13 ms·

Love that SpaceX’s own team shoots, announces, and switches the live production in-house rather than hiring a production company. Also love seeing machinists s

Love that SpaceX’s own team shoots, announces, and switches the live production in-house rather than hiring a production company. Also love seeing machinists side by side cheering with software engineers, standing by a mission control which is placed feet from where engines are assembled on the shop floor. Open company culture well-executed. Congratulations to all there!

DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
It’s like that at BlueOrigin too. I visited twice (they gave me a job offer but withdrew it after I got badmouthed by a reference, gah). They have an avionics software engineering room right next to where they assemble the engines.
- electricslpnsld 9y ago
  > they gave me a job offer but withdrew it after I got badmouthed by a reference Why in the world would someone agree to be a reference and then bad mouth afterwards? Some folks...
  - skellera 9y ago
    Jealousy, anger, etc. Sadly, it’s the nature of people. Can’t assume from the context but I know some people who might do that.
  - DisposableMike 9y ago
    Maybe they were put down as a reference without their prior approval?
  - toephu2 9y ago
    maybe he just put him down as a reference and never asked or gave him a heads up in advance? Or rather why would anyone put down a reference that isn't going to put in a good word for them?
  - optimuspaul 9y ago
    You have to be careful with who you use as references these days. But honestly I'm not sure why they are still a thing anymore. Most professionals give stock responses, ie yes/no that the person worked there, and are forbidden by HR to give much useful information.
    - jtmb 9y ago
      Such are the better-safe-than-sorry business policies of a litigious society.
  - repsilat 9y ago
    Some places do "blind" reference checks, where they contact people you've worked with themselves (through Linkedin or similar.) The idea being that the references you provide are likely to be more positive than representative.
    - pertymcpert 9y ago
      That seems open to abuse.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    If you know that the person asking you to be a reference is a bad engineer, and they're applying for someplace that builds critical systems - medical devices, say, or rockets - maybe you want to warn their potential employer that they're hiring a liability.
    - hueving 9y ago
      It's pretty presumptuous to make that assertion unless you knew the person for many years in different work environments. I've seen lots of engineers become 'bad engineers' because of a myriad of environmental issues (bad management, bad peers, bad office, bad engineering decisions foisted upon them). If you didn't see them perform well, don't provide a reference. If they are that bad, nobody in a reputable position will provide them a reference and the hiring company will see that. It's not your responsibility to be an arbiter of some ex-coworker's life.
      - hinkley 9y ago
        Yes but then you don’t get to crush someone’s dreams in an act of petty revenge. /s
      - praneshp 9y ago
        The only time I was a reference for someone, I was asked questions, and I answered them. I wouldn't know if they were spun positively or negatively. Is that how senior engineers provide reference, or is it more free form?
      - pavel_lishin 9y ago
        If someone calls me up and asks about Coworker X, and I refuse to provide a reference, isn't that likely to be viewed the same as a negative reference?
        hueving 9y ago
        You refuse the coworker when the coworker asks if he/she can use you as a reference.
  - shepardrtc 9y ago
    Someone asked me to be a reference, I said no, they still put me as a reference anyway. I was not happy. Didn't badmouth him, but I also didn't say anything good about him. And when asked if I would hire him where I worked, I said no.
    - ryanwaggoner 9y ago
      That's definitely badmouthing someone :)
    - DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
      I asked permission from all of my references beforehand. Two were coworkers and the last was my previous team lead. I knew all of them had positive opinions regarding my work. The problem was BlueOrigin’s reference-questionnaire. One of my references shared it with me afterwards. It’s a stock template - except pretty much all the questions seem contrived to find reasons not to hire someone. One of the questions was along the lines of “On a percentage scale where would you rank [candidate] relative to other people you have worked with?” (Which is s problem if you’re a relatively poor player in a high-performing team). Another was (almost verbatim) “Please provide a reason why we should not hire [candidate]?” (As opposed to “Can you think of a reason?” - I was surprised that the question straight-up assumes there is a reason). BlueOrigin’s cooldown period is 2 years which is long for Seattle, when you consider SpaceX’s is 1 year and Google can be 6 months. My recruiter at BlueOrigin did tell me to re-apply though and gave me his card. I’ll think about it. In the interests of honesty - I will say that I am not a model employee and I do have productivity problems - I’m sure that my references gave honest answers with good intentions and I accept that I’m probably not BlueOrigin-material: I have punctuality problems, I’ll spend half a day procrastinating then working late until 1am to make up for it, and I stilll often go on code refactoring crusades without telling anyone. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t even hire me anyway :)
      - wallace_f 9y ago
        >Sometimes I think I wouldn’t even hire myself :) Don't let other's words shape who you are.
      - 9y ago
  - cookiecaper 9y ago
    Most of the time when someone asks to use me as a reference I never get a call. Last time, my colleague's prospective employer kept me on the phone for about 30 minutes and had an extensive list of questions about his work habits and performance. Depending on what this company wanted, it's entirely possible that something I said during that call would've influenced the company's hiring decision, though I was obviously trying to portray my friend in the best light possible given the context. I don't know if BlueOrigin has a similar process or not, but it's not necessarily that the reference was intentionally giving a negative report; they could've just picked up on something the reference said and felt it didn't mesh with the position. Spoiler: my friend got the job, supposedly in part due to my good reference. Phew! I would've hated to be the one that got blamed for "bad mouthing" him.
mabbo 9y ago
This is why I love the live streams hosted by John Innsprucker. He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real. The other hosts are great, but if you told me they were hired actors or PR people I'd believe it.
- CydeWeys 9y ago
  You're showing your biases here. The other people on the livestream are also rocket scientists. They aren't PR people. They just happen to be younger, or women, or of color. So you might want to re-evaluate what you think a rocket scientist "looks like", because your notion is outdated. Sorry to call you out like this, but these kinds of prejudices about who is the "correct" kind of person for tech jobs are harmful and discouraging to the people who don't fit the stereotypes, and helps contribute to keeping them out of the field.
  - gsich 9y ago
    I think you're wrong there.
    - electricslpnsld 9y ago
      The announcer has a bachelors in aerospace engineering [1], I'm pretty sure that qualifies one as a rocket scientist. [1] http://www.lauren-lyons.com/aboutt-1-2/ http://www.lauren-lyons.com/aboutt-1-2/
      - gsich 9y ago
        Not that. The last sentence from the post. OP just assumes that people don't go into tech because of what other people will think of them. It's a harmful assumption and not true either. People go into tech because it interests them. It's a choice.
  - optimuspaul 9y ago
    totally agree. we shouldn't be judging people based on appearances. Not all rocket scientists or engineers or pole dancers look the same.
aardvark291 9y ago
Totally agree. But where are the women?
- coderdude 9y ago
  So topical and edgy
stcredzero 9y ago
Should have been written: "Love that SpaceX announces, shoots, and leaves live production in-house." Not because it was grammatically incorrect, but because I wanted just one more chance to make an Oxford comma joke. http://a.co/gc5Izsa http://a.co/gc5Izsa
mcv 9y ago
The 4 presenters were also engineers. And by doing it that way, they got to show that some engineers are black women. Let's hope this inspires a generation of black girls to seek a career in space or tech.
gnode 9y ago
It makes sense, as publicity is central to SpaceX's / Musk's mission. SpaceX evolved out of Musk's Mars Oasis concept, with the aim being to inspire and reignite interest in space with a greenhouse on Mars.

DaiPlusPlus 9y ago

It’s like that at BlueOrigin too. I visited twice (they gave me a job offer but withdrew it after I got badmouthed by a reference, gah). They have an avionics software engineering room right next to where they assemble the engines.

electricslpnsld 9y ago
> they gave me a job offer but withdrew it after I got badmouthed by a reference Why in the world would someone agree to be a reference and then bad mouth afterwards? Some folks...
- skellera 9y ago
  Jealousy, anger, etc. Sadly, it’s the nature of people. Can’t assume from the context but I know some people who might do that.
- DisposableMike 9y ago
  Maybe they were put down as a reference without their prior approval?
- toephu2 9y ago
  maybe he just put him down as a reference and never asked or gave him a heads up in advance? Or rather why would anyone put down a reference that isn't going to put in a good word for them?
- optimuspaul 9y ago
  You have to be careful with who you use as references these days. But honestly I'm not sure why they are still a thing anymore. Most professionals give stock responses, ie yes/no that the person worked there, and are forbidden by HR to give much useful information.
  - jtmb 9y ago
    Such are the better-safe-than-sorry business policies of a litigious society.
- repsilat 9y ago
  Some places do "blind" reference checks, where they contact people you've worked with themselves (through Linkedin or similar.) The idea being that the references you provide are likely to be more positive than representative.
  - pertymcpert 9y ago
    That seems open to abuse.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  If you know that the person asking you to be a reference is a bad engineer, and they're applying for someplace that builds critical systems - medical devices, say, or rockets - maybe you want to warn their potential employer that they're hiring a liability.
  - hueving 9y ago
    It's pretty presumptuous to make that assertion unless you knew the person for many years in different work environments. I've seen lots of engineers become 'bad engineers' because of a myriad of environmental issues (bad management, bad peers, bad office, bad engineering decisions foisted upon them). If you didn't see them perform well, don't provide a reference. If they are that bad, nobody in a reputable position will provide them a reference and the hiring company will see that. It's not your responsibility to be an arbiter of some ex-coworker's life.
    - hinkley 9y ago
      Yes but then you don’t get to crush someone’s dreams in an act of petty revenge. /s
    - praneshp 9y ago
      The only time I was a reference for someone, I was asked questions, and I answered them. I wouldn't know if they were spun positively or negatively. Is that how senior engineers provide reference, or is it more free form?
    - pavel_lishin 9y ago
      If someone calls me up and asks about Coworker X, and I refuse to provide a reference, isn't that likely to be viewed the same as a negative reference?
      - hueving 9y ago
        You refuse the coworker when the coworker asks if he/she can use you as a reference.
- shepardrtc 9y ago
  Someone asked me to be a reference, I said no, they still put me as a reference anyway. I was not happy. Didn't badmouth him, but I also didn't say anything good about him. And when asked if I would hire him where I worked, I said no.
  - ryanwaggoner 9y ago
    That's definitely badmouthing someone :)
  - DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
    I asked permission from all of my references beforehand. Two were coworkers and the last was my previous team lead. I knew all of them had positive opinions regarding my work. The problem was BlueOrigin’s reference-questionnaire. One of my references shared it with me afterwards. It’s a stock template - except pretty much all the questions seem contrived to find reasons not to hire someone. One of the questions was along the lines of “On a percentage scale where would you rank [candidate] relative to other people you have worked with?” (Which is s problem if you’re a relatively poor player in a high-performing team). Another was (almost verbatim) “Please provide a reason why we should not hire [candidate]?” (As opposed to “Can you think of a reason?” - I was surprised that the question straight-up assumes there is a reason). BlueOrigin’s cooldown period is 2 years which is long for Seattle, when you consider SpaceX’s is 1 year and Google can be 6 months. My recruiter at BlueOrigin did tell me to re-apply though and gave me his card. I’ll think about it. In the interests of honesty - I will say that I am not a model employee and I do have productivity problems - I’m sure that my references gave honest answers with good intentions and I accept that I’m probably not BlueOrigin-material: I have punctuality problems, I’ll spend half a day procrastinating then working late until 1am to make up for it, and I stilll often go on code refactoring crusades without telling anyone. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t even hire me anyway :)
    - wallace_f 9y ago
      >Sometimes I think I wouldn’t even hire myself :) Don't let other's words shape who you are.
    - 9y ago
- cookiecaper 9y ago
  Most of the time when someone asks to use me as a reference I never get a call. Last time, my colleague's prospective employer kept me on the phone for about 30 minutes and had an extensive list of questions about his work habits and performance. Depending on what this company wanted, it's entirely possible that something I said during that call would've influenced the company's hiring decision, though I was obviously trying to portray my friend in the best light possible given the context. I don't know if BlueOrigin has a similar process or not, but it's not necessarily that the reference was intentionally giving a negative report; they could've just picked up on something the reference said and felt it didn't mesh with the position. Spoiler: my friend got the job, supposedly in part due to my good reference. Phew! I would've hated to be the one that got blamed for "bad mouthing" him.

mabbo 9y ago

This is why I love the live streams hosted by John Innsprucker. He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real. The other hosts are great, but if you told me they were hired actors or PR people I'd believe it.

CydeWeys 9y ago
You're showing your biases here. The other people on the livestream are also rocket scientists. They aren't PR people. They just happen to be younger, or women, or of color. So you might want to re-evaluate what you think a rocket scientist "looks like", because your notion is outdated. Sorry to call you out like this, but these kinds of prejudices about who is the "correct" kind of person for tech jobs are harmful and discouraging to the people who don't fit the stereotypes, and helps contribute to keeping them out of the field.
- gsich 9y ago
  I think you're wrong there.
  - electricslpnsld 9y ago
    The announcer has a bachelors in aerospace engineering [1], I'm pretty sure that qualifies one as a rocket scientist. [1] http://www.lauren-lyons.com/aboutt-1-2/ http://www.lauren-lyons.com/aboutt-1-2/
    - gsich 9y ago
      Not that. The last sentence from the post. OP just assumes that people don't go into tech because of what other people will think of them. It's a harmful assumption and not true either. People go into tech because it interests them. It's a choice.
- optimuspaul 9y ago
  totally agree. we shouldn't be judging people based on appearances. Not all rocket scientists or engineers or pole dancers look the same.

aardvark291 9y ago

Totally agree. But where are the women?

coderdude 9y ago
So topical and edgy

stcredzero 9y ago

Should have been written: "Love that SpaceX announces, shoots, and leaves live production in-house." Not because it was grammatically incorrect, but because I wanted just one more chance to make an Oxford comma joke. http://a.co/gc5Izsa http://a.co/gc5Izsa

mcv 9y ago

The 4 presenters were also engineers. And by doing it that way, they got to show that some engineers are black women. Let's hope this inspires a generation of black girls to seek a career in space or tech.

gnode 9y ago

It makes sense, as publicity is central to SpaceX's / Musk's mission. SpaceX evolved out of Musk's Mars Oasis concept, with the aim being to inspire and reignite interest in space with a greenhouse on Mars.