Inspire
Company Stats
- Expertise:
- Angular, Data Science, Javascript, Mobile, Ruby, Web Development
- Headquarters:
- Center City Philadelphia
- Employee Count:
- 51-200
- Tax Status:
- For-profit
- Founded:
- May 7, 2013
Connected People
Belinda Le, Levent Tosun, Jay Dorsey, Tyler Blevins, Tim Barnes, Shakila Muhammed, Matt Anderson, Meghan Griffiths, Chris Doblovosky, Rebecca Quirk, Patrick MaloneyAddress
30 S 15th St Philadelphia, PA 19102Company Overview
Company Stats
- Expertise:
- Angular, Data Science, Javascript, Mobile, Ruby, Python, React JS, React Native, Web Development
- Headquarters:
- Center City Philadelphia
- Employee Count:
- 51-200
- Tax Status:
- For-profit
- Founded:
- May 7, 2013
Connected People
Belinda Le, Levent Tosun, Jay Dorsey, Tyler Blevins, Tim Barnes, Shakila Muhammed, Matt Anderson, Meghan Griffiths, Chris Doblovosky, Rebecca Quirk, Patrick MaloneyAddress
30 S 15th St Philadelphia, PA 19102From its bi-coastal offices in Center City, Philadelphia, and Santa Monica, CA, the climate crusaders at Inspire are working to transform the way people access clean energy.
The clean energy tech company is the only one offering eco-conscious consumers subscription-based access to renewable power. The company works seamlessly with customers’ energy providers to set a flat monthly rate, based on their energy usage over a year, that won’t skyrocket during periods of high use. It’s an incentive that’s easier on wallets and better for the earth.
Inspire is on a mission to accelerate a zero-net carbon future, and its employees are up for the challenge. The environmental “Avengers” team balances the urgency of building earth-saving technology with the fun of building team rapport through bake-offs and annual retreats. They grow their superpowers during fun and educational events like the Inspire Windy Awards (dishing out team superlatives like “Best Pet Parent”), a B-corp speaker series, and opportunities to volunteer with mission-aligned organizations.
The growing certified B-Corp is proud to employ a team of around 140 passionate environmentalists who aren’t afraid to let their geek flags fly. Hobbies are celebrated, fancy coffee consumed, data devoured, and do-gooders reign the halls — unlike in high school.
Technical.ly Coverage
Featured Employees
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“At Inspire, the amount of business critical projects are endless. We have made great strides as a team to build our own reliable and accurate in-house energy forecasts to better serve our customers and provide them with clean energy. Currently, I'm excited to scale these models so that Inspire can continue expanding access to clean energy.”
Belinda Le Sr. Data Scientist -
"We have a very strong and resourceful engineering team, and when they are empowered to do their best, the company benefits from their creativity. I spend a lot of effort creating an environment that supports our engineers to simultaneously enhance the health of our systems (which improves our overall velocity) and solve big problems that help us achieve our company goals, and do so at a good pace."
Levent Tosun SVP, Engineering -
"I'm excited about a few longer-term engineering projects designed to ensure the continued security, reliability and long-term sustainability of our web applications & infrastructure. All teams are investing additional time into our automated test suites to help improve the quality and correctness of our systems."
Jay Dorsey Staff Engineer -
“The tech team has something special. We’ve developed a great subculture that's supportive and uplifting of one another. We focus on improving it all the time — not just about social events, but about how we can grow together, work better together.”
Tyler Blevins Director, Data Engineering -
“Everybody in the company is on the same mission — that’s why people join. We work together collectively to come up with what we can build to work towards that mission. Everyone has a hand in creating something for our customers.”
Tim Barnes VP, Digital Growth & Experience -
“During my first review, I mentioned how important diversity and representation is to me and that I wanted to play a role in our recruitment process. I’d mentioned this at multiple companies I’d worked for prior, and it didn’t go anywhere. At Inspire, it was noted, passed along, and two months later, I'm part of the interview process — and we just hired a new female developer.”
Shakila Muhammed Software Engineer -
We call ourselves Avengers because we each have our own set of unique superpowers. We only bring on people who want to better the world.
Meghan Griffiths Director, Retention Services -
Inspire has been an incredible incubator for me, giving me time to learn my way around new technologies and empowering me to take ownership of projects. It’s really fostered my curiosity.
Chris Doblovosky Sr. Software Engineer
Culture Q&A
What makes Inspire an exciting place to work?
We are constantly working towards something bigger than ourselves. Our mission is what inspires and connects us. But we're also raising awareness for customers that they have choices when it comes to choosing an energy source.
Roughly 20% of your overall carbon emissions come from your home — which is huge. You can eliminate that 20% from your carbon footprint simply by deciding to go with Inspire.
Through data, we empower customers by informing them of their choices and giving them an option to positively impact the environment.
What’s unique about working on Inspire’s tech team?
Between Philly and Santa Monica, we have about 60 people on our tech team. Being small, we’re able to bond and work together closely. Everyone across the entire team has a hand in creating something for customers. No one group comes up with ideas or roadmaps and presents them to the rest of the group; we collectively decide what we should be working on and how we can work towards bringing Inspire’s overall mission to life.
We’ve created a very supportive and uplifting subculture. It’s not just about social events; it’s about asking, “How can we grow together? How can we work better together?”
How has Inspire has worked to improve employee work/life balance during the pandemic?
Due to the always-on nature of working from home during quarantine, we found that people had started working more hours and taking less PTO. Even when we told people to take time off, they still seemed to check in and contribute. We established “bonus days,” where every other Friday is off for the entire company. That way, no one is working, employees don’t feel that they are missing anything, and everyone can truly relax and recharge.
What qualities make someone a promising job candidate at Inspire?
Everyone at Inspire is driven by the mission to expand access to clean energy and work toward a zero-net carbon future. So we look for candidates who have that same passion for taking care of our earth. We’re a company of team players who collaborate closely, always ready to hop on Zoom to solve problems as a team.
From a tech perspective, we want talented engineers of all levels, but we are also looking for people who also think deeply about the Inspire user and build features and solutions that work for them. People who are interested in their careers and helping grow the careers of those they work with share knowledge and level up their skill sets.
