5 Greentech Jobs You Can Land After a Coding Bootcamp

Table of Contents

• What is Greentech? 
• 5 Greentech Jobs
• 22 Greentech Companies That Hire Green Tech Professionals
• Prepare for Climatetech Jobs with a Coding Bootcamp
• Advice from Bootcampers on Greentech Projects

Can you use technology to improve the relationship between humans and our planet? Green technology is a fast-growing industry that utilizes tech to promote the livelihood of the planet by reducing the negative impact of humans on the environment. Green tech jobs are on the rise in 2024, as companies hire software engineers, product managers, data scientists, data analysts, and machine learning engineers to develop innovative ways to promote the health of the planet and the humans who depend on it. Tech bootcamp grads have gone on to make a major impact in green tech companies, making top-dollar to do so! Learn more about 5 green tech jobs you can land after bootcamp, and 22 green technology companies that may be the perfect fit for your career goals. Plus, how to prepare for a climatetech job with a coding bootcamp!

What is Greentech? 

Green technology (also known as greentech) is technology that is intended to reverse or reduce the negative impact of human activity on the natural environment. Green tech utilizes natural resources like solar, wind, waste, and renewable materials to innovate ways to generate energy and reduce the amount used. Extensions of greentech are “clean tech” and “climatetech,” which prioritize solutions for efficient production and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, respectively. 

The growth in greentech is fueled by climate change and a lack of sustainability of past and current industrial actions, like drilling for oil, mass producing non-degradable materials, and major pollution of the air, water, and soil of the planet. 

Examples of green tech include: composting, LED lighting, energetically self-sufficient buildings, and low-carbon construction. Green technology also includes carbon tracking software, which calculates a company’s carbon emissions.

5 Greentech Jobs

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, green tech jobs are on the rise! They predict a continued growth in new green tech jobs, such as environmental engineering technologists, conservation scientists, environmental engineers, environmental science and protection technicians, wind turbine technicians, solar photovoltaic installers, and environmental scientists and specialists. 

For bootcamp graduates aiming to make a difference in the world, landing a green tech job is the perfect opportunity to contribute to something big! Here are five roles you can look for on your greentech job hunt:

1. Software Engineer
2. Greentech Product Manager
3. Environmental Data Scientist
4. Data Analyst
5. Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Engineer

1. Software Engineer

Many greentech jobs rely on software development to offer solutions through websites, apps, and cloud infrastructure. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Design, build, and test code for greentech solutions
• Work independently and in a team, collaborating with other engineers and product managers 
• Contribute to the development of highly scalable, performant, and secure software products 

Languages and Tools: Java, Scala, C++, C#, ASP.NET, SQL, NoSQL, Go, and/or Rust.

Average Salary: $110,000

2. Greentech Product Manager

Product managers are involved in all stages of product development from discovery to delivery to create solutions for environmental issues. Greentech product managers develop products that support positive environmental impacts. 

Responsibilities: 

• Identifies needs of business to develop a useful product 
• Develop and implement strategies to support the company's vision
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams of data scientists, data engineers, and software engineers to develop and design a product vision 

Languages and Tools: Scrum, JIRA, SQL, Python, Spark, Sigma 

Average Salary: $102,250

3. Environmental Data Scientist

Data scientists acquire data to form statistical reports that inform decision-makers. As an environmental data scientist, they collect data related to the environment, such as levels in pollution, water, temperature, and soil to support efforts in alleviating negative effects. 

Responsibilities: 

• Identify, collect, source, and organize data
• Build predictive models and machine learning algorithms to enhance the data collection process
• Make informed predictions based on this data

Languages and Tools: Python, SQL, Excel, MATLAB, Tableau, SAS, and Spark. (Strong communication skills are also imperative!) 

Average Salary: $106,000

4. Data Analyst

Data analysts in a green tech capacity will support operations by transforming data into actionable insights to guide data-driven decisions. Data analysts in greentech may specialize in operations engineering, reliability compliance, business intelligence, and more. 

Responsibilities: 

• Perform market analysis to develop experiments 
• Develop strategies for data analysis
• Collaborate with machine learning engineers and software engineers 
• Curate metrics, KPI’s, and reports to translate information into intelligence
• Design and maintain dashboards 

Languages and Tools: Excel, Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python

Average Salary: $120,000

5. Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Engineer 

Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are at the forefront of evolving tech jobs and finding new ways to promote the health of the planet. While these roles often require advanced degrees, many bootcamp grads have broken into the field! 

Responsibilities:

• Design machine learning systems 
• Research and implement machine learning algorithms and tools
• Select appropriate data sets and data representation methods
• Perform statistical analysis
• Run machine learning tests
• Develop machine learning apps based on client requirements

Skills Required: Advanced math and statistics skills; advanced degree in computer science, math, or statistics; master’s degree in machine learning, deep learning, or neural networks; strong skills in analysis, problem-solving, and teamwork; software engineering skills; data science skills.

Languages and Tools: Python, Java, C++, C, R, and JavaScript; ML frameworks, libraries, and packages; understanding of data structures, data modeling, and software architecture

Average Salary: $145,112

22 Greentech Companies That Hire Green Tech Professionals

Greentech companies are those that are founded on making a positive environmental impact. As opposed to “greenwashing” (when companies make misleading claims about their products’ benefit to the environment), greentech companies are rooted in science to sustainably solve problems. The goal of greentech companies is to transform systems and societies to thrive on this planet. 

Greentech is a large umbrella that encompasses many types of companies, such as alternative or renewable energy, electric vehicles, sustainable agriculture, recycling, and carbon capture. These companies are often looking to add passionate technologists like software engineers, data scientists, data analysts, and product managers to their teams.

If you’re looking for a green technology job, check out these cutting-edge green tech organizations:

1. Tesla (electric vehicles)
2. Rivian (electric vehicles)
3. Proterra (electric vehicles)
4. WeaveGrid (sustainable transportation)
5. GridX (sustainable transportation)
6. ZipCar (sustainable transportation)
7. Tortuga AgTech (sustainable agriculture)
8. reNature (sustainable agriculture)
9. Soil Capital (sustainable agriculture)
10. Terra Genesis (sustainable agriculture)
11. Valmont (sustainable agriculture)
12. Uplight (renewable energy)
13. Malta by Google X (renewable energy)
14. NextEra Energy (renewable energy)
15. Aquion Energy (renewable energy)
16. SLB (renewable energy)
17. Air Company (carbon capture)
18. Crusoe Energy Systems (carbon capture)
19. Trane Technologies (carbon capture)
20. FloorFound (recycling)
21. Bevi (recycling) 
22. Back Market (recycling)

Greentech is also a great space for entrepreneurs! Those interested in starting a greentech startup can look to programs like the Climate Tech Bootcamp at CentraleSupélec to help them get their startup off the ground.

Prepare for Climatetech Jobs with a Coding Bootcamp

The amount of greentech and climatetech jobs are expected to grow, so we are beginning to see funding for tech training programs. For instance, as of July 2024, the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded $19.5 million to the South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub to support “climatetech” research, startups, and jobs in South Florida. Tech job training will be led by Miami Tech Works, which includes coding bootcamps like Ironhack, BrainStation, and 4Geeks Academy.

Coding bootcamps that specialize in greentech are also being designed for people who want to have a hand in helping the planet:

• Climate Drift's 8-week Accelerator program is for mid-career and executive-level climate job seekers who want to learn about high-impact climate sectors and how to work with today's top climate companies.
• Greenbootcamps, a data bootcamp based in Germany, helps career changers land jobs in Big Data while teaching them how to become sustainability officers. Graduates of Greenbootcamps will understand matters relating to environmental protection, energy efficiency and sustainable management.

Advice from Bootcampers on Greentech Projects

Whether you have past experience in greentech and want to deepen your career potential, or you’re interested in greentech and want to launch an exciting career in sustainability, coding bootcamps offer accelerated, industry-informed career training to get you hired in a field you love. 

“In the most recent interviews I conducted with Rivian, 70-80% of applicants were bootcamp grads.” Senior Software Engineer & LearningFuze grad Ryan

Ryan graduated from LearningFuze in 2014 when coding bootcamps were just developing. After eight years as a software engineer he now works as a Senior Software Engineer at Rivian, debugging and catching errors in electric vehicles before they are sent off to customers.

“The Opportunity Project and the US Census Bureau were wonderful advocates to work on logistics and communication. Once every two weeks, we had a big meet-and-greet with the whole team, then we had a few advocates from the US Census Bureau that were mentors for us, who we could reach out to with questions regarding the environmental remediation aspect.” Software Engineer & General Assembly graduate Justin

Justin graduated from General Assembly when they partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to form internship teams for The Opportunity Project. He was accepted as Lead Engineer for the software engineering team and built a web app for the environmental remediation sector that introduced new grant opportunities to applicants. 

“The final project was my favorite! I worked with a bunch of guys that were all passionate about climate change. It’s a well-done topic in the analytics community, but we hadn’t found anyone that did the link between climate change and mental well-being. That project took us through a journey of the tools we covered as well as our skills in determining good data from bad data.” University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Data Analytics Boot Camp graduate Akinsola

Bootcamps also give students the space to test their technical skills through passion projects. At the UofT SCS Boot Camps (powered by edX), Akinsola and his group dove into a data analytics project that offered a unique view on how climate change affects mental well-being. Working on a project like this helped Akinsola land his first data analyst role! 

Have you graduated from a coding bootcamp and taken a job in greentech? Let us know what you’re working on in the comments below!