Software Stacks in Climate Tech

This four-week online course explores three tech stacks crucial to climate tech, showcasing the role of software engineering in tackling climate change: public climate-relevant data sources, energy modeling, and software/hardware interfaces. Learn how these are applied in key climate tech industries like renewables, battery energy storage, and electric transportation, melding software engineering with climate change solutions.

The course starts Apr 8, 2024. Enrollments close Apr 7, 2024.

Live sessions: Tuesdays and Fridays from 9:00-10:30 am PT

Course level: Intermediate

About this course

The course starts with a broad overview of how software fits into the climate tech landscape. You’ll then take deep dives into three tech stacks that are used in climate tech, their applications across climate industries, case studies, and job opportunities in each space. The course will culminate in the creation of a portfolio project to highlight the new skills you have learned.

You’ll walk away with a deeper knowledge of how software fits into climate industries, a broad understanding of job opportunities in climate tech for software engineers, a portfolio project to help you land a climate job, and a network of like-minded people.


Prerequisite:

Prior software engineering experience in Python is recommended but not required. Software engineering skills are pivotal in devising solutions to climate change challenges.

Who is this program for?

Software engineers

Dive in and start building with climate tech stacks, leveraging your software engineering skills to create impactful solutions for climate change

Product managers

Discover the powerful building blocks key to climate tech

Data scientists

Become acquainted with climate-relevant data sets

Tech entrepreneurs

Ideate solutions on a foundation of proven climate technologies

What climate skills you'll learn

Software engineering in climate change landscape

Understand how software fits into the landscape of climate tech

Public data sources

Discover publicly available climate-relevant data sources and appropriate methodologies for generating insight

Energy modeling

Learn open-source battery and home-energy modeling tools

Software/hardware interface

Experience the challenges (and joys!) of working at the software/hardware boundary with modern IoT technologies

event concluded

Coding for Climate Impact

Join Jaime and Jason Curtis, Co-founders of Option Zero, as they delve into climate tech stacks with real-world application case studies.

The Terra.do difference

Live lab groups

You will meet weekly with the instructor and fellow learners to share perspectives

Skills-based learning

You will engage in individual real-world assignments to immediately apply the skills you’ve learned

Personalized attention

Meet with the instructors 1-on-1 and get individualized feedback on your assignments

Asynchronous and synchronous learning

Flexible learning options to fit your learning style

Why software engineers are pivotal to climate change solutions

As a software engineer, your skills are crucial in climate tech, a field dedicated to battling climate change through innovative software solutions. This course offers a pathway to apply your software engineering expertise towards optimizing renewable energy systems, analyzing climate-relevant data, and developing impactful climate change solutions. It’s more than a career shift—it’s your chance to make a lasting impact on our planet’s future.

Meet the course creators

Jaime Curtis and Jason Curtis

Co-Founders, Option Zero

We are Jason and Jaime Curtis, a husband and wife team. We’ve been software engineers and technical leads at big tech companies (Microsoft, Meta), late-stage unicorns (Convoy), and small climate tech startups (EnergySavvy, Osmo Systems). We’ve built on our combined 20+ years of experience in software and climate solutions to launch Option Zero, the software consultancy for climate companies and initiatives.

Course schedule

Week One: Introduction and the software and climate landscape
  • Readings/viewings: Bits vs Atoms; Guide to Software in Climate Tech; How software fits into climate solutions
  • Class 1: Introductions
  • Class 2: Software x Climate landscape
  • End-of-week assignment: Analyze a company using the Bits vs Atoms Framework
  • Readings/viewings: Climate risk data; Renewable energy data; Live grid data; Building energy modeling; Battery modeling
  • Class 3: Deep dive: Public climate-relevant data sources
  • Class 4: Deep dive: Energy modeling
  • Readings/viewings: Hardware prototyping tools for software people; PLCs and industrial automation
  • Class 5: Deep dive: Software/hardware interfaces
  • Class 6: Final project kick-off
  • Reading/viewings: Review other fellows’ final projects
  • Class 7: Final project peer review
  • Class 8: Final project presentations

Pricing and expected commitment

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Our fellows say it best...

Gregory Cox

"Without a doubt this is one of the most fascinating courses I have ever taken, completely absorbing. If you have a passion for helping this planet and want to change the future for the better, start here. It thoroughly breaks down what you need to know about the direction of the industry, the technologies involved, and where you can plug in to help. Even if you're not a programmer, take it. By the way, you'll meet amazing peers in the process. I can already see that their support and friendship will be priceless for my upcoming career."

Director of Marketing at Setplex (USA)

Nick Keenan

"The Software and Hardware Stacks Course was a blast, and a confidence builder. I came away with a lot more motivation that I can dive into a hardware and software tech job and contribute to solutions in those problem spaces."

Principle at Gameflow Interactive LLC (USA)

Take a look at the final projects from the past cohorts!

Frequently asked questions

The course is five weeks long and will be offered from Apr 8 to May 10, 2024, with a break the week of Apr 28-May 4. Live sessions will run on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9am-10:30am PT. The final live session on May 10 will run from 8am-11am PT to allow time for final presentations. Attendance is strongly encouraged, but recordings will also be made available.

Mid-career software engineers looking for hands on experience with software tech stacks used in climate tech. Individuals who want to build a climate tech portfolio to help advance their careers in climate.

The course does not require professional software engineering experience, though you will benefit from a basic level of familiarity with code.

 

In this class, you will read, modify, and optionally extend existing Python code written in Hex interactive notebooks. The minimum requirement to complete each assignment is to follow explicit instructions to update a few lines of code, with optional extensions for those with more programming experience.

 

The final project is open-ended, with the expectation that you will build on your own unique experience and what you have learned in the course.

Fellows with no prior programming experience have been able to complete the assignments and found the course overall to be valuable and instructive.

Several organizations have learning or professional development budgets for their employees. We encourage you to enquire about and utilize this budget to attend the course. Terra.do will help you get reimbursed for the course by providing an invoice, a certificate, and any other documentation you need. If you have your company’s approval, we can arrange for your company to pay directly.

We expect to run more cohorts given ongoing demand for this course.

Financial aid is not available for this course.

If you’re unsatisfied for any reason after the first session, we’ll refund you 100%. We only request that you give us feedback so we can improve.

You can defer your enrollment up until 14 days after the course starts.

If you have a question about this course that isn’t covered in the FAQ, please email us at softwarestacks@terra.do.

Learn the skills to work on climate