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The main argument for working at a big company, in my eyes, isn't on the list: You need a big company to work on a big product. If you want to work on somethi
by Dove 16y ago
The main argument for working at a big company, in my eyes, isn't on the list:
You need a big company to work on a big product.
If you want to work on something as complex, massive, multidisciplinary, and grand as, for example, the space shuttle, small companies aren't an option. Sure, you might be called upon to learn fortran, and there will be underperformers and politics. But the engineering challenges can be mind-blowing anyway.
I'm reminded of one of the characters in Snow Crash who loved her study so much she would go anywhere to practice it. Sometimes big companies are like that. A dead sexy product can make it all worth it.
- plinkplonk 16y ago"If you want to work on something as complex, massive, multidisciplinary, and grand as, for example, the space shuttle, small companies aren't an option. Sure, you might be called upon to learn fortran, and there will be underperformers and politics. But the engineering challenges can be mind-blowing anyway." Or you could work for a small company like SpaceX and work towards making NASA obsolete. The same engineering challenges without all the bureaucracy.
- wan23 16y agoSpaceX has > 1,100 employees. How small is a small company? (Source: http://www.spacex.com/updates.php http://www.spacex.com/updates.php)
- bitwize 16y agoIt's pretty small for an aerospace company.
- copper 16y agoRemember, though: only about half of NASA's budget is spent on space exploration (I assume that mostly goes on STS/ISS, and that will probably change if/when they retire the shuttle.) They do a lot of other good science too. None of that changes the fact that working with SpaceX is an awesome thing, but I very much doubt it'll make NASA obsolete anytime soon.