First, take most of these reviews with a grain of salt. Much of these reviews are inflated by internal staff to increase SolarCity's rating on Glassdoor. This has to due with the company's aggressive hiring and HR tactics to encourage people to apply. You will be able to sense the real from the fake reviews.
Second, each experience is unique and dependent on which department you work in and at what level you enter the company. With that said, here was my experience.
SolarCity has set up a assembly-line approach to the way it operates, so you can expect your position to be very repetitive. There is very little room to challenge the way things are done here. You will be micromanaged and constantly under pressure to perform. You will be left in the dark on where things are going and on issues that directly impact your work. You will rarely be invited to meetings and brought into the discussion on how to improve things. You will be expected to "just do your work" and not complain. Further, people are constantly in fear of their job security. Only time will tell what happens when the federal tax credits for solar expire at the end of 2016...
The pay is below market rate, so you'll be scraping to save money and simply get by in the Bay area. This however is not the case for top-level management, who are receiving millions in stock options and compensation. There is heavy emphasis on growth and sales, so quality has gone out the window. There is very little reward here for providing great customer service. Look up customer reviews on Yelp, BBB and other sites and you'll see what the customer experience has become.
Overall, the people and benefits are good, but SolarCity's management style is stifling and demotivating, and needs to change for the good of the company and the service it provides.
