Appying for a Job at SpaceX

[bilbo]

I'm gonna reboot this thread here, because I would actually love to work at Spacex!

I'd definitely want to do something in Hawthorne probably.
I would love to deal with Merlin and rocket engines, would love to do something with raptor.
Have not finished college yet though, gonna transfer from my community college to Purdue, hopefully then they might accept me.

I have done High power model rockets, and I would love to be in an engineering team, So working at Spacex would be a blast for me. I honestly don't care about long hours, I just really wanna work for them!

[Llian Rhydderch]

I'm gonna reboot this thread here, because I would actually love to work at Spacex!

I'd definitely want to do something in Hawthorne probably.
I would love to deal with Merlin and rocket engines, would love to do something with raptor.
Have not finished college yet though, gonna transfer from my community college to Purdue, hopefully then they might accept me.

I have done High power model rockets, and I would love to be in an engineering team, So working at Spacex would be a blast for me. I honestly don't care about long hours, I just really wanna work for them!

As a new grad hire, what SpaceX sometimes calls a "fresh out", there is quite a bit of good info I've read in the past year where SpaceX provides you folks in that category with some of the key metrics for what they are looking for.  You should definitely research that, or maybe others will add the links to this thread.

To get you started, some that I recall include:

 1. high GPA, don't recall the number, but I think 'twas above 3.6.  This appears to be used as an initial screening tool to cut the pile of 1000 applicants down to size, even though by itself, it is a somewhat poorly correlated metric with top performers in a SpaceX-type culture.
 2. better schools (I think Purdue is likely on that list, but don't know a lot about the engineering school competitive heirarchy at present).   Some SpaceXers have spoken on the matter.
 3. definitely make sure you are doing so well in your courses that you have substantial time to devote to extra-curricular engineering projects like mechanical/electrical/aerospace team-based activities (CubeSats, or car competitions, flying plane competitions, etc.)  Build a portfolio of your activities and accomplishments, as you'll find it easier to make your applicant video later if you have some folder full of this info, designs, tradeoffs, and finished projects.
 4. software engineering or EE or ME skills can be used on aerospace projects if they are happening at your school.  (but the projects need not be aerospace oriented)
 5. be the team lead, chief designer, etc. on #3 (they seem to like to look at seniors who have done the component and sub-system design work as sophomores and juniors, and show the capability and initiative to be in a more leadership role by senior year)
 6. they will appreciate some project management skills in the folks they look at; but make sure that isn't the main thing you did senior year on the extracurricular project; they'll definitely be looking for your technical chops too.
 7. other out-of-school, self-motivated initiative shown in tech projects in high school (robotics clubs/competition, etc.) are a plus.  But do be sure to continue to do that stuff during your college career, as it seems to be critical to their eval of freshouts.
 8. be a great team player, not just an individual contributor sort of engineer, and be able to demonstrate that in your resume and narrative
 9. demonstrated energy and drive to accomplish things (way beyond merely graduating from a challenging engineering program with good grades)
 10. good communicator, in both writing and in interpersonal interaction.  This is key to making their whole "silicon valley" type company culture work
 11. live and breathe working in a feedback-based culture; e.g., your idea is evaluated, doesn't hold up; accept it, modify, and come back with a couple more good ideas for how to approach a design problem.  But also, be the kind of  team player who provides feedback to others, both when things are going well ("good job on ...") and when not ("I'm not so sure that's going to work.  Do I understand your idea/approach is _____?  Well, I think it might need more of x and less of y.") Etc. etc.  Feedback is KEY to this culture and its success in rapid-turn innovation.
 12. expect a multi-level interview process:  resume/cover letter and video submission, followed by phone interviews, possibly a "homework" assignment to ask you to send something in for review (I have a yound freshout acquaintance who got a job at SpaceX recently.), etc., all before on-site interview process starts.
 13. (there are no doubt more, but those are the ones I believe I've heard Elon/Gwynne and/or their former head of HR (who just did a rather in-depth media interview/piece) talk about in the past year or so) 

I hope other NSFers will add 13, 14, ... to this list for fresh-out engineers.

Best to you, Bilbo!

Cheers,
 Llian

[RanulfC]

>snip<
Cheers,
 Llian

So... You're saying my chances of Elon JUST reading these message forums and recognizing my genius and offering me a job over the phone are somewhere south of "Not Good" then?

Hmmm, I may have to re-think my strategy here....

Randy

[Coastal Ron]

I'm gonna reboot this thread here, because I would actually love to work at Spacex!

I'd definitely want to do something in Hawthorne probably.
I would love to deal with Merlin and rocket engines, would love to do something with raptor.
Have not finished college yet though, gonna transfer from my community college to Purdue, hopefully then they might accept me.

I have done High power model rockets, and I would love to be in an engineering team, So working at Spacex would be a blast for me. I honestly don't care about long hours, I just really wanna work for them!

As a new grad hire, what SpaceX sometimes calls a "fresh out", there is quite a bit of good info I've read in the past year where SpaceX provides you folks in that category with some of the key metrics for what they are looking for.  You should definitely research that, or maybe others will add the links to this thread.

To get you started, some that I recall include...

I hope other NSFers will add 13, 14, ... to this list for fresh-out engineers.

Excellent list Llian.

I'm not really adding, but summarizing what Llian wrote - demonstrate PASSION for whatever it is you do.

[savuporo]

3. definitely make sure you are doing so well in your courses that you have substantial time to devote to extra-curricular engineering projects like mechanical/electrical/aerospace team-based activities (CubeSats, or car competitions, flying plane competitions, etc.)  Build a portfolio of your activities and accomplishments, as you'll find it easier to make your applicant video later if you have some folder full of this info, designs, tradeoffs, and finished projects.
 ..
 5. be the team lead, chief designer, etc. on #3 (they seem to like to look at seniors who have done the component and sub-system design work as sophomores and juniors, and show the capability and initiative to be in a more leadership role by senior year)
 ..
 7. other out-of-school, self-motivated initiative shown in tech projects in high school (robotics clubs/competition, etc.) are a plus.  But do be sure to continue to do that stuff during your college career, as it seems to be critical to their eval of freshouts.

These are the key. Hands on demonstrated skills are more important than anything else.  Show that you have built stuff that works, know what it takes and what the real world difficulties are, and you are halfway there.