Absolutely Horrendous Experience - Mission Operations Engineer SpaceX Employee Review

1.0
Feb 21, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company as a whole does very interesting work and you get to see some really cool stuff. You will meet some passionate people.

Cons

I have a degree in aerospace engineering and my job title was "Mission Operations Engineer", but the only thing I did while at SpaceX was make powerpoints. When initially offered the job, I was promised the opportunity to operate the Dragon spacecraft, but instead spent all of my time doing menial tasks with no career advancement in sight. The root cause of my negative experience was poor management. This group is not a meritocracy, and leadership is decided by seniority alone. The issues within the group are very apparent to everyone in it. Meetings are constantly held where these issues are discussed but never solved.

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SpaceX Response
10y
Thank you for your feedback—we are always striving to make SpaceX the very best that it can be, and we take all comments into consideration. Operating the Dragon spacecraft is definitely one of the coolest parts of Mission Ops, and as we continue to increase the number of dragon missions, there will be more of those opportunities for our Mission Ops Engineers. We appreciate your contribution to SpaceX and wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Explore other reviews about SpaceX

5.0
Apr 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of fun work to do! Your manager will make or break it for you!

Cons

Burnout culture Depending on department learning is very much a self guided journey

1
4.0
Apr 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You learn so much because the work is so freaking intense, its a lot of fun if you're the type of person who loves to get emerged in hard problems. The hours for me were not too bad but I was the exception, all the other interns I was with dealt with 60-70+ hour weeks, some interns came in at 10am and left at 12am, when I say its intense, I'm not joking. This is however very unique to the Starbase location. I've heard Hawthorne is a lot more chill. I honestly despite how challenging the role was always look back on it with a sense of pride in my work, and longing to be back there. It really does feel that you're doing world changing things.

Cons

Very un diverse upper management, I'd say the company is pretty diverse in the lower ranks, but once you start to look at the org chart and see who's in charge, you realize that its mainly just white people. Makes you wonder if as a person of color you too will be able to move up. Housing sucks: there was limited housing on campus for full time employees, you have to wait a year plus to get off the queue and once you're off you only really get tiny homes as the option that are in an inconvenient location. Interns don't even have the option to get on campus housing, they give you 3k in a housing stipend and expect you to find a place in Brownsville. I'd say its very hard to maintain a relationship while working here if you don't have an understanding partner, the work schedule is brutal and you really can't slack off.

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