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Most Tesla employees want to work on EVs, and it is a natural inclination for employees to move towards newer, shinier projects and want to switch company at so

by gibolt 7y ago

Most Tesla employees want to work on EVs, and it is a natural inclination for employees to move towards newer, shinier projects and want to switch company at some point. Lucid probably makes that choice super easy, since you'll be working with familiar faces. The early employees are likely the best to create a new electric car company, since they were the foundation of the current industry leader.

atonse 7y ago
I agree – I'm just wondering what the draw is. Maybe Tesla has gone into maintenance mode with refinements to their cars, and these folks are fundamentally builders and want to build something radically different. But when you look at it, they're building another Model S.
- rhacker 7y ago
  From my point of view that means it's either pay or people issues. Personally I don't like starting over on APIs etc.. if you ever switched from a company that has a foundation to one that doesn't you end up with employees that say things like - oh darn we actually had a really good X at company Y. At least they can start over and build with fewer mistakes, but hitting the same tasks again is often annoying.
  - gibolt 7y ago
    I'd guess it is the opposite. Some people like startups because nothing is defined, everything is new. Having the option to build something you liked is better than being forced to use what is already used 'because it exists'.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- ForHackernews 7y ago
  Tesla is renowned for having lousy labor conditions. I'm not sure how much that filters up to upper management, but I could see it being a factor if you want more work/life balance at your job.
- karthikb 7y ago
  Probably more like a natural time to leave - Model 3 is past the initial hell and shipping more regularly, etc. And in this process have learned how to take a vehicle from end to end. So instead of working on a brand new car inside of Tesla, why not do the same thing on their own with a greater ownership stake? Not always the best decision, but usually the kind of thought process one goes though.
  - semi-extrinsic 7y ago
    Could also be that despite being past Model 3 production hell, they are still not profitable ($700M loss in Q1 '19), and they are betting the farm on autonomous somehow turning that into a profit? Color me skeptical, but if I was an engineer at Tesla I'd be looking for an exit as well.
    - jsight 7y ago
      OTOH, FCF has turned positive for at least the trailing 12 months, and they are guiding for it to remain positive for the remainder of the year. For sure, there are many struggles that continue for Tesla, but I'm not sure that a new startup building cars from scratch is a way out of that. It looks like jumping out of the pot and into an inferno to me. But the sorts of people doing this seem to be the ones that might enjoy the challenge involved.
londons_explore 7y ago
Wonder if they could persuade Musk himself to jump ship... After all, they're going to need a visionary...
- notfromhere 7y ago
  why would they go and ruin their company like that
- bdcravens 7y ago
  > they're going to need a visionary Not necessarily. Sometimes you have a well defined problem and your advantage is in better execution.
mdorazio 7y ago
It's also worth noting that 1) Tesla burns out employees at all levels very quickly with shitty working conditions and 2) Tesla's stock is not doing super well anymore, so total expected comp isn't that great in comparison to other options. Ex-Tesla employees have flocked to a variety of EV startups (Faraday Future, Elio, Lucid, Rivian, etc.) with varying levels of success for a while now. It's kind of like an incubator for EV engineers.
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
  It should be noted Faraday Future is borderline defunct at the moment. Great point that Tesla is an EV innovation incubator. High praise.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    Apparently the Wikipedia article on Faraday Future uses the word "struggling" in the very first sentence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Future https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Future

by gibolt 7y ago

atonse 7y ago

I agree – I'm just wondering what the draw is. Maybe Tesla has gone into maintenance mode with refinements to their cars, and these folks are fundamentally builders and want to build something radically different. But when you look at it, they're building another Model S.

rhacker 7y ago
From my point of view that means it's either pay or people issues. Personally I don't like starting over on APIs etc.. if you ever switched from a company that has a foundation to one that doesn't you end up with employees that say things like - oh darn we actually had a really good X at company Y. At least they can start over and build with fewer mistakes, but hitting the same tasks again is often annoying.
- gibolt 7y ago
  I'd guess it is the opposite. Some people like startups because nothing is defined, everything is new. Having the option to build something you liked is better than being forced to use what is already used 'because it exists'.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ForHackernews 7y ago
Tesla is renowned for having lousy labor conditions. I'm not sure how much that filters up to upper management, but I could see it being a factor if you want more work/life balance at your job.
karthikb 7y ago
Probably more like a natural time to leave - Model 3 is past the initial hell and shipping more regularly, etc. And in this process have learned how to take a vehicle from end to end. So instead of working on a brand new car inside of Tesla, why not do the same thing on their own with a greater ownership stake? Not always the best decision, but usually the kind of thought process one goes though.
- semi-extrinsic 7y ago
  Could also be that despite being past Model 3 production hell, they are still not profitable ($700M loss in Q1 '19), and they are betting the farm on autonomous somehow turning that into a profit? Color me skeptical, but if I was an engineer at Tesla I'd be looking for an exit as well.
  - jsight 7y ago
    OTOH, FCF has turned positive for at least the trailing 12 months, and they are guiding for it to remain positive for the remainder of the year. For sure, there are many struggles that continue for Tesla, but I'm not sure that a new startup building cars from scratch is a way out of that. It looks like jumping out of the pot and into an inferno to me. But the sorts of people doing this seem to be the ones that might enjoy the challenge involved.

londons_explore 7y ago

Wonder if they could persuade Musk himself to jump ship... After all, they're going to need a visionary...

notfromhere 7y ago
why would they go and ruin their company like that
bdcravens 7y ago
> they're going to need a visionary Not necessarily. Sometimes you have a well defined problem and your advantage is in better execution.

mdorazio 7y ago

It's also worth noting that 1) Tesla burns out employees at all levels very quickly with shitty working conditions and 2) Tesla's stock is not doing super well anymore, so total expected comp isn't that great in comparison to other options. Ex-Tesla employees have flocked to a variety of EV startups (Faraday Future, Elio, Lucid, Rivian, etc.) with varying levels of success for a while now. It's kind of like an incubator for EV engineers.

toomuchtodo 7y ago
It should be noted Faraday Future is borderline defunct at the moment. Great point that Tesla is an EV innovation incubator. High praise.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Apparently the Wikipedia article on Faraday Future uses the word "struggling" in the very first sentence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Future https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Future