Engineering at SpaceX - Avionics Engineer SpaceX Employee Review

4.0
Dec 22, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Engineers at SpaceX are given an unprecedented level of individual responsibility and control over critical hardware from Day 1. The company is constantly pushing boundaries and generating press that makes the employees proud to tell their friends and family they work at SpaceX. There is somewhat less internal politics than other companies, mainly because there is so much work to do that you generally end up fighting to NOT do something, rather than fighting to bring more work in and grow your domain. The company has been growing very quickly which leads to promotion opportunities and has made the stock very valuable. Not guaranteed to continue though.

Cons

Working at SpaceX takes over your life. It is hard to find time and energy for any other significant commitments outside of work, whether they are family, exercise, or hobbies. If you are married, and your spouse does not work at SpaceX, they will grow to hate SpaceX. For the amount of responsibility and stress you have, the pay is not great, unless you end up being able to benefit from sale of stock options. On the other hand, for the number of years experience you have, the pay is generally competitive. There are a lot of employees at SpaceX who have never worked anywhere else. Sometimes it seems like an overwhelming majority of the engineers in fact. This leads to a provincial, arrogant company culture. The amount of time you have been at SpaceX and how long the people in your personal network have been at SpaceX are the overwhelming drivers of your reputation within the company. Many people like to sit around and talk about the good old days and how things used to be so much better. This is likely untrue, counterproductive, and isolating to people who weren't around at those times. There are many people who will vigorously deny that there is anything wrong with the company culture. This attitude stands in the way of changes being made for the better. There is a lot of pressure to take on as much work as you can possibly handle without showing signs of failure. It is preferable to be running 3 projects and getting a C- on them than to run one project and get an A on it. If you aren't obviously failing or complaining to your leadership about the amount of work you have on your plate, you will be handed another project.

Explore other reviews about SpaceX

5.0
Apr 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of fun work to do! Your manager will make or break it for you!

Cons

Burnout culture Depending on department learning is very much a self guided journey

1
4.0
Apr 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You learn so much because the work is so freaking intense, its a lot of fun if you're the type of person who loves to get emerged in hard problems. The hours for me were not too bad but I was the exception, all the other interns I was with dealt with 60-70+ hour weeks, some interns came in at 10am and left at 12am, when I say its intense, I'm not joking. This is however very unique to the Starbase location. I've heard Hawthorne is a lot more chill. I honestly despite how challenging the role was always look back on it with a sense of pride in my work, and longing to be back there. It really does feel that you're doing world changing things.

Cons

Very un diverse upper management, I'd say the company is pretty diverse in the lower ranks, but once you start to look at the org chart and see who's in charge, you realize that its mainly just white people. Makes you wonder if as a person of color you too will be able to move up. Housing sucks: there was limited housing on campus for full time employees, you have to wait a year plus to get off the queue and once you're off you only really get tiny homes as the option that are in an inconvenient location. Interns don't even have the option to get on campus housing, they give you 3k in a housing stipend and expect you to find a place in Brownsville. I'd say its very hard to maintain a relationship while working here if you don't have an understanding partner, the work schedule is brutal and you really can't slack off.

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