SpaceX Recruitment

[sanman]

Here's an interesting article by Dolly Singh, former head of Talent Acquisition at SpaceX

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2014/05/06/can-i-get-a-job-at-spacex-after-graduating-from-a-low-ranked-engineering-program/

As SpaceX enters the new world of reusable spaceflight which has the potential to both radically lower costs as well as increase the frequency of spaceflights, what kinds of staff expansion could this lead to as SpaceX scales up its operations?

[Arb]

From the article:

SpaceX aggressively pursues top collegiate talent; but because the hiring bar (mandate per Elon) is top 1% of the human population – we focus on top ranked engineering programs because their strict acceptance requirements are a good prefilter and remove 90% of the bell curve, thereby automatically bringing us to about top 10% of the college population; making our haystack much smaller and thus easier to find the proverbial needles.

[Astrosurf]

I'm Curious on Spacex's recruitment process as well, I'm an 18 yr. old high school graduate who realty wants to work for Spacex, but no engineering experience, I Know a lot about rocketry though, I plan on getting my High power model rocket license soon,  pretty much have a level 1, I'm going for a level 2. I figure if I can do some badass rocket project that uses high power model rockets, electronics and servos, im bound to get noticed at some point. I know I don't have much engineering experience though, plan on going to a local community college to get grades up then transferring to University of Illinois Champaign Urbana, or Purdue since they are closest to me. I am a us citizen so I don't think it would be that hard to get me hired, and my dad knows a friend who works at Spacex, What's the chance of getting in after a couple years college at a good university and awesome high power model rocket project, and some minor engineering experience ?
I figure I may need to get some expierence in aviation mechanics/ design I really want to work on dragon, or Merlin/raptor engine design/production
 I also know some relatives  in California so I could move out there if needed into LA

[ChrisWilson68]

I'm Curious on Spacex's recruitment process as well, I'm an 18 yr. old high school graduate who realty wants to work for Spacex, but no engineering experience, I Know a lot about rocketry though, I plan on getting my High power model rocket license soon,  pretty much have a level 1, I'm going for a level 2. I figure if I can do some badass rocket project that uses high power model rockets, electronics and servos, im bound to get noticed at some point. I know I don't have much engineering experience though, plan on going to a local community college to get grades up then transferring to University of Illinois Champaign Urbana, or Purdue since they are closest to me. I am a us citizen so I don't think it would be that hard to get me hired, and my dad knows a friend who works at Spacex, What's the chance of getting in after a couple years college at a good university and awesome high power model rocket project, and some minor engineering experience ?
I figure I may need to get some expierence in aviation mechanics/ design I really want to work on dragon, or Merlin/raptor engine design/production
 I also know some relatives  in California so I could move out there if needed into LA

Hi Astrosurf,

If you're really serious about working for SpaceX, the first thing you need to do is recognize how hard it's going to be to get hired there and ask yourself some hard questions.

You talk about going to a community college to get your grades up and then transferring to a four-year school.  That's a smart path in your situation.  But you need to recognize that it means you're already way behind others of your age who are going to top-rated four-year schools.  Being way behind doesn't mean you can't catch up, but it means it's going to be hard and you need to be prepared for that.

The hardest question you need to ask yourself is why you're way behind.  Since you need to go to community college to get your grades up, your high school grades must not have cut it.  Why not?  Be brutally honest with yourself.  Whatever you were doing in high school isn't going to get you to a job in SpaceX.  It put you way behind.  You need to make big changes to succeed in community college and then a four-year college.  What changes do you need to make?

Seek out advice from qualified experts.  Find a guidance councilor at the community college.  If it's not easy to find one, push until you do find one.  The guidance councilor will very likely be thrilled to have someone with a strong desire to succeed and a strong will to do what it takes to make that happen.  Be brutally honest with the councilor and take the advice that person provides, no matter how painful.

You have the desire to succeed.  It will be hard, it will take a long time, but if you really keep at it, you can succeed.

[dante2308]

Sigh, some of my former classmates work at SpaceX now. I think I can make it if they are still growing by the time I finish what I'm doing now. Kind of scary to be honest. I feel like I need to arrange the perfect set of things on my CV and that goes a bit beyond just trying to be in the top 1%.

[GalacticIntruder]

Sigh, some of my former classmates work at SpaceX now. I think I can make it if they are still growing by the time I finish what I'm doing now. Kind of scary to be honest. I feel like I need to arrange the perfect set of things on my CV and that goes a bit beyond just trying to be in the top 1%.

While SpaceX will slow their job growth, and maybe max out at 5000 employees, they will still look for talent. All companies want the best employees they can get, and SpaceX has crazy working hours, so expect high turnover to continue. Remember Elon's motto about SpaceX being the Special Forces of space launch? Always a need for the exceptional. (sanity optional.)

[Astrosurf]

I'm Curious on Spacex's recruitment process as well, I'm an 18 yr. old high school graduate who realty wants to work for Spacex, but no engineering experience, I Know a lot about rocketry though, I plan on getting my High power model rocket license soon,  pretty much have a level 1, I'm going for a level 2. I figure if I can do some badass rocket project that uses high power model rockets, electronics and servos, im bound to get noticed at some point. I know I don't have much engineering experience though, plan on going to a local community college to get grades up then transferring to University of Illinois Champaign Urbana, or Purdue since they are closest to me. I am a us citizen so I don't think it would be that hard to get me hired, and my dad knows a friend who works at Spacex, What's the chance of getting in after a couple years college at a good university and awesome high power model rocket project, and some minor engineering experience ?
I figure I may need to get some expierence in aviation mechanics/ design I really want to work on dragon, or Merlin/raptor engine design/production
 I also know some relatives  in California so I could move out there if needed into LA

Hi Astrosurf,

If you're really serious about working for SpaceX, the first thing you need to do is recognize how hard it's going to be to get hired there and ask yourself some hard questions.

You talk about going to a community college to get your grades up and then transferring to a four-year school.  That's a smart path in your situation.  But you need to recognize that it means you're already way behind others of your age who are going to top-rated four-year schools.  Being way behind doesn't mean you can't catch up, but it means it's going to be hard and you need to be prepared for that.

The hardest question you need to ask yourself is why you're way behind.  Since you need to go to community college to get your grades up, your high school grades must not have cut it.  Why not?  Be brutally honest with yourself.  Whatever you were doing in high school isn't going to get you to a job in SpaceX.  It put you way behind.  You need to make big changes to succeed in community college and then a four-year college.  What changes do you need to make?

Seek out advice from qualified experts.  Find a guidance councilor at the community college.  If it's not easy to find one, push until you do find one.  The guidance councilor will very likely be thrilled to have someone with a strong desire to succeed and a strong will to do what it takes to make that happen.  Be brutally honest with the councilor and take the advice that person provides, no matter how painful.

You have the desire to succeed.  It will be hard, it will take a long time, but if you really keep at it, you can succeed.

Main reason was honestly never did the homework freshman Soph and half of junior year, just wasn't mature enough i guess now i get all my work done and so far may grades currently are all A's and B's  mostly A's! I'm going to community college to get my GPA up, I have the will to work there, I feel that if i can show them the drive I have and  some of my engineering knowledge plus my other knowledge on rocketry, they might let me in If not i could work at NASA for a bit probably and then transfer, I'm guessing NASA  has more attainable standards If it doesn't work out id still love to work on SLS I guess. i just wanna be working there at space x before they land on mars, then be  working there when they do, would make for a crazy story for my  children and grand kids  when I grow up by then so Im guessing by 7-10 years i could be there , definitely not for a starter job though that's for sure.

I think brutal yet honest is a bit harsh but it would definitely be a challenge worth going for



now back to the main topic, I think Spacex should be expanding within growing years, they are definitely going to need more staff to make sure the boosters for falcon heavy land perfectly, that way they arnt switching constantly between boosters 1,2 and the central core, as well as the second stage, all at the same time, once it gets to orbit though things would get easier I think  Having only one crew for that would be a living hell for Spacex
As for production and manufacturing, they definitely will need more engineers  they may have a rough outline for MCT and BFR but they will really need to refine the design allot more, for the snags they hit.