Team Q&A: Jacob Clark – Junior Software Developer

From developing and streamlining our distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) solution to finding opportunities to curb personal waste, Jacob Clark is here to fight climate change one day at a time. Join us in welcoming Jacob to the Virtual Peaker team!

How did your previous life prepare you for Virtual Peaker?

In January 2021, I started my software developer journey with Code Louisville, a city/state-funded program (sort of like a boot camp) designed to help bolster Louisville’s tech workforce. Almost a year to the day I started my internship with Virtual-Peaker and am now hired on as a Junior Software Developer. Quite a few of the developers here at VP got their start with Code Louisville and a few have even mentored courses, including myself. My experience with Code Louisville and the help of some generous mentors are what prepared me for my role at Virtual-Peaker.

Tell us about your role at Virtual Peaker.

As a software developer working on our DERMS solution team, I’m responsible for helping to implement new features, refine and expand existing features, and squash bugs in our Utility App. My role has allowed me to work on many different projects, allowing me to explore our code base both front and back end. Every project is a new challenge and an opportunity to grow.

How do you personally engage in sustainability efforts?

Once upon a time, I considered myself a minimalist, and while I’m not sure I’m still befitting the title, a lot of the core principles are still prevalent in my life. For instance purchasing few, higher quality products, repairable items, and assessing the value objects bring to my life.

Beyond my professional work innovating our DERMS solution, we also recycle in my household, although by “we” I mean my girlfriend. I mainly just ask what bin to put the thing in. We’re trying to lean less on recycling these days though and instead focus on replacing our single-use plastics with more sustainable options.

What can you tell us about yourself?

I like to think of myself as a creative. I’m a lifelong musician, having picked up the bass guitar in my teenage years. It’s been an obsession ever since. I’m also a bit of a photographer and designer, which is actually what I got my degree in. I believe that creativity is just another form of problem-solving, which is what we do as developers. Aside from that, I enjoy playing games and going on hikes.

About The Author

Bill is a serial entrepreneur with a PhD from UC Berkeley in Controls and Artificial Intelligence and 10 years of experience with high performance residential energy management and connected appliances. He was previously at GE as an Advanced Systems Engineer in the Connected Home Software Group, but left that role in May 2014 to pursue entrepreneurship full time.

Bill grew up in Louisville and returned with his family in 2010 after a long stint in the San Francisco Bay Area. He loves Louisville and is working to make it a better and more attractive city for high tech startups.

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