Quote from: Welsh Dragon on 04/30/2017 10:52 amQuote from: Darren_Hensley on 04/30/2017 06:17 amIMO Nobody wants to be a slave. I've looked into the company for a while. Seems they work you to death for low wages, 6 day work weeks are common even without a looming launch, 7 day work weeks are common near launch window.<snip>Bad pay, Bad hours, and meager benefits add up to a bad work environment, <snip>I'm in academic medical research, sounds exactly like my job. People who are passionate about their jobs don't care about these things. I don't.Yup. I was in high tech. Did startups. Can be tough. SpaceX embraces the Silicon Valley startup culture and work ethic. It's not for everyone. You need to be psyched to make that kind of a life commitment. Fortunately, SpaceX has a mission goal that energizes many young tech types.
Quote from: Darren_Hensley on 04/30/2017 06:17 amIMO Nobody wants to be a slave. I've looked into the company for a while. Seems they work you to death for low wages, 6 day work weeks are common even without a looming launch, 7 day work weeks are common near launch window.<snip>Bad pay, Bad hours, and meager benefits add up to a bad work environment, <snip>I'm in academic medical research, sounds exactly like my job. People who are passionate about their jobs don't care about these things. I don't.
IMO Nobody wants to be a slave. I've looked into the company for a while. Seems they work you to death for low wages, 6 day work weeks are common even without a looming launch, 7 day work weeks are common near launch window.<snip>Bad pay, Bad hours, and meager benefits add up to a bad work environment, <snip>
I went through LA the other week, 7 hour layover, so I made the trek to SpaceX and prayed at the foot of the booster.
This is a pilgrimage that every believer should undertake at least once.
On a serious note, was it worth the ride trip? Did the boosters seem different than you imagined? I plan to drive by next time I drive through LA.
You have to be passionate about your work over and above just about everything else. I've never been that passionate - I do what I do to keep a roof over my head and food on the table, but there are just too many other things I want to do outside of my work life. It's clear that most of the people at SpaceX are really jazzed about their jobs (and justfiably so), which goes a long way towards making up for long hours and low pay, and I'm glad that they enjoy what they do, but even if I were 25 and single again I wouldn't touch that work environment with a barge pole.
It's clear that most of the people at SpaceX are really jazzed about their jobs (and justfiably so), which goes a long way towards making up for long hours and low pay
"Low pay" is relative. In Russian space industry, workers make $500-$700 per month.While food, everyday clothing, phones and other gadgets nowadays cost about the same everywhere in the world.
Quote from: Darren_Hensley on 04/30/2017 06:17 amIMO Nobody wants to be a slave. I've looked into the company for a while. Seems they work you to death for low wages, 6 day work weeks are common even without a looming launch, 7 day work weeks are common near launch window.They have higher than normal expectations for entry level positions, they want higher than normal quantities of experience for skilled labor work, and tech jobs like IT are out sourced 60% of the time.Bad pay, Bad hours, and meager benefits add up to a bad work environment, it would seem only the management positions are worth having. I also heard from a shaky source 40% of the interns are washed out late in the game, who wants to go that far just to be handed a pink slip? For a company that needs bodies, they act like have enough. IMOSpaceX rated quite poorly on Glass Door in the past. But they seem to have lifted their game a bit in recent months.
IMO Nobody wants to be a slave. I've looked into the company for a while. Seems they work you to death for low wages, 6 day work weeks are common even without a looming launch, 7 day work weeks are common near launch window.They have higher than normal expectations for entry level positions, they want higher than normal quantities of experience for skilled labor work, and tech jobs like IT are out sourced 60% of the time.Bad pay, Bad hours, and meager benefits add up to a bad work environment, it would seem only the management positions are worth having. I also heard from a shaky source 40% of the interns are washed out late in the game, who wants to go that far just to be handed a pink slip? For a company that needs bodies, they act like have enough. IMO
— Propulsion development engineer intern in Hawthorne, Calif.“You go to work every morning at a rocket factory. Just think about that for a second”“The culture here is just amazing. The bulk of the Hawthorne office is laid out with an open floor plan, so you’re working in the close vicinity of hundreds of other engineers who are just as passionate as you about the company. Just standing up from your desk, you can look across the entire office floor and see the hustle and bustle of everyone working on different things.“You are working alongside some of the most talented engineers in the world. Find any employee to talk to and it is guaranteed they have swaths of knowledge to share with you of which you knew nothing about before.“Great employee benefits. Subsidized meals (and you never have to eat the same thing twice) and company swag, free coffee and froyo?! This one speaks for itself.
New article on Intern experiences via Glass Door:Sample:Quote— Propulsion development engineer intern in Hawthorne, Calif.“Great employee benefits. Subsidized meals (and you never have to eat the same thing twice) and company swag, free coffee and froyo?! This one speaks for itself.http://insideevs.com/first-hand-accounts-interning-tesla-spacex/Maybe not for everybody, but fantastic professional growth opportunity.
— Propulsion development engineer intern in Hawthorne, Calif.“Great employee benefits. Subsidized meals (and you never have to eat the same thing twice) and company swag, free coffee and froyo?! This one speaks for itself.
We put in the coffee and out comes the code!
Quote from: QuantumG on 06/20/2017 12:30 amWe put in the coffee and out comes the code!Caffeine. They put in caffeine. Coffee is nothing more than the transport. ;-)
Similarly, I haven't worked in the US, but company canteens, usually charging net cost price only, are absolutely standard for firms above a certain size.
All that said I don't see free coffee as a huge benefit.
Quote from: Lar on 06/21/2017 12:05 amAll that said I don't see free coffee as a huge benefit.Why are we concentrating on the 'free coffee' part? That seems to be the least of the perks listed.