First Solar reviews

3.7

70% would recommend to a friend

(683 total reviews)
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Mark Widmar

86% approve of CEO

62% positive business outlook

First Solar has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 683 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The First Solar employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

683 reviews
4.0
Apr 1, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People are nice and respect each other. Good work-life balance. The cost of living is very affordable.

Cons

Not many things to do around this area. It's in Ohio A lot of uncertainties under current administration.

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First Solar Response
1y
Thanks for the review. We are happy to hear your experience has been mostly positive! Please reach out to us at jobs@firstsolar.com if you'd like to provide more insight into your experience with us.
3.0
Mar 21, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Climate controlled, clean for a factory, Cafe for breakfast and lunch, work schedule is nice for days off but 12 hours every time gets old with having a family. Basically get to go home, eat and shower then it's time for bed.

Cons

Expect you have a laptop in one hand watching the floor, responding to non stop teams messages and email, running scripts, making reports, adjusting 20 different tools, while with the other hand wrenching on the tools and fixing them. Have 4 engineers throwing you every which direction to do their work for them while they sit in their office or in their meetings. (Some engineers are pretty cool and do a lot) Advancement is near impossible, have to prove you have engineering level knowledge to get a promotion which means somehow studying advanced device physics and theories while running and fixing tools. All while they expect you to cross train into other job titles to help out when someone calls off or if they deem it necessary. No balance in role and responsibilities and pay. They pay people off the streets higher than people who have been with them for years. I've seen them lowball several people that worked here as production techs for a few years and got 'promoted' to METs but make 4-5$ less per hour than fresh METs just hired in.

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First Solar Response
1y
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We appreciate the feedback and are always open to areas for improvement. If you would like to provide more insight into your experience, please contact us at jobs@firstsolar.com.
2.0
Mar 12, 2025

No

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

None none none none none

Cons

Bad management, bad pay, overworked

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First Solar Response
1y
Thank you for the review. Please feel free to contact us at jobs@firstsolar.com if you'd like to share more about your experience and provide feedback for potential areas for improvement.
Viewing 67 - 69 of 683 Reviews

Glassdoor has 805 First Solar reviews submitted anonymously by First Solar employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if First Solar is right for you.