December 2024, an account of the ongoing campaign

Three months into my pivot to sustainability, I’ve successfully narrowed the focus of my conversations, job applications, certifications, and publications. 

All that and a bag of (GPU) chips below…

• After I finished my first read of Building Green Software, I completed a Green Software for Practitioners certification from the Linux Foundation and Green Software Foundation. 
• To share my latest thinking about current Digital Carbon Footprint tools and how I would carry out deeper audits, I took some time to write this second Overt Impact post about “What we talk about when we talk about the sustainable web.”
• 10 calls or in-person meetings with former colleagues, friends, green software advocates, and other online acquaintances.
• 3 Job Search Council meetings with my team from Never Search Alone, plus 3 more optional calls to help folks (like me) catch up on some things. 
• 7 webinars or networking calls, mostly about climate, with some AI mixed in. Learning about current use cases for AI in product management from people like Tal Raviv has been a fun way to experiment with new tools and approaches to thinking out loud at work.
• 2 calls with climate recruiters. I sent out some friendly questions to some climate tech recruiters, and had brief conversations with a couple of them. The best advice from these calls was to find the hiring managers I want to meet and go where they network (online or in person). I’m working on it.
• 1 soccer game, 2 high school holiday concerts, several college acceptance letters, and scattered soccer and swimming practices. The 14-year-old’s soccer club (well, the parent club in Italy) turned 125, so his team played a friendly scrimmage single-game Cup including a trophy and medals for the winner… in a 45°F December evening rainstorm. The 17-year-old got into her first choice school, among others, and will make it Instagram-official once she sees what the financial aid offer from her second choice looks like, just in case.
• 1 blog post here, the November activity roundup, plus the post on the Overt Impact site, and some odds and ends on LinkedIn.
• 10 job applications, down 33% from November. For the first time, 100% of these applications were climate-related! 
• 2 job interviews scheduled for January. More on this when there’s news, but I have a pair of calls coming up next week for interesting roles that are squarely in my area of interest.

What’s next for me:

• Sustainability predictions for 2025, anyone? Expect medium-warm takes and record hot temperatures.
• More reading and learning, focused on the electrical grid, data centers, and Marginal Abatement Cost Curves. Because I know how to party.

An ask for you:

Do you know anyone else who pivoted to sustainability from some mix of tech or media? Connect us, if they’re willing and interested!

Previously: November 2024, milestones and activities