Greenwork

Greenwork

Free online courses and job search help for clean energy

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We identify in-demand job categories, such as solar installation, and train jobseekers with free online courses. We help them find jobs and charge employers a placement fee to hire our graduates. Courses start Mondays! Sign up on our homepage.
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Greenwork gallery image
Greenwork gallery image
Greenwork gallery image
Greenwork gallery image
Free
Launch tags:
Education•Climate Tech•Tech
Launch Team

What do you think? …

Sam Steyer
Maker
Hi ProductHunt! Along with @gautamj, I'm a cofounder of Greenwork. Working on my dad Tom Steyer’s presidential campaign, I saw that the best way for us to take action on climate change was to do things that both lower emissions and create great jobs. I teamed up with Gautam to build a product that provides everything a person getting into clean energy needs: connections to employers, resume help, short training, and personal coaching. We focus on job categories that are so in-demand that employers will fund the service. We’ve taught 5 cohorts of a 1-week, part-time course to give people the basics of the role of residential solar installer. The course combines 4 one-hour live classes on Zoom with videos, assignments, and one-on-one coaching, which brings the total course time to 8 hours. We’re launching the next group on Monday. Our course is open to everyone, and we’d love for you to join. Signs ups are here: https://app.joingreenwork.com/co... Since launching, we’ve learned that lots of highly qualified people for cleantech come through government-funded training programs like conservation corps and workforce development board training. We’re particularly focused on building a path for these people into clean energy jobs and, eventually, into other high-growth, socially-positive work.
Gautam Jayaraman
Maker
Greenwork cofounder here. Last year @sam_steyer and I realized we were both reading the Rewiring America Handbook (https://www.rewiringamerica.org/...) and were captivated by the idea that everyone, regardless of profession, has a role to play in solving the climate crisis. We made Greenwork to help people find their role. As past founders, we know the importance of starting with a narrow focus. In our case, that's getting people into rooftop solar jobs. These jobs are in high demand, geographically distributed, and are accessible at the entry level to anyone who's done construction, electrical, or outdoor work. In the longer term, we want to help anyone in any career reapply their skills toward the climate crisis. We see this as a problem that will require a massive mobilization of new jobs, blue and white collar alike. With a little education, we can give everyone the context they need to reorient their career.
Nik Hazell
Love the idea @Gautamj @sam_steyer, and @katmanalac, so important to support the greentech movement with actual people trained to do what needs doing! Also, Tim's mullet is 🙌🏻🙌🏻, kudos for getting that in the video! I'll be following with interest 😁
Sam Steyer
Maker
@gautamj @katmanalac @nik_hazell Thank you so much! And yes — Tim’s hair is fantastic and we’ll let him know it didn’t go unnoticed.
Adriel Lubarsky
Love the idea. Reminds me a lot of Flatiron and Aspireship. Question for @sam_steyer: Can someone learn these hard skills through videos? Unlike coding or SaaS sales, you need to be in the physical world to actually put these skills to use. Do companies want to hire someone who has watched 8 hours of videos for this?
Sam Steyer
Maker
@alubarsky2 Thanks so much! Great question -- this is something we've been iterating on a lot. For the solar installer job, we've come to believe you need hands-on training, but that that hands-on training can be learned in adjacent trades: construction, roofing, etc. Furthermore, companies really value anyone who understands what they are getting into and is excited to do the job. So, people either need to come to our class already having trades experience, or they need to get additional hands-on training from the company that hires them before they start doing installs. We've also been exploring more office-based roles in solar -- design, permitting, and project management. For these roles, our course is also not enough on its own. Applicants need to have strong computer and organization skills already. But much like in the installer role, we can give people the last mile of education they need to get excited about the job and to succeed in the interview.