Is anybody here an engineer at SpaceX?

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Adrian A

Well-Known Member
TRF Sponsor
TRF Supporter
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Messages
3,157
Reaction score
2,806
Location
Lakewood, CO
A favor to ask:

I'm seriously considering taking a particular aerospace job at another company in California, and I figured that while I was at it I would apply at SpaceX and see if they were interested. I sent in an application over a week ago, complete with video. Today the status of the application is still "new", as in, "nobody has looked looked at it yet."

I'm getting close to decision time with the other company, so SpaceX may only have a day or two to contact me if there is any interest on their part. I have 16 years of experience with NASA spacecraft development (MER, MRO, Phoenix, MPL, MCO, Orion among others) particularly in power systems and avionics integration, but I also branch out into mechanical design (Mech E Master's degree with emphasis on controls & dynamics), so systems engineering is my natural home. PM me if you'd like to see my resume or a link to my video.

And if you have anything to report about life as an engineer at SpaceX I'd like to hear it. If you don't recommend working there I'd like to hear that, too.

Thanks.
 
I am not, but about a fourth of my university class of 45 is working there or has interned in the past, as such I've heard things. Are you planning to be at LDRS? I'd rather not go into too much detail here, but I can email/pm you if you'd like.
 
Steve Jurvetson flies at most of the LUNAR launches here in NorCal.

I seem to recall him bringing a low power scale model rocket of one of the birds in the SpaceX stable.

Sits on the board at SpaceX and Tesla among others.
 
I interned there, and my roommate, his girlfriend, and a bunch of the USC and Purdue rocket labbers work there currently. Same response as Andrew; if you'll be at LDRS, let's chat about it then.
 
Thanks, Dave. I won't be at LDRS, unfortunately. Andrew has given me a good picture for interns and new hires.

My application status has changed to "in process," so that's good.
 
Good luck! I'd love to jump to SpaceX but moving to SoCal and leaving my current job aren't options (they own me until 2 years after I finish my masters degree!)
 
I was referring to the title (Is anybody here an engineer at SpaceX?)
.
 
You think maybe he found a job by now?

How strange that I haven't been on the forum much but then I'm on today and this pops up...

Not that this should be interesting to anyone, but back in 2012 I ended up getting called back for an interview at SpaceX, but turned it down because I was in the middle of accepting the other job. That job was was good for a few years but then the company pretty much fell apart, so now I'm back in Colorado at Deep Space Systems, having fun working on the camera system for the Orion spacecraft.

Who knows if I made the wrong choice back then. I have heard enough from former SpaceX employees in the meantime that the answer to that question isn't obvious.
 
My son is an engineer at SpaceX. It is an extremely competitive environment. The spring semester he was selected as an intern over 1,800 students applied for 10 positions. He ended up staying through the summer and joined them after he graduated. He works at the Texas facility. They also have employees in Florida. So you don't always have to move to CA to work for them.

Plus Texas has the benefit of much lower housing costs and no state income tax, compared to CA.


Tony
 
Last edited:
I am kind of in the same boat, trying to break into the rocket biz. I will be finishing a BS in mechanical engineering within a year and have a AS in electronics engineering. Currently work as an intern for a spacecraft thermal and structural solutions company, am the data acquisition lead on our schools FSAE team, and on another school team building the worlds largest model rocket. My job now is pretty rad but I would like to break into actual no **** rocket science land. I am not particularly competitive academically but hoping my team experiences and rocketry experience would set me apart from most.

I have heard SpaceX is really difficult on schedule and things like that and people get burned out pretty quick there. Not sure if I can deal, I am older than the usual undergrad.

I was really interested in Firefly and Rocketlab, but Firefly is dead. Rocketlab might have the same environment as SpaceX but haven't heard much first hand experience. Don't want to move to California if I can help it. Pretty much everything I am into is illegal or more heavily regulated than most anywhere else in the states. New Zealand would be super interesting though, despite some of the same problems.

Any advice individual companies, who to contact directly, or anything else that might help?
 
Just wanted to bump this, and also ask about Firefly. I thought they were donezo but have read some stuff that they are trying to re-hire a bunch of people. Did they get another round of funding to start up operations? Would they be worth looking into or too risky?

Thanks!
 
Back
Top