Ifeoma Ojimba Nembhardt
Technical Systems Engineering Leader for Development, Data Insights, & Integrations
Cisco Systems
Cisco is a multinational telecommunications company that powers the internet and connects the unconnected. I lead a team that focuses on automation, data analytics, and integrations. We help to create, manage, and measure the systems we use for hybrid working .
I'm curious and I love learning from others! I work with many very smart people. It's great to work alongside them to create things that are valuable for employees and make a difference in how we tell our collaboration stories.
I have to talk a lot - I work mostly remotely, but a huge part of my job is in collaborating, so I have lots of meetings! This could be with my team, architects, my leaders, or with stakeholders. I ensure that my team have everything they need to get their work done. I might have senior leadership conversations to help get something moving or get budgets allocated. I check in on my team and make sure we are also developing their skills as well as making sure each of our areas has the right people with the right skills working on them. I might meet with my leadership team to define a vision, strategy, or communicate where we are in delivery of our roadmap.
I was always interested in IT. I did an IT GCSE as well as 11 other subjects. I like to see how technology can power a business and help in achieving what a business needs to do. I went on to do IT at A level, as well as Maths, Psychology, and Business Studies. At that time, I also had exposure to the Cisco Network Academy and began doing my Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) training. It was a great experience! I went on to Warwick University to study Computer Science and Business. After my 3rd year, I took a gap year so I could get work experience. I chose and was selected to work at Cisco as a Communications and Marketing Analyst. I had a great time and even based my final year project on Cisco! I then had a short amount of time working as a Market Researcher for a small startup. I returned to university to finish my final year. I chose to come back to Cisco after university and joined as a Project Manager. This role spanned from creating training, to doing some front-end development, to managing the roll out of systems and programs, to finance, business operations management, strategic planning, and finally, service management. I then moved into leadership and managed our Social Collaboration team, looking after a large global team and a number of collaboration platforms. After doing this for 3 years, alongside my existing role, I set up a Data and Analytics team to analyse all the data we collected to help leadership make decisions and also to allow us to be proactive in solving issues before end-users were aware of them. I then moved into my current role within our Workforce Collaboration Team, leading Development, Insights, and Integrations Teams.
I love working in tech. I would love to help bring more focus to the technical talent and opportunities in Africa!
I love being creative and learning new things! I love reading, meeting new interesting people, and spending time with my friends and family. I run a small charity and also provide life-coaching for professional mothers.
You have a unique superpower that the world needs to experience! Find it, embrace it, and don't be afraid to use it!