What Do You Enjoy Most About Working at Grid Edge?
Everyone in the team is really friendly and helpful. It’s like working with a group of friends that are always willing to give a hand when you need it. It also feels like we all have similar values and are working towards similar ends. Most, if not all of us, are environmentally conscious and believe in what the company is doing (reducing carbon emissions in the built environment).
What Does a Typical Day Look Like for You?
A typical day starts with planning out what needs to be done before our data scientists team’s daily standup. After that it’s time to make a big pot of coffee. Once I have got the caffeine buzz on, it’s time to fly through some emails and make sure we aren’t behind on deliverables. After emails I try to look at the snapshot of energy industry news if I have time (current-news.co.uk is the go-to, but Green Technica is also good).
My days are quite variable and the days swap between planning what work needs to be done on which projects, data analysis for energy data to check energy balances for our flexibility sites, meetings with partners and research on new communication protocols and hardware we can use. I like the variability a lot as it keeps things interesting, and I can’t say any two days are the same.
What Excites You Most About Your Work?
Being able to work on R&D in a company that is trying to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment. I have always wanted to work in R&D while helping the energy industry move towards a more sustainable place, so to be here already is amazing. Getting to be on the forefront of technology and figure out things that no one has before is what excites me the most.
Just about every time there is a news article about the energy network, it seems relevant to what we do. Because of how the company is positioned, we are right in the middle of many of the changes that are coming about as we try to decarbonise the energy industry around the world. Making new technologies in this space makes it even more exciting.
What Have You Learned?
I have learned about the intricacies of the energy markets and how value can be created for both energy suppliers and their customers by the correct application of technology. Because of current building inefficiencies, we can save customers money even while charging for our services and the energy companies also benefit by having knowledge of energy use in the future, which makes their OPEX lower as well, it’s a win, win, win.
I have also learned that a few months working for a startup can seem like a whole year because of how fast everything moves and how much you get to see of different areas of the business. I have helped do a little work on programming, attended EMEx (Energy Management Expo) to showcase our product, helped on budget management for projects, partnership management, tech company launchpads and installed sensors all within the first 6 months of working here.
What Would You Like Someone Interested in Joining to Know?
Most of the company still think of ourselves as a startup and the atmosphere feels like it. There are so many new things going on in the industry at the moment and Grid Edge feels like it’s right in the middle of it. It’s a really exciting company to work for and I would definitely suggest applying if you are interested.
Maybe the whole “being part of the team” and “having a friendly and accepting culture” sounds overused, but I can tell you from experience Grid Edge has that at the heart of our culture. From our Head of Ops always asking interesting questions out of the blue based on curiosity and wanting to get to know people to the CEO who will sometimes drop by your desk to have a casual chat, it is very welcoming and friendly.