It was cool to work for the solar industry leader, but very glad I am no longer there. - Anonymous employee SolarCity Employee Review

2.0
Apr 23, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I was there before the company went public and after. I can only speak for my experience working in HQ in San Mateo. When I first started, there was a great energy and everyone was super passionate about the work they were doing. There were a lot of people employed who were very aligned with the goals and overall mission of the company and many employees had been there for several years. Many of those people have since cashed out on their stock and left.

Cons

Once the company went public the culture went down hill. The execs said it was because they need to drastically cut costs now that their finances were public. They opened up a new office in Vegas and gave several departments (sales, customer care, contract verification, utility group) an ultimatum to move to Vegas or find a new job at the company, but there were really no other departments left for people to transfer to besides finance, HR, engineering so most people were laid off or left. They seem to not value or appreciate that many of their employees were over qualified for their roles and thought they could replace them with someone in Vegas and pay them way less. They now just want people who can plug into a specific part of the assembly line. In fact, a member of the senior leadership team said in a meeting with my team that that was his goal, to make everyone's job extremely specific and volume driven, essentially implying we were to be like factory line workers. That was not inspiring at all! If you are in their corporate offices, you are definitely a little fish in a big pond. In most departments, the only opportunities for growth are to become a team lead, but there are 15 other people on your team that want that position too. It takes a long time to get any sort of raise and when you do, it is still not enough based on the 50+ hours of work they expect from you every week.

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5.0
Oct 21, 2024
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CEO approval
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Pros

Good pay and no supervision working at the different Home Depots

Cons

Having to make numbers and sales

4.0
Mar 22, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Just to quantify my review a bit, I am within the top 10% of inside sales reps within our 12,000 person company. It is a great place to work and people doing well ARE able to make good money here. The executive team ALWAYS has a platform for reps to help make SolarCity a better place every quarter. They involve the top 20 reps each quarter in various ways to help their peers through an interactive group called Team Elite. Executives, VP's, Directors, and Managers are always willing to help and go to bat when there are issues with things that need to be fixed. The direction of the company is consistent and although the company is large, decision makers work as hard as possible to steer the big ship quickly when necessary.

Cons

Knee jerk reactions with decision making at a director level create issues from time to time. Culture has had its ups and downs due to HUGE growth last year and subsequent high attrition rates.

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