I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at SpaceX (Los Angeles, CA) in Jul 2019
Interview
I was contacted by a recruiter who told me to apply to one of two specific positions online. I had two phone interviews the following week and they flew me to LA for an in-person interview the week after. The in-person interview begins with a 20 min presentation about your 1st or 2nd most technically challenging project to a number of team leads. They will grill you about this project and various aspects of it for about 30 minutes. They will then discuss if you should proceed to the next phase. If it is a yes you will then meet with each of them for 30 minute 1-on-1 interviews and answer their questions. At any point in this process, they may decide you are not suited and the recruiter will escort you out.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
-How would you modify your design to be mass-produced?
-Can you explain the inefficiencies of the design and what you would change to alleviate them?
-Given a longer timeline, what would you have changed about your design process?
-Was there ever a time you experienced conflict with your team and how did you resolve it?
-What project have you worked on that you were most dedicated to? What contributed to that dedication?
-How would you test a check valve to ensure it releases liquid at 1000psi with a 5psi margin? -What series of operations would you perform to troubleshoot it if it releases early or late?
-How would you reliably apply 1000psi?
-What is the natural frequency of a mass-spring system?
-How does a pressurized cylinder fail? Where and under what conditions?
-Rank the following materials in order of density: titanium, aluminum, steel, carbon fiber
-Rank the above materials in order of yield modulus
-Rank the above materials in order of strength to weight ratio
Multiple rounds of interviews ending with an all day onsite interview. Asked questions about background, classic textbook problems, and coworker interactions. Very technical and difficult. Lots of time spent trying to understand your thought process
Rigorous but fairly reasonable in my experience. The technical problems often has a twist but if you have strong fundamentals you should be able to perform well. The recruiter and interviewers I interacted with are all very nice people.
4 rounds, 1 with technical recruiter, 1 with engineer, 1 with manager, and onsite. first 3 are over the phone. onsite was the challenge, consists of presentation, one-on-ones, and tour.
