in New York
After dropping out of school and moving to NYC, Sarah and her girlfriend, turned business-partner, began renovating and opening barbershops together, with Sarah helping design the spaces. “I was working with my hands all day, being creative, and having an impact on people’s personal lives,” she says. Sarah worked in the shops for two years before moving to Fellow Barber and developing a huge “career crush” on her coworker, Mike Sposito, and his style. After visiting San Francisco and the Lexington Club for work, she realized that she was living a closeted life in terms of expressing herself, soon becoming more interested in the social-political aspects of the world and cultures around her.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Schaab
Photo courtesy of Sarah Schaab
Taking on New Challenges
When Sarah no longer felt as passionate about cutting hair full time, she became involved with LGBTQ groups and decided to learn to code and build websites. Without a computer, she started coding on an iPad. At age 24, she participated in a three-month computer science program at the now-closed New York coding school Dev Bootcamp. Near the end of the course, a barbershop client invited her to join his startup as a web developer. When the company went under, Sarah found freelance work designing graphics and websites for past connections and clients, like the beverage brand Little Fancy.
Sarah is now a Solutions Engineer at Datadog, a SAAS (software as a service) product used for application monitoring. Datadog takes logs, metrics, and data, which it then reports to clients. Sarah’s role is in creative technical support — she simulates potential issues and designs ways to fix the problems before they happen. Sarah is thriving in a work environment where her employers care about her growth, and she has started making art again. “I feel challenged and really mentally fulfilled that I’m working at this scale and doing work that requires this level of skill,” says Sara.
A Champion for Diversity
“I meet a lot of people transitioning in their careers, or in the tech world who are experiencing sexual harassment at work, and I want to do anything I can to help. I’m really focused on changing that culture within my company and throughout the industry,” she says. While sexism and exclusion may feel like regular parts of tech company culture, Sarah is making noise and championing diversity with many other women in tech. She is involved in several industry-activist groups such as Women in Tech and Lesbians Who Tech, learning how to design teams to be more diverse and inclusive.