Mitchell Smith. (Photo by Pat Molnar for Money magazine.)

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Mitchell Smith says he learned long ago if you don't have a job, make one for yourself.

Smith, a longtime educator, spent the last 15 years with a variety of educational technology and software companies, working primarily in sales. Amid the economic downturn, he was laid off a year ago, his third layoff in two years. "That's it," he told himself.

Now, the 50-year-old resident of Richmond, Calif. is the training manager and job placement coordinator at Solar Richmond, a pioneering training center that prepares disadvantaged residents for jobs in the growing solar industry.

Smith is featured in Money magazine, as part of a series of "secrets" for making a career shift. Smith's secret: Get the skills you need on the cheap.

Years earlier, he had served as director of a youth program in Massachusetts, helping inner-city kids find areas where they could excel academically. Later he gained his building contractor's license and became a "weekend warrior," helping a friend run a remodeling business. More recently, he became a supporter of Green for All, an advocacy effort promoting green-collar jobs as a pathway out of poverty, particularly for inner-city residents.

"I immediately started retraining myself, repositioning myself," Smith says. "I said, 'I'm going to see what I can do within the solar industry.'"

He attended the five-week solar training program by Solar Richmond, part of the city's RichmondBUILD work-force training program. More recently, he attended an intensive train-the-trainers program at Ohlone College in Newark, Calif., specifically for those making mid-career transitions into green jobs. Smith has qualified for solar certification through the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP).

Smith told Money: "I took advantage of every opportunity to get the skills I needed, and it paid off. In total I only spent a few hundred dollars to get thousands of dollars' worth of training."

Now Smith makes it clear to his own trainees what's at stake: jobs. Smith has teamed up with an electrical contractor in Oakland to create a new solar installation firm. He hires trainees, not just from Solar Richmond, for the crews.

As a new partner at Net Electric and Solar Inc., Smith is bidding on dozens of additional projects. He has already hired four graduates of Solar Richmond.

Net Electric and Solar won its first competitive bid: a $100,000 contract with Oakland's Housing Authority to install solar panels on a 25-unit apartment complex for seniors.

He says he earns considerably less than he did -- $50,000, down from $85,000. And starting any small business is tough, and the green energy field is just getting rolling. Smith says he's heartened by supporters who have helped with bonding, supplies and financing, and he thinks the future is bright.

"I'm now in position to help my fellow graduates," he says. "I'm giving back and I feel just great."