Renewable Project Developer - Overall Good Experience
Pros
Everyday presents a challenging work environment, if that's appealing to you. Great industry exposure because Invenergy is a renewable energy industry leader and well respected within the industry. Very intelligent colleagues and overall fairly friendly people. Good PTO starting off (21 days). Bonus structure/target was reasonable (15%). Met or exceeded target bonus every year. Great place to gain experience, especially if you're young (20's & early 30's). Opportunities to advance up the ladder if you work hard, show leadership, and innovative thought. Privately held company so very nimble and can adapt to evolving industry. Developers typically develop both wind and solar (depending on market). People are super hard working. Office space is very modern and enjoyable. One South Wacker is a great downtown location. Plenty of company sponsored and non company sponsored social events. Regular guest speakers come to the HQ. State of the art control center. Very collaborative work environment. Invenergy is not scared of taking on a controversial project. Willing to spend money during development and is very aggressive with pursuing land and queue positions. Relationship with GE for turbines.
Cons
Lower end of the industry pay scale. Most days are fire drills, which is exhausting and makes getting burned-out very easy. Expect to work after hours, weekends, and PTO days. Management can set unrealistic expectations for some groups which adds to the daily dire drills. A common saying around the office is, "that's the Invenergy way." This phrase means fire drills occur often and win an RFP or secure an off take agreement and figure out how to execute on what's required second. This mentality is often at the root of fire drills and day to day craziness. Timelines are often not realistic thus causing developers to push everything along as fast as possible at the expense of pushing other groups too much. Management knows everyone is operating well over their bandwidth. Much more turnover the last year or so. Exposure to upper management is often dependent on your individual manager. Some managers buffer everything some are more willing to let those interactions occur organically. Invenergy occupies all of floors 18 & 19 and some of 20. 18 & 19 are total opposites in term of environments and interaction between the floors is very minimal. 20 is mainly legal and is nothing like 18 & 19. Working from home isn't common. Tech challenges with new software implementations. Getting invoices paid on time is way more challenging than it should be. Invenergy is not scared of taking on a controversial project. Could be more active in the M&A space but often low-ball offers.
