SpaceX Reviews

Pros

It's a great team to work with. Everyone works together to achieve common goals. It's a smaller team than other places in SpaceX so there's a strong sense of community. Everyone takes pride in the work they do and it's a very fulfilling place to work.

Pros

It's probably the most demanding job I've ever had, but I can't imaging not working here. Anything else would be dull. All the hard work is worth it. The satisfaction of witnessing every launch is overwhelmingly satisfying!

Items that would go under "Cons" are improving rapidly and I consider them a "Pro". Work-life balance and safety are at the forefront of improvements and upper management is driving rapid change.

Advice to Management

Keep up the fantastic job of steering clear of bureaucracy and keeping SpaceX at the cutting edge of space exploration.

Pros

The best company that I have worked for!

Pros

Working for SpaceX has been a challenging and rewarding experience. Because the company is so committed to what they do, they expect the same approach from their employees. They actually care about their employees. We get benefits, perks (discounts on lots of services), and most importantly, stock in the company. They want everyone to have a sense of pride about what they do. They create an environment conducive to this. Working at the headquarters in Hawthorne has been inspiring. We have company meetings where we gather by the control room and Elon Musk and Gwynne Shotwell, the president discuss our progress and goals and even take questions openly. I even had Gwynne walk through my shop (composites lamination piece parts). It was encouraging to see that the president of the company was female. We need to see more females in leadership positions. Spacex also does local outreach to the community. This is a company I respect and am proud to say I work for especially because of the CEO's position on issues like climate change and environmental awareness in general.

Advice to Management

In depth hands on training can save money in the long run. I noticed a lot of new hires had a hard time keeping up and eventually either left or were let go. I also noticed that parts new hires made would end up having issues and needing rework. This does not seem cost effective. Dedicating at least a month to in depth training would save time and create an environment for steady progress. It would also take the stress off of employees. I recall developing mild hives or a rash from the stress when I first begun (which never happens to me). Eventually, it got better.

Pros

The teamwork
Excitement
Culture
Endless possibilities to broaden experience quickly
Wide berth to create and implement game changing solutions
Work on the leading edge of aerospace technology - 1960's man on the moon type stuff
1 year here is worth 2 years anywhere else in regards to maturity and experience gained
Stock options
Other perks
Not 1 day is like the next in that there is a new challenge daily

Advice to Management

There is always another push right after another push which is stressfull and challenging yet satisfying however, the knobs are always turned up. Eventually, the speakers will blowout. Personnel need better balance between work and life. More consistent schedules with more planned days off during the week. The bottleneck is resource loading. My team is efficient but overworked. I have had the rug pulled out from underneath me a few times as there are too many variables to my schedule. Need to plan schedule dates around personnel rather than personnel around schedule dates.

Pros

great opportunity and great people. Company shows how much they value employees

Advice to Management

spread the wealth, give chances and opportunity to all employees instead of just picking the guys/girls you want to succeed.

Pros

Free coffee, Frozen Yogurt, Helping mankind

Pros

- You get to work at a company that is transforming the space industry, and is admirably oriented towards innovation and benefiting society rather than being cynically oriented towards maintaining market share (like most of our competitors)
- Rockets
- Mars
- Stock
- Good benefits
- Launch celebrations
- Exciting, agile, cutting-edge company culture, with one of the coolest missions of any company. As an engineer, I walk into work in the morning, walk past Elon's desk, walk into a huge, futuristic rocket factory production floor to grab a free mocha from our baristas, and then climb the stairs to the third floor and continue working to make life multiplanetary. The obvious, close connection between daily engineering work and the application (launching rockets) makes it easy to stay motivated.

Advice to Management

Keep it up!
(also, stop being so stingy with small IT purchases...)

Pros

The biggest pro for me - there is nothing like watching a launch that you were a part of. It doesn't get old. It's just as exciting every time. For each launch, you've poured you energy into improving your existing systems and installing new ones to make every mission easier than the last.

The work environment at SpaceX is unlike anywhere else I've worked. You're surrounded by people who are passionate about their jobs and doing what it takes to get to launch. I had gained more responsibility for systems in the first 3 months of my employment here than I had in a year and a half elsewhere. That being said, whenever I need a hand on a project or someone to bounce ideas off of, it is amazing how willing people are to help.

From day one, you're working on systems that directly impact launch. You gain independence incredibly quickly, but know that support is available whenever you need a hand on a project or someone to bounce ideas off of.

Like any job, there are pros and cons, but I love my job.

Advice to Management

Keep focusing on what it takes to get to a sustainable effort, whether that means hiring more people, funding more upgrades, or implementing better project planning.

It becomes pretty apparent when some project milestones are unattainable. Encourage the team to make better long-term decisions by being realistic and/or up front about true completion date expectations. Pushing for those false dates as long as we do can lead to short-sighted decisions that cost more time in the long run.

Pros

-Working with some of the brightest people
-Food is great
-Benefits are great
-Culture fosters innovation and moves at an extremely fast pace
-Management seems genuinely concerned about everyone's well being