Working at SpaceX

I've seen a couple of SpaceX employees on /sci/.

My question is: is any of them involved with Hyperloop?

>>7799747
The hyperloop has gone way beyond sci, you have companies working on actual prototypes now - multi-million dollar investments.

>>7799808
I thought it was in the billions wasn't it?

>>7799259
jumping in to this tread to ask if anyone know if its possible to get tours of the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, or ULA's for that matter.

SpaceX does tours. ULA only does tours if you are a politician they need to bribe.

>>7801214
Don't Space-X do tours to the general public? I know they do tours for family and friends of Space-X employees but could anyone call and arrange one for their group?

>>7800095
I'd love a tour of SpaceX or ULA.

I remember how cool the Johnson Space Center tours were when I was young.

>>7799808
>multi-million dollar investments.
Who the fuck is pulling that much? Source?

Also the /sci/-x team is still going stronk we pulled a 6 figure investor.

>>7799259
The tech/skilled labor environment is in some ways actually nicer than the engineering side. Pay is usually more in line with industry standards when starting out on the tech side, whereas it tends to start low and then build up on the engineering side.

Also, unless you get hired as a manager/supervisor, you'll be hourly which can be great with all the overtime pay. I know some welders who were pulling in almost as much as the weld engineers due to all the OT.

You'll still have to put in some OT, and this really varies by dept, schedule and skill level but its not as bad/good as it was in the past. We have a much bigger/more mature workforce than even two years ago and OT has to be approved at higher levels now. I know some techs who actually complain now that they can't get cleared for all the OT they want, this was never the case a couple years ago.

>>7799747
I know a couple of SpaceX people who went to work for Hyperloop Tech and a couple from Tesla here in Hawthorne who did the same.

>>7800095
>>7801214
>>7801297
Even family/friends tours are becoming harder to get authorized now, we have too many employees and our production space is really cramped.

I don't think we ever did tours for the general public.

>>7799259
>avionics tech with multiple nasa/mil-std certs
They have an avionics program at my CC that I'm thinking of getting into. How do you like your current job and where do you work?

How can you get the NASA/Mil certs? Is it a long process? On the job training or specialized schools?

Also, why did you go that route if you already have a math BS?

>>7799259
>I'm a qualified avionics tech
Do you work on planes?

>>7803547
I did it through the air force. All my certs were paid for or part of the training that is in line with industry that you can get 'certed' for.
Its a gray area of sorts where you get taught the standards but not officially recognised unless you chase them up about it.
I did my degree part time while already working out of interest, not for my career.

My job at the air force was awesome, worked on cool planes and went on some nice trips but the bays was where its at, working down to component level on some high tech LREs. Radios, vmms, electrical, ewis, systems development (inventing stuff).

Now i work at rocketlab as a harness tech designing and implementing cable work on their rockets.

>>7803954
I did, now rockets and to a lesser extent, some sat work

File: SpaceX.png (71KB, 1013x438px) Image search: [Google]

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Has anyone met Elon? When you shook his hand what did he smell like?

I imagine he has a "Musk"ey scent like Old Spice etc

File: 1343931325352.png (193KB, 439x288px) Image search: [Google]

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>>7799259
>Working at SpaceX

Britfag here, the fuckers won't give me a job because of ITAR restrictions

>>7804018
He smells a little bit of wee.

File: Jeff_Bezos.jpg (13KB, 560x315px) Image search: [Google]

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>>7804047
>Weelon Musk

>>7799747
SpaceX as a company has nothing to do with hyperloop; even Elon has nothing to do with it other than having put out the idea.

>>7804315
>what is SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

SpaceX pays like shit. Don't bother if you can work anywhere else.

I work in a Ford R&D lab right now as a test technician. I've been a mechanic for 7 years, which helped me get this job, but before this I had no lab experience at all. I have no degree, and dream of working for either SpaceX or at the LHC. I'm willing to do anything (inb4 suckin dick) to get to either of those places, more so the LHC. It probably sounds like a pipe dream, but I know I can do it.

>>7804498
Why don't you try studying part time while you work? Ford may even help you to gain another qualification (many employers do this).

You will not get anywhere near CERN without a basic science degree or similar

Don't give up

>>7804655

I'm working 40+ hours a week here, while starting up a mechanics class for the high school in the city I live in. Time is tight, I just want to get my schedule straight before I go back to school, which I was attending a year or so ago. The company I work for is a independent engineering contractor that works in house with Ford. They'll help pay for school, or flat out pay for all of it if i attend the Henry Ford Community College down the road a ways. I won't rest till I've tried my all, and then some.

>>7804498
save some dough and quit/take a sabbatical to get a mechanical engineering degree.

i worked as a generator technician for 6 years before i did it. never looked back m8. follow your dreams.

don't try to work full time and do engineering school though.

>>7804804


Why not?

>>7804832
are you doing the degree just to grind out some piece of paper or do you actually want to immerse yourself in the material and learn something.

hard to go to office hours and just rap with your professor about a topic when you are working 20 hours a week.

my first attempt at college was a spectacular failure because i was young and just wanted to work with my hands and make money.

i appreciate it more now and just want to read books and play around in the machine shop. college is fucking rad. enjoy it.

>>7804846

I live out of state from my folks (read:folk) and have no monetary support from anyone other than myself. Guess I should start looking for a sugar momma.

>>7803978
Thanks for the info. I would join the AF for a chance to work on some cool planes but I'm disqualified for a variety of medical reasons. I'm going to CC now and plan on taking some avionics and machinist classes. Do you think this is a good start?

How is working at Rocketlab? Why do you want to move to SpaceX?

>>7804374
People always say this but the SpaceX anon above >>7803273 seems to imply its ok. Any more info on this?

If pay sucks so much at SpaceX, how do they keep attracting what seems like pretty good people?

>>7805133
>If pay sucks so much at SpaceX, how do they keep attracting what seems like pretty good people?
romance

>>7805142
I guess Elon is a qt. Probably smells great too.

>>7805142
Do engineers really fall for romance in the face of poor compensation? There must be more to it.

>>7805870
Yes because rockets.

>>7805870
Yes, they're all autistic. It just so happens that their college degree happened to also be socially acceptable so no one questioned it until now.

>>7805870
>poor compensation
Really, most people just care about living comfortably. Money isn't as a big of a motivator as posters here seem to think it is once you get into the real world.

Outside of that, go find a copy of Heinlein's short "Requiem" and you'll see the kind of shit that got people to fall in love with the idea of working in a space program.

>>7806986
>living comfortably
>working 80 hours a week

They're getting abused and manipulated by Musk because they're too naive to understand that he's just using them. This is not to the engineers' benefit.

>>7807026
>I've never done something I loved

>>7807026
tbf doesn't everyone in america work hours like that? Yuropoor here but that's what i've heard.

>>7807063
Many would love to get that many hours.
Most work around 40.
Salary positions (varies wildly) often put in 50 a week.

>>7807063
>that's what i've heard from going on websites full of mentally ill teenagers like 4chan and reddit

Standard here is 40 hours a week. Many (highly-paid) professionals do more, especially doctors, but SpaceX is completely out of bounds, and is at the same level as videogame companies.

>>7807070
>>7807073
Ok thanks.
> and is at the same level as videogame companies.
I've probably been reading too much hackernews then.

>>7807026
>they're too naive to understand that he's just using them
This might be true for a small group of the engineers here, especially when starting out, but in general I think people have a pretty good grasp of reality. We all know Elon's motivations and the costs/benefits of working here, no one is being used or misled. If they are, they deserve it for being so out of touch with reality.

This might come as a surprise to many posters here, but its actually not that difficult to navigate the job market and ensure your employer doesn't take advantage of you. While SpaceX expects a lot of hours from its engineers, plenty of people are able to use SpaceX to their own benefit as well, its not a one way relationship.

>>7807073
Plenty of people here go home after 50-55 hours. Yeah its true that not many "only" work 40, but its also an exaggeration to say everyone is putting in 70 hour weeks over extended periods of time.

Also, as I said earlier, I know many people in the tech/skilled labor group that complain they can't get authorized to work all the OT they want. I understand that's not a perfect comparison since they get better pay for OT, but it still stands that even here there are people that would like to work more than they're allowed.