Publish Date: August 25th, 2025
As we’re now 20 years old, we’re taking this opportunity to celebrate folks that have been around since the very beginning. Jon Ernst started with Namaste Solar in 2006 and has been with us ever since. Check out what he has to say about the early days of Namaste Solar, our evolution over the years, and how our company culture continues to make him proud.
What is your role at Namaste Solar?
I’m currently the Lead Commercial Project Development Designer.
When did you start at Namaste Solar and what has your journey been like?
I started as an installer back in 2006. I worked on the roof for the first year or so. In those early days, we all did lots of different things. So, I started helping in the warehouse, driving the forklift around, organizing projects ahead of time. We didn’t have a dedicated design team back then. But once we started creating a design role, I started doing residential designs and project management. Then when we created a commercial design role, I took that role around 2010 and have had it ever since. So, most of my time here has actually been on the back end managing the commercial design team and designing for construction and permits.
What role have you liked the most?
I enjoyed my time in the field. I came in as an engineer, so my work in the field was new to me. I had worked in my previous career as a design engineer. So, coming and working in the field was just a really refreshing change. I just loved the camaraderie of being on a team out in the field, the feeling of being physically tired at the end of the day, and seeing things finished. Once you’re in the office, nothing is ever finished. There’s always something else to do.
What were the early days of Namaste Solar like?
I was employee number six or seven, I think. I started in March of 2006, and the rebate program in Colorado essentially started that same month. The company hadn’t done many installs prior to that. I was a part of that time when we just had one install team.
You were always learning, not just in the field, but in the office. That was a really exciting time, very dynamic. We all pitched in and did everything. We’d have Big Picture Meetings (BPMs) every day. We’d all gather in a circle at the end of the day and talk about the day. We were all pitching in, going to city meetings, presenting somewhere, or going to a festival and having a table at an event. And that was a ton of fun and a lot of hard work.
I remember my first day, another person was hired at the same time. He and I came into the office the first day and that was a time when there were no desks yet. So, the folks in the office were like, “Okay, go out to Goodwill and go buy yourself a desk.” There was a time, maybe a year or two later, we were running out of space in our first office, so I remember taking two inverter boxes and a piece of plywood and creating a desk in the warehouse for myself. I could tell stories about those early days for a long time but those were good times.
What motivates you to get up and go to work?
When I started at Namaste Solar, it wasn’t about Namaste Solar. I just wanted a solar job and everyone seemed like nice people. But once I started and began to understand what we were trying to do, I fell in love with the place and the mission. I thought that solar could be a place where I could still use my engineering degree but do something a little more soul centered. I was using the part of my brain that was best suited for technical stuff, but I was doing something that felt like I was doing good. I wasn’t in a cubicle in some mindless place. So, in those early days, I loved the work, and I just fell in love with the people. I came to Boulder not really knowing anyone. So, Namaste Solar became not just my workplace, but my entire life, my social circle, my friends.
My motivations are a little different now. I really enjoyed that small startup feel. And now that we’re bigger and a little more dialed in, it doesn’t have quite the same feel. But even 20 years later, I love the people. I still love the vision. Also, because I’ve been here so long and was here in the very early days, it feels a little bit like my baby in a way. I feel a kinship with the place.
What’s been one of your proudest moments working here?
When I was in the field, I felt proud of the finished product and knowing that we did good work. Then for about 10 years, from 2009 to 2019, I emceed all of our large company meetings, like BPMs and retreats. That was not my job role, but it was an extra thing that I did. I thought a lot about ways to keep people engaged, how best to organize a retreat, how to do check ins, etc. I really got a lot of satisfaction out of that. I look back on that time and feel some amount of pride about having played a role like that.
Also, I’ve always been proudest that at every turn I can go back to the very beginning and find lots of moments where we chose as a company to do the right thing as opposed to the easy thing. I always knew that when I was working hard, that everyone else was working hard next to me. And that if I was thinking about trying to do a high-quality job, like staying an extra hour to make something look good as opposed to just trying to get it done, that I knew that sentiment lived in everyone that I was working with and the company supported that. If we’ve made mistakes, we always were really honest with customers. We always worked really hard to fix them. And that’s how it is to this day. Being a bigger part of creating that environment and that way of being is something I’m proud of.
What’s the most unique part about working at Namaste Solar?
At retreats, we started this thing called check-in that goes back to the early days. We all sit in a circle and everyone shares where they’re at, what they’re going through at that moment in time. And from the very beginning, we just made a commitment to be very honest and open with each other. We share very personal things, and it’s not a typical thing to do in a workplace. It can be difficult, and no one’s required to do it, but the act of sharing is something we’ve maintained and committed to for all these years. We still do it in retreats today, even with a group of 100 people. It’s something unique that I have never seen anywhere else. And it really creates an environment that I think is very supportive, very cohesive.
How has Namaste Solar helped you develop your skills and career?
Two thirds of my working life has been here. I came in with a good set of skills, like technical skills. But I didn’t know solar that well. I’d taken some classes, but you don’t really know anything you think you do until you actually have to do it for real. Being at Namaste Solar allowed me to learn so much about solar, to develop design skills, install skills, and construction skills.
Starting in that early time, there wasn’t a manager to guide everyone and so that environment allowed me to have to stretch and to learn in ways that likely is more difficult now because there’s so many more levels of hierarchy in our company than there was then. New people now are learning from those of us who were here before or from management.
And then there’s the business side. I’ve never been much of a business person. So just being exposed to the finances regularly and being a part of the ownership of the business has been a great learning experience. I also learned how to be comfortable speaking in front of a group and being vulnerable in a group over the years.
What advice would you give to recent new hires?
Namaste Solar is a unique place, and I think it can be difficult to find one’s way in the beginning. So, I would say to new folks, “Be patient. Take your time and just observe and listen. Try not to jump and to come to conclusions too quickly, but to listen for a while to try to get a feel for the pulse of the place. Take your time and be patient settling into the organization.”
What parts of our mission do you most connect with?
The “pioneering conscientious business practices” part. I think that’s where our heart is. It goes back to what I feel proudest about. It’s that we go about our work in a conscious way that isn’t always the most efficient or isn’t always the cheapest way to do something. That resonates with me.
One of our core values is “Come as you are,” and part of that is working to build a culture where people feel able to be their full selves at work. How have you experienced “Come as you are,” at Namaste Solar?
There’s multiple ways I want to answer this question. One is: when I’m speaking in front of a large group, especially in that role I played for 10 years emceeing company meetings and meeting check ins, I can get emotional very easily. I can tear up very easily. And I never felt embarrassed or shy about that here. No one ever made me feel uncomfortable about that quality. So, I never shied away from being emotional in front of the group.
The second thing is, in my almost 20 years, I’ve had three times where I had real struggles personally, like depression and other deep personal struggles. I was always fully supported by the group through that. In year two, I had to take a month off to deal with my own stuff and no one ever hesitated to let me do that. In year eight, it happened again, and I was allowed to go work from my parents’ house in California for a few months. And then in 2019, a similar thing happened. It was more serious this time, and I needed to take a more significant chunk of time away. But in all those times I never felt anything but love and support from the group and I never felt like I lost people’s trust. So, for me that’s “Come as you are” in action.
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
For many years, I wouldn’t have an answer to that question because all I did was work. Since 2019, I’ve tried to shift that paradigm and not make my work life my everything. So, my answer now, I enjoy cooking and learning new things that allow me to cook new things. I enjoy movies. I enjoy hiking. I really enjoy times with friends or colleagues where we’re hanging out over a meal and just talking about life and laughing about things.
