Pros
The work First Solar does is genuinely fascinating. Get to work with a lot of truly top-notch people. The NJ office was fairly easy to get to.
Cons
First Solar seemingly opened its NJ location without the slightest idea what to do with it, and unfortunately good people paid for their indecision. Are we a panel manufacturer? An EPC company? Who knows. management sure doesn't. Work-life balance was a myth, as was the People Matter "core value". Long hours and weekends with little to no recognition or support was the norm. Frequent travel to Phoenix, often for no apparent reason. We heard a lot from management about First Solar's unique employee culture. If it ever really existed, it was shredded when the company started raiding companies like Honeywell and GE for management "talent". A lot of petty tyrants came in, crushed employee morale, and left as soon as they could for greener pastures. Turnover was pretty outrageous. Those who didn't get burned out or fed up ended up laid off. And the layoffs are still going on.
