Great work, great engineering, terrible managers
Pros
Engineers have the final say. This company has a great culture of finding/following the truth, taking accountability, and picking things because they are the best, The big picture is very exciting, and you are surrounded by others who are all excited to push the boundaries of rocket technology. You get to work with some of the leading experts in aerospace, on projects that have never been done before. Good pay fresh out of college. Employee stock awards provide incentives for individuals to improve the company.
Cons
Management does not care about you. They care about the work getting done at all costs. A team's best individual contributors are the ones promoted to managers. These are usually the people worst suited to managing others. Managers range from enthusiastic but inexperienced, to incompetent. It's not a sustainable workplace. Most people are here for under 2 years. To make it here longer than 5 years, you have to be a little crazy. Long hours (But I assume you already knew that) Your experience here will depend entirely on your manager. Some teams are very relaxed, have good management, and have fun. Often the teams working with the government are this way (Dragon, Starsheild, HLS). The teams driven entirely by internal pressure are the worst (Starship mainline, user terminal, etc.) They give performance bonuses in the form of stocks that vest over the next few years, and they WILL try to cheat you out of them. I was fired due to performance reasons when a brand new manager came in, and they let me go 2 weeks before the bonus I had earned a year ago vested. This is not unheard of, I know of several others who were treated the same way.
