SpaceX reviews

Stock options only matter if you can stick around long enough to vest. Aside from Elon, extremely poor management. 'Stuff' rolls down hill, in every group. There is a strange mentality that celebrates being the last person in the office - like whoever leaves last somehow wins... Employees are given very few tools to do job they are tasked to complete. Extremely high turnover before the initial 12 month vesting period - something like 75% of people who get fired get let go prior to vesting. Very little opportunity to advance your skill set; they hire people who are experts in a particular field, and expect them to work 80 hours a week stagnating in that skill set. VP's are almost exclusively hired into the company, not promoted from within. Did I mention extremely high turnover / burnout? Expect to be 'managed' toward your exit. If a superior becomes displeased with you for performance or personal reasons, you will be placed on a 'Performance Improvement Plan' and given a job outside your core competencies, then given 30 days to reach unreachable goals and let go. I was really pumped during the recruiting process, and the first few months in the job were thrilling. But, SpaceX is a grind and it is a really tough place to be successful. There are a lot of great companies out there, nearly all of them take better care of their people. Oh ya, Hawthorne sucks. South Central Los Angeles is a great place to be if you want to get car jacked.

Poor Management - Culture of 'extreme ownership' is weaponized against engineers. Engineering teams are severely understaffed, employee burnout is high, and teams face political arguments/drama with other teams. However, managers blame engineers for all negative outcomes, citing 'extreme ownership'. You are on your own to deal with both technical challenges and managerial challenges. Managers do not help employees solve problems or grow. - Double standard work expectations; many managers work fewer hours than their employees. Expect to work 12-16 hour days to solve problems and have that work go unappreciated by your manager, who instead will blame you for schedule delays despite working at your physical limit. - VP/executive direction is often misguided, forcing employees to work overtime on tasks not worth doing. For example, I was asked to perform technician duties for weeks as an engineer. - Employees have an average 3 year tenure. You hear about a few employees mysteriously leaving the company every month; managers and employees pretend to ignore this, and badmouth/gossip about former employees - Lots of gossip and backstabbing by teammates/coworkers. Certain teammates do no technical work, but instead weaponize gossip. Managers play favorites