Climate Career Q&A, Part 2
Answering more questions from product professionals interested in working in climate
This is the second part of my ask-me-anything (AMA) event with Climate People. Why get one article out of this when I can just as easily get two, right?
Check out the first part where I covered:
Most effective job search strategies
Imposter syndrome
Dealing with rejection
Demonstrating passion for climate
Lack of product leadership roles
Part 2:
Q: Do you have any advice for those with families who have grown accustomed to the lifestyle that big tech salaries provide? How to ease the impact of monetary sacrifices this transition often calls for?
It is an interestingly common misconception that working in climate tech means lower pay. That is simply not true.
It is difficult for organizations anywhere to compete with big tech salaries. This is an even greater challenge for earlier stage companies, whether or not they are in climate, so I see this as a general salary gap between big tech and everywhere else. Okay, so the monetary sacrifice is real, if you are coming from big tech, but that is widely believed outside those circles too. My experience is that salaries in climate are competitive with other sectors for companies at comparable stages.
But even for those who end up with a drop in compensation, we are living in the early days of climate tech. Many of these companies are going to experience massive growth. Some could be among the world’s highest valuable corporations in 10-20 years. Eventually, I bet climate tech will give big tech a run for their money, so to speak. Working in climate might be the better investment in the long-term.
Having said that, this kind of calculation is something that each individual or family needs to make on their own. Each person’s circumstances are different. As for me, going from a top strategy consulting firm to a nonprofit did mean lower overall compensation. However, I continue to live a very comfortable life, and there are other benefits: the work is more interesting, the culture more rewarding, the mission more inspiring, the team more motivated and collaborative. In my own calculation, all that is worth far more than a few extra thousand dollars a year that I don’t even need.
Q: After burning out as a first hire at a climate startup, I’m eager to balance meaningful work with sustainable work practices. Can you share more about work-life balance in climate roles?
It’s important to note that climate companies are just companies: you are not guaranteed to have a great experience simply because you landed a climate job. Climate tech, I am sure, has its share of burnout, shitty managers, and toxic cultures. Like in any other job search, you are interviewing your potential new employer as much as they are interviewing you. Do your research on the company, ask them about the working culture and, if possible, seek to get intel from those who do or used to work there.
You also need to have clarity about what kind of environment suits you best: early or late stage? Remote, hybrid, or on-site? First hire at a startup or multinational corporation? Nonprofit, government, for-profit? What kind of team do you want to be a part of? What climate solution gets you out of bed in the morning?
Last but not least, your work-life balance is your responsibility. In my experience, work will consume as much of my life as I allow it to. That is true especially of high-impact, purpose-driven work: it’s easy to justify working nights and weekends for a great cause. I often enjoy the pressure, the high stakes, and the unpredictable routine that comes with a growing business. But I also draw enough boundaries to live a great life outside of work too. Employers who don’t appreciate that people need to prioritize having a life outside of their day job are, in my view, not worth your time. Life is too short to do work you don’t enjoy.
Q: Most product roles are focused on revenue as a key measure of success. In climate, there seems to be a double bottom line, with different KPIs. Did you find it necessary to adapt your perspective away from revenue to other outcomes?
As intriguing as that point is, I’m not quite sure how much truth there is to it. Granted, my frame of reference is not the best to answer this, as in my prior world of consulting, profit is far and away the most important metric. When moving across into climate, I did notice a stark difference; many companies are driven primarily by a mission of climate change mitigation or adaptation. You’ll also find a lot of B Corps. Make no mistake, though: everybody is trying to make money.
I don’t think a change in perspective is needed for product people, beyond demonstrating passion for climate. Because you can’t make impact without healthy revenue streams, acquisition, retention, and monetization are key metrics in climate products too. A market-oriented approach is a core aspect that companies (including nonprofits) are looking for when hiring product managers.
In my own case leading product at a nonprofit, monetization is indeed less important than other metrics. I get to make product decisions that are solely aimed at decarbonizing the built environment by helping move the entire industry forward. However, my for-profit background remains a valuable asset that I get to put to good use every day. I did not attempt to play it down during my search.
Q: Many climate positions are extremely competitive. What is your current and future outlook for PM roles in climate? Have you heard anything that could signal a need for more PMs in the near future, like perhaps the timing of the upcoming US tax incentives?
I am pretty bullish about product roles in climate, and about climate jobs in general. Assuming the world recovers from the current bout of post-pandemic high inflation without a major recession, we should see climate recruitment pick up again. There will be a lot of public and private investment flowing into this sector for the next decade at least, and probably for much longer.
I believe that the recent slowdown in hiring will be short-lived, since the demand for talent and for climate solutions hasn’t gone away. However, I also suspect that climate roles will remain extremely competitive for a long time as they continue to attract more and more people.
As the climate sector matures, companies will start investing more in scaling their products teams. Competition will grow as the white spaces in the market are filled. Companies will have to sharpen their offerings to fight for increasingly narrow slices of a growing market. All that points to a greater need for experienced product managers.
All of this is gut-feeling, though. I am not even an armchair economist, let alone a real one, and I don’t typically care to make forecasts. I don’t hold special insights into macroeconomic trends — I read all the same stuff that everyone else does.
Q: How do you think the advent of generative AI will impact the climate industry? Does climate tech have a head-start in adapting to this massive change, given the industry itself is relatively new?
There are smart people in all industries who can adapt to new tech very quickly, therefore I wouldn’t bet on climate having a head-start. Climate startups will evolve and grow and succeed and fail just like in any other sector.
I am certainly glad that we have these tools at our disposal to help us solve more complex problems just when we are faced with the very complex problem of climate change. A few applications of artificial intelligence that I am excited about:
Large language models (LLMs) are very good at making sense of inputs, orchestrating other more specialized models, and presenting a well-formulated output. This is a generally useful pattern I think we’ll see applied more and more. Biodiversity monitoring and soil measurements are applications of that pattern that come to mind because the expertise is so location-dependent.
A ChatGPT-like LLM trained with a specialized data set could be powerful within climate education at large, and to help people navigate complex projects like home electrification or personal carbon footprint accounting.
Although not climate specific, using LLMs to write code for data analysis is especially useful for product managers. I tried my hand at this the other day and was blown away by how much I could get done in a short time. It’s like having a hundred very eager and lightning-fast software interns at your service.
Other common applications are wildfire prevention, microgrid and virtual power plant operations, demand response and EV charging management, and predicting what homes can most benefit from electrification upgrades. For those who want to dig deeper, this conversation is a good starting point
Finally, here is the AMA recording: