Our blog post series “what jobs exist in the solar industry” and the introduction of 6 different kinds of job segments that are existing in a solar company is coming now to an end.
The final post today is about the job segment called: Solar Design /Solar Drafts Man
The Solar Designer and the Solar Drafts Man can be one person but mostly these things can be done by two different people.
Solar Designer
Solar Design is done by someone who can design solar systems for customers. He/she can for example work out how many solar panels fit on the customer’s roof and how many panels will be needed for the customer‘s current energy consumption etc.
Normally the salesperson or project manager, who visited the customer first knows how to do a solar design and then goes to the technical manager to discuss how to work around the first drawing for the customer, so he or she can get a first impression of the future design of the solar system on his/her roof.
After the technical manager gives his confirmation, the first drawing from the salesperson or Project manager goes to Solar draftsman and he/she works with the first drawing and creates the detailed design with specialized tools, such as Microsoft Visio and AutoCAD.
This software’s support most parts of your work as a Solar Draftsman but it is still very time-consuming work. Your Drawings and Designs will be very important for the technicians and electricians later on for a better understanding while installing. So we thought describing this job a little bit more detailed and explaining that it is an important position within a big Solar Company or your own company, is good to know.
Solar Drafts Man
Your work as the Solar Drafts Man is to design and draft the whole solar system on the roof as well as planning the “running of the cables on the roof” so the technicians and electricians know where the cables are running and where they must be connected to the inverter etc. In short, a Solar Draftsman does the detailed design on the roof with the panels and the electrical/ technical line drawing for the whole solar system. As soon as he finished and spoke again with the Technical Manager for final approval, the drawing goes to the roofer (speciality in Germany, as the roofer will prepare the outline of panels on the roof and put the panels there) the ordering department and to the electrician on how to install the system and what will be installed. Of course, everything goes to the customer so he/she can give his/her approval to the design first.
Now let´s have a look on the Hard Skills you need if you are interested in this job position:
Hard-Skills
First of all, you need good computer skills as well as calculating skills (being good in maths!) and technical knowledge that is very profound as you need to calculate the consumption of the electricity that the customer is needing every day and how many panels, he/she will need to cover this demand. You also must have good visual and 3D thinking as you need to visualize how to design the panels on the roof.
Soft-Skills
You need very good communication skills, first and for most to find out what the customer needs. Then you need further communication skills with your team and other people involved in the process, such as your technical manager, electricians and the roofer.
Last but not least, attention to detail is something you should be really good at, because small mistakes in drawing become really big problems in real life and then you have not satisfied customer and your colleagues from the technical department are also unhappy.
But don´t be scared, there are many training courses available for you to learn these skills and develop them further.
We hope these 3 more job descriptions that are all coming together at a medium sized company and a big solar company gave you a first impression on what you can do and what carrier you can maybe look for in the solar industry. As mentioned before, this is only a very short insight on these job positions. They can vary from company to company and sometimes are melting together in one person. For example if you are an individual who wants to start your own solar business.
We don´t say the list is completed and that we mentioned all Skills that are needed to become a good employee. Also, we acknowledge, that there is much more to cover when you look at the Solar Industry and the many job positions that can be filled, such as marketing, ordering department, logistics etc. But we think with our short descriptions of these 6 Jobs we gave you a first insight and maybe some valuable input when you make your decision in going for a career in the solar industry.
As always, if you have any questions please write to blog[at]maxx-energy.co.za and let´s talk about it!
