Sahil's Spring Independent Study

May 31st, 2018  Today was one of my favorite days so far. Instead of predominantly following Sheila in HR, I got to follow around Steve in Corporate communications. I sat on a lot of meetings with him, and we also got the chance to chat a lot about what he does. Steve is in charge of all of the corporate communications for First Solar, so he obviously has one of the best perspectives one could have on corporate communications. A big responsibility of corporate communications is to design the core messages and values of the company. In every room I've gone into so far, there's been a sign outlining First Solar's core value and mission. It's cool now to talk to the people that actually made the decisions that went behind those messages. In addition to that, one of the main responsibilities behind what they do is managing internal communications. Getting messages out from one part of the company to another part of the company is essential, and they're the ones who m...

May 30th, 2018 Today I had a pretty impactful day at First Solar. As usual, I sat in some interesting meetings with Sheila. I watched her continue the interview process for a new candidate for that HR job that I talked about in a previous entry. That was pretty interesting to see her compare that candidate to the other, but the most exciting part of the day was probably talking to the warranty department. I talked to Rick and Raj of the warranty department, Raj actually being Sheila's spouse. In order to give me the context of what warranty and global sales do, they broke down to me the sales cycle of a plant. Between business development and contract negotiation, the "sales" portion of the cycle can take between 1-2 years. This is the time when the client and First Solar come to an agreement on what they're building, when they're building it, and how much it's going to cost. The next major portion of the sales cycle is actually building the plant. This can...

May 29th, 2018 Yesterday was Memorial Day, so today was the first day this week I went to the First Solar headquarters. Today I spent most of the day with Arjun, an engineer for First Solar who mainly specializes in battery storage. Funny enough, Arjun's is from the same city in India that my family is from. There was a lot of information, numbers, and graphs that I had to digest about battery storage, but I definitely got the gist of what the battery storage team does. Additionally, I also gained an understanding of why they do what they do. So in a traditional plant or storage unit, there's a 24-hour cycle. Throughout the day different amounts and ratios of different types of energy are produced and used. Because the sun is at its peak in the middle of the day, solar energy is usually consumed during the middle of the day. So traditionally, you're going to use fossil fuels (coal) at the beginning and end of the day, but in the middle, you can use predominantly use ener...

Today was my last day of the week going into the First Solar headquarters. I actually went a little bit away from the headquarters during the afternoon to visit a solar site a little north of Tempe in Mesa. But before I did that I talked a little bit more to Shauna about human resources. She talked about what the goals are for human resources in 2018. This year they're doing things a little bit differently. First, they want to tear down as many barriers as they can between the different sections of first solar. Obviously, everyone will still have their roles to play, but they want to encourage group/collaborative work. They also want to promote diversity and inclusion. One of the ways they're putting this into practice is that in talent acquisition (recruiting), they're not asking what school they went to and what year they graduated. There are stereotypes and biases behind associated with colleges. In some case, genders are even linked to college, and they don't want ...

May 24th, 2018 Today was pretty exciting. Our meetings were very spread out so I got to walk all around the facility, and that was nice. There are so many meeting rooms, and all have them have built-in technology and equipment. The resources of the company are evident just by taking a tour of the place. Today I got an introduction to Human Resources from Shauna. Human resources is the department that Sheila has a major role in. Human resources handles a lot of little things for the company. They have a lot of sections from corporate services which handles day to day things, to support services which handle payroll. Sheila specifically works with information systems connected to HR which are located in Perrysburg. The Comp & Benefits part of HR essentially figures out who gets paid. Shauna went in depth into this. There's a lot of factors. Experience, prestige, role etc. all go into the important decision of how much someone makes at First Solar. Something new the HR is doing...

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018 Today was my third day going to the headquarters of First Solar in Tempe, Arizona. I had more meetings today while getting a closer look at some internal communications of the company, but probably the most significant part of the day was me learning a little more about the science. In a few days, I'll actually be going down and seeing a plant, and it's important that I get some better basic knowledge before that. I had learned a little bit on Monday about the science behind the panels, but I expanded my knowledge today, and I'll continue to do so. Michael and I talked again for a while, and he got a little more technical today. Here's a little more to the breakdown that I learned: The secret recipe film that he alluded too before is sprayed on the entire module (panel), and then they use lasers to cut horizontally apart to create different cells differentiated by the lasers. He said to think about batteries here: if you compile a bunch of b...

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2018  Today was my second day going to the First Solar headquarters in Tempe, AZ. As with all my entries, I will change the names of First Solar employees to uphold confidentiality (aside from my sponsor, Sheila Gnanamani). Today was a day filled with meetings. As one of the heads of human resources for a company of over 5000 people, Sheila's job is very hectic. Shadowing her involved bouncing between a lot of meetings today, but a lot of them turned out to be interesting. One of the meetings was about strengthening an internship program for college students at first solar. They were looking at surveys and statistics, and many of the internships didn't turn into jobs. Many of the kids who decided to intern eventually left the company and the meeting was called to try to resolve this and change the program so that we can get more young, creative workers. We're going to have more meetings on this topic, but the main thing we decided by the end was that...

Monday, May 21st  Today was my first of many days actually going into the headquarters of First Solar in Tempe, Arizona. Right when I arrived, I felt very welcomed. Though the people here are professional and focused, they are also friendly and compassionate. Along with serious discussions about corporate communication, human resources, and solar power, I also had conversations about soccer, college, and music. It was just a nice reminder that beneath our careers and education, we're all still people who like to enjoy ourselves and relate to one another. In order to uphold confidentiality standard and policies at First Solar the names that I mention in these blog posts will not be the real names. Additionally, certain sensitive information about the company may be omitted. I followed Sheila around a lot today, but my most important conversation probably happened with a man named Michael. Michael's official title at first solar is "engineer with global customer service...

May 18th First Solar told me to do a bit of a general overview of the company and what they do before I get my hands dirty. I compiled a lot of research, but here are some of the main details I found today. The company was founded in 1990 but went by a different name back then. It was called Solar Cells Inc. In 1999 it was bought and rebranded, and from then on called First Solar Inc. In 2006 the company was finally listed on the stock market. They have a gigantic distribution network. They have over 39 distributors and wholesalers spanning across 12 different countries. First Solar is one of the fastest growing companies in the technology sector and primarily work in the construction of PV power plants and solar panels. The company's headquarters are located in Tempe Arizona (right outside of Phoenix). They also have manufacturing facilities in Perrysburg, Ohio and Kulim, Malaysia. Just last month, they decided to add to the already existing facility in Perrysburg. The add...

Today, as kind of a formality, I had to write First Solar a letter describing my intent and goals during my internship. I put a lot of effort into it, and this is what I came up with. My name is Sahil Kattar and I go to Maumee Valley Country Day School, a co-educational private school in Toledo, Ohio. I will be attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison this fall. My high school offers me an intensive period at the end of the year to independently get exposed to new career opportunities. Previously through this intensive program, I have worked at a stock brokerage and at a professional soccer team.  Shadowing at First Solar is of great interest to me; it would be an exciting and productive way to cap off my high school career. In the 21st century, it’s important that we shift the focus from fossil fuels to alternative energy. Environmental concerns for our world are only becoming more prevalent, and it’s companies like First Solar that are going to help us combat that ...

May 15th, 2018  For the first week of my intensive, I will be doing research and preparing for my time in Phoenix at the headquarters of First Solar. I'm still getting through my second week of APs, but I am very excited to finally head west and achieve the goals I have set out for myself. Working at a company like First Solar is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Companies of this magnitude are numbered, and I am grateful that I have this opportunity. I have a multitude of goals for my intensive. For starters, I hope to learn a lot about the alternative energy industry as a whole. In today's day and age, it's important that we study something that is going to be necessary in the very near future. Investing in alternative energy is a progressive idea that I have been a fan of for a long time now, and it will be very productive to see these processes firsthand. Furthermore, I look to get a more scientific understanding of this idea. Obviously, I've had a baseline under...