Lack of Transparency, Poor Business Model - Anonymous employee Associated Renewable Employee Review

My time as an intern at Associated Renewable has led to some great learning experiences. Right from the start I was able to participate in engineering training and contribute to the team. I was taught how to complete all of the necessary work by the other engineers as new tasks arose. The other engineers were incredibly helpful in teaching and overall able to assist in any additional training that was needed. Throughout the process of the training and working on various buildings, I gained a clearer understanding of the basic engineering principles that came into play, but as well as other aspects of the business, such as financial analysis and energy analysis. Almost immediately, I was able to go on site visits to the properties that required information gathering. I shadowed a senior engineer and gained valuable training and experience in the process of observing the building and identifying the important details. Generally, we performed a full walkthrough of the building., which involved taking pictures of the key components in the building and conducting a lighting survey. This was excellent hands on experience that I was able to fully participate in from the start. The training I was able to do for the buildings was very useful as well. This involved gathering energy usage date and then performing energy analysis to determine what measures could be taken to reduce their usage. This information was then used to save the clients as much money as possible involving strategies such as updating to more efficient lighting, changing boiler fuel types, and outfitting radiators. This was an excellent application of the engineering knowledge that I learned throughout the course of my schooling. The workplace environment was stellar and I felt extremely comfortable from the first day. Everyone was willing to help and answer any questions that I had concerning the company's actual projects. The overall experience learning here is fantastic and I would highly recommend Associated Renewable to anyone looking to get into the industry.

No issues in the time I have been here

Intro to energy auditing..... that's it

They never knew how to train us on the ins and outs of energy auditing. They kept scamming the only skilled engineer on staff, and when he left we had no one. Both the president and CEO are scam artists who capitalized on LL87 energy auditing and retro-commissioning services by preying on recent grads looking to work in a young and energy services market. And here's the thing, they never trained us on retro-commissioning!!! They keep you hired as an energy intern on paper but make you work full-time so as to squeeze every ounce of labor from you without anything compensation. That should be illegal!!! And when you get paid, it's in commissions, which comes few and far between but they hang above you to try and dissuade you from leaving. And furthermore, since the work conditions are as toxic as they come, they hold you hostage with a non-compete agreement and keep your mouth shut to prevent whistleblowing with a non-disclosure agreement. I knew someone who got hired by a firm working on the same services but WITH PAY, and the president and/or CEO held him back with threats to sue the engineer and the other firm for "breeching" the non-compete agreement!! Thankfully, they caved and that engineer went off to do bigger and better things. But still... what kind of start up would do this?!?! Being a start-up firm does not give you the right to take advantage of your employees. At least, this "firm" is no more. Ignore the "last year I was employed", it's important to keep this info confidential but as a cautionary tale for anyone who works at a place like this.