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Does anyone else get super depressed by this? I did some great work today. I coded something pretty cool and useful. I built a little deck to explain it. My co
by bfieidhbrjr 6y ago
Does anyone else get super depressed by this?
I did some great work today. I coded something pretty cool and useful. I built a little deck to explain it. My coworkers loved it. My job security went up. I enjoyed it. The journey is the reward.
But these guys are making rockets in tents.
Should I be rethinking life? Because that's how it feels. I love it. I admire them. But it feels unobtainable. I want to make that kind of a dent in the universe. And yes I know it's thousands of people working there.
But still.
- m4rtink 6y agoNot at all, rather I see every step on their journey as making easier for people who like space and rockets to get involved in the future, without having to win the "astronaut lottery".
- gorpomon 6y agoI hear you friend, it is disheartening to see, but also heartening to see.
- tjtrapp 6y agoWe're hiring for Starship and Starlink software teams: https://grnh.se/080f65d02us https://grnh.se/080f65d02us It sounds like you're passionate about your work and that's an important quality. As gorgoiler points out, "Making a difference in the world is what counts." If you'd like to help, consider applying! :)
- damon- 6y agoTJ, I'd like to apply for supply chain. Any expertise there? I don't work overtime and I'm not a fan of Thai food
- walrus01 6y agoIs the starlink software team based in Redmond or Hawthorne?
- mulcahey 6y agoThere are Starlink software positions available at both locations. For example, here is a web development position in Hawthorne: https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/4682610002?gh_jid=4682610002 https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/4682610002?gh_jid=4... And a network position in Redmond: https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/4770694002?gh_jid=4770694002 https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/4770694002?gh_jid=4... Here is the job board for all software positions: https://www.spacex.com/careers/index.html?department=Software%2520Development&type=Full-Time https://www.spacex.com/careers/index.html?department=Softwar...
- pinewurst 6y agoThe application forms are pretty ridiculous with theIr insistence on school/graduation dates (some reqs) and SAT/ACT scores (all). As a very experienced engineer, I can’t accept being judged on (historical) trivia.
- mulcahey 6y agoI would presume it depends on whom you're asking. E.g. Elon's stated multiple times that he believes requirements of degrees on many of Tesla's job postings to be "absurd"[0][1] [0] https://youtu.be/ywPqLCc9zBU?t=2733 https://youtu.be/ywPqLCc9zBU?t=2733 [1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1208841343440568320?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1208841343440568320?s=20
- xiphias2 6y agoHaving a degree or not is different from having a degree with a low or high GPA. Having a low GPA at a University is a worse signal for hard working person than having no University background.
- dmix 6y agoDoes anyone even care what your grades were beyond your first job?
- pinewurst 6y agoMuch less one’s college admission test scores - how do they signal a “hard working person” especially 20 years down the road?
- xiphias2 6y agoWhy would a person with 20 years of experience want to work for a company with no work-life balance? I prefer investing in Tesla/SpaceX instead of working there, and leave working extra hard to young people who have more energy than me.
- client4 6y agoY'all looking for Telco people for the northern tier of the US ground stations? North Dakota is a hard place to get 100Gs wavelengths ;)
- Allower 6y agoSounds cool, but I value my sleep ;-)
- h3rsko 6y agoMy dream is to work for spaceX, but I'm NY. Do you his have remote teams or a NY office?
- jessriedel 6y agoHopefully tjtrapp can give you more details, but I have a friend who joined SpaceX as a software developer and they are fully remote if they want to be for the foreseeable future.
- 0xffff2 6y agoI find it completely baffling that it's your dream to work for SpaceX but you're unwilling to relocate? I'm stuck in the bay area (which I absolutely despise) because of my job, but I get to write flight software for spacecraft so I deal with it.
- cosmotron 6y ago0xffff2, you yourself just said, "I'm stuck in <location> because of <reason>." It can't be that baffling to think that h3rsko is also stuck (e.g. because of a family).
- 0xffff2 6y agoYes, that's because I was using the word "stuck" metaphorically. I choose to be stuck because I actually find the benefits of being stuck to outweigh the costs. If I lost my job it probably wouldn't take me 24 hours to pack my shit and be gone. But as long as I'm here getting to do what I want to do I stay. If you can't figure out how to move to a different state to pursue a dream, it's not much of a dream.
- 0xffff2 6y agoHow's the work/life balance these days? Are 60-80 hour work weeks still the norm?
- gorgoiler 6y agoMaking a difference in the world is what counts. It’s the delta that matters, not the final value. Measure what you do by the change in yourself and others, and how it makes society better.
- yetihehe 6y agoYeah, preferably that delta is positive.
- menybuvico 6y agoWell, won't your pretty cool and useful code make the lives easier for some people, including yourself? The idea is to leave the World a little better place than it was when we got here, and it sounds like you just did something that will help you achieve just that. Personally, things like this motivate me. If those guys can send a giant steel tube into space then goddammit I will be able to finish project XYZ on time, and provide a useful service to a customer, thereby contributing to the greater whole.
- fsloth 6y agoIt sounds like you are not working in a field that is intrinsically motivating to you. Perhaps you should find an employer with a product whose end value you can appreciate? For example I work in CAD. I'm just a software engineer. But the products we make help engineering companies design huge beautiful monsters of steel an concrete. Sure, they are not rockets, but they are things that impact peoples lives. Working on a product, that have users who you appreciate is intrinsically satisfying. At least to me. I feel the code I write is kind of meaningless, but the work my users do is not. Hence I find meaning in their constributions.
- y-c-o-m-b 6y ago> Perhaps you should find an employer with a product whose end value you can appreciate? If only it were that simple. Sometimes the stars align and that happens yes, but for many people - especially those of us with families that can't just up and move somewhere else - it's not reality. Let's say you reside in an area with such a job to begin with. First your resume has to be looked at, so let's assume it makes it through the various automated filters. Then it gets picked up by an actual person who glances at it for maybe 1-2 minutes tops and throws you into the "to be considered" pile. Next your resume is competing against a relatively large pool of other resumes. If it makes it through that, you then have to captivate the recruiting/hiring manager enough to move to the next step. Now you're at the dreaded technical interview where all sorts of shit can go wrong (especially since this is a highly sought position); maybe you're a little too slow at figuring something out, maybe you're not a good "cultural fit", maybe they don't like the way you look or dress, maybe you're a genius but your communication skills are abysmal etc. If you somehow make it through that garbage disposal unit then you have to talk to some manager who gauges your personality and how you handle stress; room for more screwing up. You make it through all that, but wait! You're still competing with 10 other folks that are just as good if not better than you. You get lucky and make it and get an offer letter - but the pay is dreadful and doesn't match the cost of living. Now what?
- fsloth 6y agoSure, family comes first. My intent was to imply that the space of meaningful work is plausibly a lot larger than space vehicles. My intent was not to imply that an employee can always utilize complete deterministic agency in their career path.
- phtrivier 6y agoOut of curiosity and without any condescention implied, are you saying this because the business you're currently working on seems less important / relevant / urgent, to you, than space exploration ? Because, "these guys are making rockets in tents", sure ; but, meanwhile, someone is "fixing up human beeings in an hospital", "teaching kids how to read in a school", "writing poetry in a basement", etc... There probably isn't any objective way to rank pursuits (or at least, no "objective" way that does not end up in a dystopian society and / or Golgafrincham [1].) And it's not like anyone is actually counting score (unless you're Chinese. Someone is counting score on you at the moment. Deities have mercy on you.) Those precautions aside, if such an event is triggering you to pause and reconsider you life choices, than go for it ! Maybe you actually need to branch and try and get to work in space exploration after all. And if you're not clever enough, educated enough, US Citizen-enough, etc... there are opportunities to inspire others, educate others, help others... And in the end, just plain looking at the sky. This thing is darn cute. Enjoy the journey. [1] https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Golgafrinchans https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Golgafrinchans
- chasd00 6y agoevery time i start thinking i'm hot shit i go watch some falcon 9 launches/landings on youtube. It's truly humbling and inspiring at the same time.