SpaceX reviews

That's one loaded question s2e-rloop! I'll do my best to answer here: I always wanted to be an engineer. I studied aerospace engineering at University of Southern California where I also did my masters in astronautical engineering. Over my 13ish years doing engineering and program mgmt work at SpaceX, one of the proudest things for me was just being able to build and work with great teams - not just making the technical systems work, but also the human ones. None of the historic firsts that SpaceX has achieved would have been possible without the efforts of our incredibly passionate, driven and talented workforce. So later I was given the opportunity to lead HR and that was a challenge that I couldnt pass up. There are a few traits that I think really define SpaceXs culture. First, people are really mission driven. Our goal is to help humanity become a multi-planetary species. Every day, we face short-term challenges, different internal and external customers and shifting priorities, but we always want to stay focused on the end goal. Thats how we cut through the noise. We try not to limit our thinking except by the limits imposed by physics. If someone says something cant be done, whether its a business decision or an engineering one, they better have Einstein and Newton backing them up. Otherwise its ripe for discussion. And we dont limit our thinking with hierarchies either. We have a pretty flat organization, and the best idea always wins not just the idea proposed by the most senior person in the room. We take the hardest shots. Its better to pick giant, hard to achieve goals than it is to pick easy choices. We set aggressive goals and strive to reach them. Thats how well make the fastest progress. We try to avoid analysis paralysis in all our work. We build, test, break things and iterate with a sense of urgency. And we dissent with data. We debate and disagree openly and respectfully, using facts and data to reach better decisions. Teams are organized to be as efficient as possible. We want to have an optimal signal-to-noise ratio so that we dont have a lot of bureaucracy and process inefficiencies getting in the way of the real stuff. Today we have a roughly 10-1 manager to report ratio at SpaceX, which works out pretty well. We have a generally flat organizational structure, so being a manager is less about constantly issuing orders than about creating the right environment in which people can complete the work that needs to get done, and to get the support and resources they need. Lastly, we are looking for senior Software engineers and product managers for either our flight software development or development of internal applications/tools that help our company run in the most efficient way possible. Here are a few job requisitions that might be a fit and if you don't see one then please check again soon: http://www.spacex.com/careers/list?category%5B%5D=396&category%5B%5D=401&category%5B%5D=821&category%5B%5D=406&category%5B%5D=761

We highly value all technical projects that are pushing the boundaries of engineering. The most successful candidates for SpaceX have a history of significant contributions to hands-on extracurricular engineering projects, or personal projects, in addition to a strong academic record. We have an extremely competitive internship program that is performance based. Interns who receive high marks and have outstanding performance are typically offered a repeat internship or a full time position. We want as many passionate and talented individuals to continue engineering the future with us. Our interns play a direct role in our mission to mars and are giving incredibly challenging projects. During their twelve weeks, they are fully responsible and own multiple projects. They are paired with a mentor/manager to guide them, but ultimately they are responsible for delivering on their projects. This summer, one of our Production Interns was responsible for designing a tool to help align the docking system on Crew Dragon. This tool will ensure that the spacecraft docks correctly with the International Space Station and that no damage is inflicted to either craft. The tool itself aligns the latches of the soft capture mechanism on the docking system so that they all latch simultaneously to the passive system on the ISS. In the past we had an intern design the re-entry algorithm for the Dragon Spacecraft. So many great stories like this. Pretty cool stuff!

If you live halfway around the globe, the first absolutely critical step is getting a US citizenship or green card. Critical. It is very nearly impossible to get a job in aerospace without one. Second step is doing projects, either on your own or in school-based teams. Car projects and small-satellite projects get recruited very heavily by SpaceX, and fairly heavily by other aerospace companies.

I'm not SpaceX HR, but I'm an aerospace engineer and can answer part of your question! Most SpaceX engineers--and aerospace industry engineers!--have degrees in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical, or Computer/Software Engineering (a.k.a. Computer Science). Specific coursework in high school isn't terribly important, as long as your son takes all the requirements for engineering schools and gets good grades in his classes. After that, focus on AP classes in order to get introductory college coursework out of the way, leaving time to take more interesting electives. Pick a good engineering school. Lots of ink has been spilled on this subject. During school, advanced coursework in specific fields your son finds interesting, as well as hands-on project experience (often called "project teams" in college) is super important, both for jobs at SpaceX and in the rest of the industry.

> ally, SpaceX has had a reputation for overworking(50+ hours/week), setting aggressive(unrealistic) goals/projects, and a well above industry average turnover rate. As VP of HR, how have/are you working on fixing this reputation? We recruit people who are incredibly driven by our mission, but its a myth that most of our employees are working 100 or even 80 hour weeks on a regular basis. Sometimes you have incredibly tight schedules that you need to keep, and that just goes along with launching rockets. But we want our employees to be productive over the long term and that means working at a pace thats sustainable. We encourage employees to pace themselves, and our managers pay close attention to whether people are driving themselves too hard for long periods. This is one of the biggest myths I hear about working at SpaceX, so I always want to knock this idea down!

trash company would never go their again had to put 5 star everything cause else they kill me

force everything cannot say much more or else I'll be discovered

Exclusive and exciting experience until the novelty wears off.

"Mandatory overtime"... cult like workplace environment. Work to Personal Life balance is non-existent.

Bragging rights because it's not something you're always in the news and NASA has no more shuttles so...

good pay

i have to wake up early

a good wagerwagergwagearaawrwr.f ITs every time good

Opportunities to grow your skills

Be a judgement for different management and looking for any minimums details

I like elon musk. He meme funny man

Nothing. But sometimes these big things launch into space and uh its a lot of work

Working in elon musk commpany :D

A BS in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering would probably be a great start

He said in another reply that internship applications were "growing exponentially." I'd recommend trying to get an internship as early as possible: it makes it way easier to get another internship or a full-time position later (assuming you do well in the first one!).

You need a US green card or citizenship. Non-ITAR employees at aerospace companies are virtually unheard-of.

Projects! Join a project team. Dig deep into it, become a technical lead for some system or subsystem, become an expert in it. SpaceX internship interviews focus on that experience above most other things.

Check out our opening for [Full-Stack Enterprise Developer](http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/8316)!

Get hands-on! Are you on a new project yet? Work your way up to a subsystem lead position and really dig down into the work. Be an expert in something. Spend a million hours on it.

Apply to *lots* of jobs ;) Seriously, though. Lots of jobs. Many aerospace HR departments feel like black holes where your resume can get swallowed up and never heard from again, so a lot of the time it comes down to a numbers game. Apply to every company that's hiring anything remotely close to what you want to do. And if you don't have much project experience, get some!

I don't think SpaceX WANTS their workers to constantly leave and having to learn up new workers, so seems more likely it's a coincidence

My best advice is to browse our current [software openings](http://www.spacex.com/careers/list?category%5B%5D=396&category%5B%5D=761) to learn more about the specific skillsets we're seeking. Starting a passion project and/or writing code above and beyond your required coursework is the best way to stand out!

Virtually all kinds of engineers are in high demand in aerospace. Aerospace, mechanical, electrical, and computer engineers are all perennial favorites, but industrial and civil engineers a bit less so.

From what I know, SpaceX doesn't give a *** about GPAs for people with experience. For young graduates and interns, if you're not recruited from a project team, I believe there's a GPA cutoff of 3.5 or so. Passion is a plus, but what's even more of a plus is turning that passion into an actual project that you're working on.

Get on a project team in college. Take a role where you get to be hands-on with hardware, software, electronics, anything. Become an expert in whatever you get to have your hands on. SpaceX interviews, especially for internships, focus almost exclusively on the candidate's project experiences.

You bet! Our Veterans are some of our best employees joining us with unique experiences, skills and leadership qualities that marry well with our culture. We intentionally seek them out in looking to bolster our applicant pools with qualified veteran candidates. We have many hundreds of veterans working at SpaceX in all fields and departments. I have the privilege of working with a Navy Veteran on my recruiting staff - shout out to Rafael! Lots of Navy Submariners working here! And more to come from all branches given we are part of the First Lady's Joining Forces Initiative where we committed to hiring many more in the years to come.

Our turnover rates are below average for the industry. We have lots of employees, like me, who have been here more than 10 years and have made a fantastic career with SpaceX! Getting to Mars is a long term mission so we seek to attract employees, and retain them, for the long term.

You really, really, really need a US citizenship or green card. ITAR violations are taken very seriously in aerospace, and can result in huge fines and jail time.

We have employees from many different backgrounds, with varying levels of experience. But even folks straight out of college come with some experience. They may not have lengthy resumes, but they always have really interesting and valuable records of achievement hands-on engineering experience, first-rate research, and leadership in extracurricular activities. I've been working with Elon for a long time and he's awesome to work with...always impressed with how he can dig into the smallest of details and make the tough decisions.

I cried like a baby when it landed also! I still get goosebumps recalling the moment. To answer your question: Tesla and SpaceX are independent companies. We admire the awesome engineering and production efforts at Tesla and if you worked there you would likely pick up some great experience that could help an application in the future.

Were going to keep adding the talent we need to achieve our mission, but were going to scale gradually and over the long-term.

I was in your shoes 10 years ago. I started working in the shipping dept. for a large electronics manufacturing company. I made it my goal to teach myself SAP and learn everything i could about electronics manufacturing. I now work for a very large Aerospace company making close to 6 figures. You dont have to be an engineer to work in Aerospace. There are other jobs just as important. Those engineers need someone to tell them what to work on you know. :)

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not hire based on age or any other legally protected status. My best advice is to find your passion, acquire as much hands-on experience, and effectively present that in your application. We believe great talent can be found anywhere and are scouring the Universe to try and find it. In many cases it is not as simple as finding graduates from top Engineering schools. We've discovered great talent from all kinds of interesting places...even meeting someone at a laundromat. :)

We highly value all technical projects that are pushing the boundaries of engineering. The most successful candidates for SpaceX have a history of significant contributions to hands-on extracurricular engineering projects, or personal projects, in addition to a strong academic record. We have an extremely competitive internship program that is performance based. Interns who receive high marks and have outstanding performance are typically offered a repeat internship or a full time position. We want as many passionate and talented individuals to continue engineering the future with us. Our interns play a direct role in our mission to mars and are giving incredibly challenging projects. During their twelve weeks, they are fully responsible and own multiple projects. They are paired with a mentor/manager to guide them, but ultimately they are responsible for delivering on their projects. This summer, one of our Production Interns was responsible for designing a tool to help align the docking system on Crew Dragon. This tool will ensure that the spacecraft docks correctly with the International Space Station and that no damage is inflicted to either craft. The tool itself aligns the latches of the soft capture mechanism on the docking system so that they all latch simultaneously to the passive system on the ISS. In the past we had an intern design the re-entry algorithm for the Dragon Spacecraft. So many great stories like this. Pretty cool stuff!