Are solarpunk values part of your thinking process … which company you will be working at?
I do not think necessarily about solarpunk, but it ends up being related to solarpunk. When you build software with the intention of it being used for a long time and for many contexts, you make it more sustainable, better against aging.
And, maybe in a broader sense, is hoping to work on projects aligned with solarpunk values realistic?
It is realistic and it should be done. Values are a guideline to follow when you need to make a decision. Values of sustainability, justice, hope will certainly guide you to build something that will help more people and have a positive impact in the world.
I work for a company that mainly does PoC projects with low TRL. This gives me the opportunity to choose the technologies that align with solarpunk: open-source libraries and standards, products that can be self-hosted and scale as needed.
Moreover, my team and department avoid using big tech products: Mattermost for comms, Nextcloud for storage and docs. Non-developers use Windows for" compatibility" reasons, otherwise, we use Linux.
Additionally, the company makes products that will be used in renewables and similar sectors, which makes it super solarpunk.
I was enthusiastic about this project. But I am afraid these recent tangents will only reduce momentum.