From Coder to Solar Innovation: A Tech Career Journey with Darius Roberts | Ep019

Episode Information Show Notes In this engaging episode of Career Downloads, host Manuel Martinez sits down with Darius Roberts, CEO of UpliftSolar, to explore the fascinating intersection of software development, entrepreneurship, and solar technology innovation. About Our Guest: Darius Roberts leads multiple ventures in the solar technology space, including UpliftSolar.com, which is developing innovative solutions to expand solar panel accessibility. He also runs the Las Vegas Robotics Meetup (lvrobotics.org), bringing together industry leaders and local innovators in the robotics field. Episode Highlights: Early career insights and the value of taking calculated risks in your twenties How an unconventional aptitude test shaped crucial career decisions Transitioning from developer to technical lead to entrepreneur The story behind his early car-sharing startup (a precursor to modern services) Why Las Vegas is becoming an epicenter for robotics innovation The growing importance of AI literacy in tech careers Building and managing technical teams effectively Navigating the challenges of hardware vs. software startups Finding and working with the right mentors Key Takeaways: Understanding your strengths and working style is crucial for career success The value of being geographically flexible early in your career How to approach problem-solving across different industries The importance of balancing technical skills with business acumen Connect with Darius: UpliftSolar: [website] Las Vegas Robotics Meetup: lvrobotics.org #CareerDownloads #TechCareers #StartupLife #SolarTechnology #Innovation Follow Career Downloads: Website: https://careerdownloads.com YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloads X/Twitter https://twitter.com/@careerdownloads TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloads LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloads Instagram https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloads FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 Join us next week for another insightful conversation about navigating the evolving world of technology careers. Transcription Manuel: Welcome everyone, my name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their career, different ways that they’ve managed it, how they’ve moved around, what ultimately led them to take different decisions with the ultimate goal to really help you understand and learn from others so that you can pick up different techniques and tips to manage your own career along the way. So with that for today’s episode, I have with me Darius Roberts and he is an entrepreneur, so he started his own business, but he also has kind of started one early on in his career. He’s also been a developer, he’s moved up into development lead roles. So with that, I’d like to welcome Darius. Darius: Thank you, Manny. Manuel: No problem. Thanks for coming along. I appreciate you coming on to kind of share some of your expertise and even just your experiences along the way. Darius: I’m excited to share my thoughts on how to know yourself, AI and ergonomics. Manuel: Awesome. And with that, what I’d like to do is if you could just do just a quick summary of kind of what your role is now and kind of some of those responsibilities and then we’ll kind of work backwards up to that point. Darius: Great. I’m in two different companies. One is my technology company, so I’m the CEO. It’s a new technology that will enable solar panels to be in more places. And that’s a subject for a whole different podcast, but UpliftSolar.com is our website and we are currently trying to put some pilot projects together. Separately, we have a more traditional looking solar company where we put solar panels on roofs. But from a technology standpoint,