“I’m a [software engineer, product manager, lawyer, analyst, so on] and I want to transition to climate work. Where should I look?” I get a version of this question a lot. This note summarizes how I usually answer it in case it’s useful for folks asking a similar question.
Fantastic overview, I have recently been collecting my own notes on this topic, now 2 years on my (passive) job hunt and will certainly share this with all my peers on similar journeys.
I have been mostly advocating for the top-down approach and especially for more senior roles where it benefits the job seeker to be more specialized in terms of area(s) of focus. I have found that getting plugged in (forgive the pun) to conversations has been easier when you bring something to the conversation. Show up with a point of view and look to have people challenge you as a way to sharpen your own perspective. This would seem to fit in around Step 3 in your prescribed approach here.
Thank you for this article Nan! Two of the clearest options for pivoting your career into climate seem to be to join a company or to start a company. I'm wondering if you had any advice for getting your existing company to move into climate? It seems like you joined Stripe after they had already decided to take climate action but what advice would you have for someone trying to get their existing company to take the first step and incorporate climate into their product? Beyond tying the proposed program back to important business metrics, do you have any advice for convincing leadership to believe that it's worth investing in climate?
For context, I'm a PM at a later stage fintech called Petal and have been working on a feature that would allow our 300k+ members to remove carbon every time they swipe their Petal card.
Nan, Thank you for sharing your journey, as well as establishing a template for others. After my own on/off professional sustainability journey (and being inspired by John Doerr's book "Speed and Scale") I launched FootForward (https://footforward.us/). It empowers sustainability consultants/contractors - in fact all gig workers in the climate space - to setup a listing where they can field client enquiries, schedule and book engagements, and receive payments. I realized the best use of my skills was to be a catalyst to empower and mobilize others.
We've tried to combine both methods for jobseekers with www.climateu.earth. You can bottom up search through 11k+ jobs and just filter for the background you have (www.climateu.earth/jobs). Or... you can head to the climate employer database, filter for the specific industry you want to work in, and then go through the companies' jobs and find something that fits you well (www.climateu.earth/employers).
Fantastic overview, I have recently been collecting my own notes on this topic, now 2 years on my (passive) job hunt and will certainly share this with all my peers on similar journeys.
I have been mostly advocating for the top-down approach and especially for more senior roles where it benefits the job seeker to be more specialized in terms of area(s) of focus. I have found that getting plugged in (forgive the pun) to conversations has been easier when you bring something to the conversation. Show up with a point of view and look to have people challenge you as a way to sharpen your own perspective. This would seem to fit in around Step 3 in your prescribed approach here.
Great post!
Thank you for this article Nan! Two of the clearest options for pivoting your career into climate seem to be to join a company or to start a company. I'm wondering if you had any advice for getting your existing company to move into climate? It seems like you joined Stripe after they had already decided to take climate action but what advice would you have for someone trying to get their existing company to take the first step and incorporate climate into their product? Beyond tying the proposed program back to important business metrics, do you have any advice for convincing leadership to believe that it's worth investing in climate?
For context, I'm a PM at a later stage fintech called Petal and have been working on a feature that would allow our 300k+ members to remove carbon every time they swipe their Petal card.
Thank you for sharing your journey and thought process. This is amazing!
Nan, Thank you for sharing your journey, as well as establishing a template for others. After my own on/off professional sustainability journey (and being inspired by John Doerr's book "Speed and Scale") I launched FootForward (https://footforward.us/). It empowers sustainability consultants/contractors - in fact all gig workers in the climate space - to setup a listing where they can field client enquiries, schedule and book engagements, and receive payments. I realized the best use of my skills was to be a catalyst to empower and mobilize others.
We've tried to combine both methods for jobseekers with www.climateu.earth. You can bottom up search through 11k+ jobs and just filter for the background you have (www.climateu.earth/jobs). Or... you can head to the climate employer database, filter for the specific industry you want to work in, and then go through the companies' jobs and find something that fits you well (www.climateu.earth/employers).
Love this! Thank you for sharing!
Great advice here, thanks for putting this together. I'll be sharing this with clients.