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u/Few-Philosopher4327

r/northernireland r/dataisbeautiful r/cscareerquestionsEU
▲ 1 r/cscareerquestionsEU

How can I transition into climate tech from a generic software engineering role?

I have around ~2 years commercial experience as a software engineer at a big 4 consulting firm (React, TypeScript, Next.js, Python, FastAPI, PostGIS). I want to work in climate tech, ideally at a company doing meaningful environmental data work.

Over the past year I've built two portfolio projects specifically to break into this kind of role:

  • An agricultural emissions scrollytelling tool for Northern Ireland with an interactive scenario modeller (climategapni.com)
  • A full-stack phosphorus pollution pipeline covering 35 years of monitoring data across 1,200 stations (rivers.climategapni.com)

I've applied to around 20 climate tech companies over the past two months, mainly ones based in Spain (Vizzuality, Mitiga Solutions, Dcycle, Flexidao, Satellogic, Octopus Energy, AlliedOffsets, and others). I have got a handful of rejections and mostly no response.

I feel like my CV and portfolio is ok for my level, but that the climate tech space in Europe is small and I suspect warm introductions matter more than cold applications.

I am not currently in Spain but I have around a B2 level of Spanish and have an EU passport.

Some questions I have are:

  1. Is cold applying to niche climate companies just a low-conversion exercise regardless of portfolio quality?
  2. For those who've broken into climate/sustainability tech, did it come through a job board, a referral, a community, or something else?
  3. Any communities, Slack groups, or events worth being active in for European climate tech specifically?
  4. Do I need to be build my experience further until I have 3-5+ YOE to land these kinds of roles?

EDIT: Added 4th question + details on Spanish

reddit.com
u/Few-Philosopher4327 — 15 days ago
▲ 75 r/northernireland

I've designed this website as a data visualisation of Northern Ireland's cattle density overlaid against phosphorus levels in the rivers feeding Lough Neagh.

The phosphorus that has accumulated in Lough Neagh's sediment is driving the terrible algae blooms. It's estimated that it could take up to 40 years for Lough Neagh to recover based on the accumulated phosphorus, but the data suggests that many of the rivers that are key tributaries to Lough Neagh are still above the legal limit for phosphorus. It's estimated that 56% to 61% of the phosphorus pollution driving the pollution of Lough Neagh comes from agriculture, and I think it's interesting to see the correlation between higher cattle density and higher levels of phosphorous pollution in the rivers nearby.

If you have any feedback on the website rivers.climategapni.com please do let me know!

u/Few-Philosopher4327 — 1 month ago
▲ 74 r/dataisbeautiful

Visualising the intersection of agriculture and water quality in Northern Ireland. Using Mapbox GL JS and React, I’ve mapped cattle density (polygons) against soluble reactive phosphorus levels (lines) to highlight the pressure on the Lough Neagh catchment.

I created a full interactive dashboard supports historical time-series data and spatial exploration, available here - https://rivers.climategapni.com

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

u/Few-Philosopher4327 — 1 month ago