Solar Careers
How to Start a Career in Solar Energy From Scratch
You don't need a degree or years of experience to break into solar. Here is the realistic path from zero to your first job.
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The full library on solar careers, training, green jobs, and doing the work well. Readers building a broader professional learning list can also visit this page for additional material on managing time and priorities. Readers looking for federal background material can start with Energy.gov clean-energy resources.
You don't need a degree or years of experience to break into solar. Here is the realistic path from zero to your first job.
Before you chase the job, it helps to know what it really involves. Here is an honest look at the work, the conditions, and the skills.
Installing panels is one job among many. Here is the full map of roles in solar, and how people move between them.
Solar can pay well for its entry requirements, but earnings vary widely. Here is what drives the numbers up.
Solar sales can out-earn installation and needs no trade skills, but it isn't easy money. Here is the honest picture.
Every experienced installer started with none. Here is how to land that first solar job when your resume is empty.
Solar has long skewed male, but that's shifting fast, and the industry needs the talent. Here is what to know.
You got the interview. Here is how to show a solar employer you're the reliable, teachable worker they're looking for.
The certification landscape is confusing, and not every credential is worth your time or money. Here is what to know.
You can learn solar in many ways, and they cost wildly different amounts. Here is how to choose the right one for you.
NABCEP is the best-known credential in solar. Here is an honest look at whether it's worth pursuing, and when.
An apprenticeship might be the smartest way into solar, you get paid to gain the experience everyone else pays for.
Beyond certifications, certain skills make you genuinely useful on a solar crew. Here are the ones worth building.
Before you work in solar, it helps to genuinely understand it. Here is the plain-language version of how it all works.
Solar is a physical trade, so can you really learn it online? Here is what each type of training can and can't teach.
Solar is one corner of a huge and growing clean-economy job market. Here is the bigger map worth knowing.
Wind is one of the largest sources of clean energy, and wind technician is among the fastest-growing jobs anywhere.
Saving energy employs as many people as generating it, and gets far less attention. Here is the field worth a look.
The shift to electric vehicles is creating a whole new field of work, from charging infrastructure to maintenance.
Building science is the field behind healthier, more efficient buildings, and it's a stable, growing green career path.
Clean energy is growing and meaningful, but it isn't for everyone. Here is how to tell if it fits you.
On installation and field jobs, tracking time accurately affects your pay, your quotes, and your day. Here is how to do it simply.
From a simple timer to full crew management, here is how to choose a time-tracking tool that a field team will actually use.
Underestimate a job and you lose money; overestimate and you lose the bid. Here is how to get estimates closer to reality.
In work involving heights and electricity, safety isn't bureaucracy, it's what gets you home. Here are the fundamentals.
Field work means working in whatever the weather brings. Here is how to stay productive and healthy through it.