Nithish Sairam and Sudarsan Krishnan of Illumine-i – Climate Recruiter Interview – Clidemy Careers
Clidemy Careers is a new section at Clidemy where we post inputs and insights on career opportunities opening up in the fast growing climate action sector.
The Climate Recruiter Interview is one avenue through which we provide insights. In this series, we interact with startup founders, senior management and recruiters from climate tech firms to gain an understanding of the skills they are looking for and perspectives on how professionals from different sectors can transition to a climate tech career.
We are pleased to present the Climate Career Recruiter Interview with Nithish Sairam, CEO and Sudarsan Krishnan, Partner and Business Lead at Illuminie-i, the ultimate clubhouse of sustainable solutions!
Since 2015, they have continued to extend power engineering services, with a special focus on residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar PV and energy storage systems. By 2019, they ventured into construction engineering, offering AS MEPF Modelling, Scan to BIM, City Modelling, VR-AR-MR and Walkthrough animation support. As they keep diversifying, they are experiencing rapid growth, and their geek tribe has expanded into a network of Licensed Professional Engineers, Graduate Engineers, Architects, Technology Enthusiasts, and Thought Leaders (or SMEs).
Team Clidemy thanks Sudarsan Krishnan and Nithish Sairam for their insights.
CURRENT ROLES AND SKILLS
What types of climate technology or climate-related career opportunities are available at your firm?
Illumine Industries right now focuses on power and construction engineering sectors by providing solar, EVCS, energy storage and construction digitization to our clients and immediate career opportunities are available in both technology focused and leadership management roles. We, as a company also look at other climate tech areas and are open to exploring other avenues. Very recently, we started an EV auto fleet company in Chennai called Leggo Mobility to cater to first mile and last mile connectivity in metro stations.
What are the key skill sets you look for in the top three roles?
- Core engineering knowledge – structural, electrical, civil, and mechanical
- Working knowledge on any widely used CAD software like AutoCAD, Revit, etc.
- Analytical Skills
How can freshers starting off in a climate tech career gain entry into companies such as yours?
Our entry roles in Power and Construction Engineering includes design and modelling roles.
(1) System design of solar power plants
(2) BIM modelling for construction projects.
Freshers are welcome to take part in our hiring drive which typically happens once in 6 months. We also prefer engineers who have prior experience (less than a year) in solar site and construction site work.
What types of training and skill development do you provide for professionals in your firm?
We have an extensive 8-10 weeks’ training program for all the entry level roles. This includes tool training, Solar 101, BIM101, electrical engineering basics, electric and building codes and regulations, etc.
CLIMATE AS A CAREER OPTION
Why do you think highly skilled professionals should choose climate technology as their career option?
Climate tech offers an opportunity for skilled professionals to build and develop technologies that can become prevalent in the future like how fintech started growing 10-15 years’ back and how semiconductor technologies have evolved. There is potential opportunity to be a part of the climate tech legacy.
How can professionals with fundamental skills (e.g., electrical engineers, biochemistry professionals, excellent marketing professionals, etc.) but no experience in the climate tech field you are operating in transition into climate tech?
If the fundamental skills and knowledge are good, we will be able to help professionals understand and learn the nuances of the climate tech field as the basics of engineering philosophy doesn’t really change.
How can companies in the climate tech domain attract top-notch talents who are currently more interested in working in high growth, high paying careers such as finance & infotech?
The trend has been changing, even climate tech requires data analytics, product development, SAAS offerings very similar to finance and or infotech sector. Illumine Industries focuses on attracting talents with experience by providing the quantified efforts that they will be a part of. We even have candidates from IT workforce and operations workforce mentioning their interest to work for a sustainability company during the interview process. So, we believe that the talent force has noticed the climate tech space and we provide more clarity and career paths to come and work at Illumine Industries.
Most climate tech jobs appear to be engineering oriented. What types of non-engineering career options are opening up in climate technology?
Great question, there are certainly areas that running operations, business development and market research which are very critical for us to continue providing and improving our engineering work delivery to clients in the climate tech space.
CAREER GROWTH IN CLIMATE TECH
Are salaries and incentives in the climate tech sector as good as the conventional engineering & industrial sectors?
Yes, the salaries and incentives are on par or slightly above par with conventional engineering and industrial sectors like manufacturing, supply chain and logistics.
Can professionals expect career growth in climate tech that are similar to those in other attractive career domains – finance, tech, analytics etc.?
The climate tech is an evolving space and there is certainly a lot of opportunities to explore and keep learning and growing in one’s career. At Illumine Industries, this is strongly seen with employees staying for a longer tenure in the company as they get to explore other areas of climate tech other than the ones they were hired for. We encourage a lot of cross functional department and business units transfer to help and provide vision for people’s growth.
FUTURE TRENDS
As climate efforts become far more prevalent and widespread, the demand for talent could fast outstrip supply. What can be done to increase the climate tech talent pool?
The curriculum in educational institutions should be a bit more tailored to climate tech. For example, in our perspective college education teaches you what solar is and how power is generated but there is no focus on understanding how to apply the fundamentals of electrical engineering to understand power and current flow, and structural engineering to comprehend the structural integrity of the mounting system. This is an example that comes to our mind as we see this in every fresher we hire. In addition, climate tech companies should start working with colleges to build curriculum and have industrial connects to keep the students updated on the industry trends and initiatives.
Do you foresee new career opportunities opening up in your domain and in your company in the near future?
Illumine Industries will be taking up work in power system studies, substation engineering and transmission. We see a lot of opportunities opening on the power system engineering domain with experience and expertise in high voltage engineering and software like ETAP. In addition, our structural engineering group is also taking up more scope, so civil/structural engineering expertise in concrete, wood and steel will also be a prime focus for hiring.
OTHERS
Are there fundamental differences between climate tech jobs and jobs in other fields?
In essence, the fundamental engineering involved in a climate tech sector vs a conventional engineering sector is similar. The challenge or the onus is being able to apply the fundamentals to this sector which shouldn’t be a major area of concern for engineers with strong technical foundation.
If you are presented with two candidates, one with good functional skills but high passion for the climate tech sector, and another with exceptional functional skills but no specific passion for the climate tech sector, which of the two will you choose, if you are allowed to choose only one?
If you are referring to basics of technical engineering when you say, “functional skills”, we would mostly choose the one with good functional skills over exceptional functional skills. This is obviously since passion can lead to exceptional ideas to take the business/industry forward which is what is the need of the hour in the climate tech space.
