Ryland Parry originally moved to the Bay Area to work at a cleantech startup, a venture which didn’t end up panning out. By the time the office shut down, he’d spent some time volunteering for GRID. Ryland says he was “shocked” that something like this could exist. He didn’t think there was a non-profit working in solar because it was so expensive. After being laid off Ryland continued volunteering with GRID and asked if there was anything he could do long term since he now had free time and found out the internship in Solar Construction and signed up. For Ryland, working in construction is both new and old news - his dad worked in construction, but Ryland’s last few jobs have all been in offices. He says the internship is a great experience for his future in the solar industry - he’s getting a feel for how things are actually installed, learning to solve problems, and actually gets to meet homeowners. It’s this human element that lets Ryland directly see the impact he’s having.
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