Important mission, pros and cons to the job - Software Engineer SpaceX Employee Review

4.0
26 Nov 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Bringing internet access to this planet while inspiring humanity to become a multi-planetary species is an amazing mission to be part of - Great people, being so mission focused attracts top talent that is both smart *and* supportive of their coworkers - Challenging work with a high degree of personal responsibility

Cons

- If your team is on a critical path to launching the next thing you will be pressure cooked until you deliver or become overdone and quit. Everyone will support you, but it's up to you to cope with the pressure - Other teams can be a bit more relaxed. No one will force you to work sixty hours a week, but many people do that anyways so it's easy to feel pressured and burn yourself out - Team culture is highly dependent on your lead. Most are great technically, but few do much to build team culture. Hiring great people with a shared mission makes up for that to a surprising degree, but we could definitely do focus more on career development, inclusion, reducing employee turnover, etc

Explore other reviews about SpaceX

5.0
17 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good place to work and earn money

Cons

Heavy workload and long time work

4.0
6 Apr 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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