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One question I have that is tangentially related is why salaries and total comp is so bad at SpaceX? I'm a staff engineer at FANG with some highly relevant skil

One question I have that is tangentially related is why salaries and total comp is so bad at SpaceX? I'm a staff engineer at FANG with some highly relevant skills and would love to work at SpaceX, but the comp friends that worked their told me about was a dealbreaker at 2/3 of what I currently make. Asking because SpaceX employees might be reading this and could share some insight here. Is it possible to get comparable comp?

danpalmer 6y ago
You could probably also get 2x what you're making now in finance. Why do people work for FAANG companies when they could make so much more in finance? A mix of culture, technology, perks, and prestige. Why would someone work for SpaceX for 2/3 the salary? Because they're putting rockets in orbit. The other factor is that I don't think SpaceX see software as a differentiator. They have talented software engineers, sure, but a lot will be a very different type of software engineering to the typical FAANG sort, lots more real-time and embedded software. I believe their main piece of non-real-time/embedded software is their inventory/work management application which is all on the Microsoft stack. My gut feeling, could be wrong, is that your average .NET dev makes less than your average dev at a FAANG company. The market may just not need the higher salaries.
CDSlice 6y ago
I would imagine it’s because you are working with rockets and satellites that actually go into space. Personally I’d gladly make the trade off with 2/3 less comp compared to FANG in order to work with Falcon 9, Starlink, and Starship. And considering how many capable engineers SpaceX has I think there are more top tier engineers willing to make that trade off.
biggieshellz 6y ago
Same reason Tesla talks a big game but has skipped their 401(k) match for three straight years. If they can get the people they need for less $$$, they will.
gamblor956 6y ago
Not sure why you're being downvoted, but yes, comp is very low at SpaceX for given level of experience. I know a number of people working in engineering in SpaceX (as in, designing the rockets or modules), and most of them are making between 50k and 90k, despite having PhDs or years of experience in aerospace engineering. To put the salary in perspective, a few of these people took a pay cut when they left JPL to work for SpaceX. They work at SpaceX because they find the work exciting and rewarding, but if you're in it for the money you'll have to work at one of their competitors.

danpalmer 6y ago

You could probably also get 2x what you're making now in finance. Why do people work for FAANG companies when they could make so much more in finance? A mix of culture, technology, perks, and prestige. Why would someone work for SpaceX for 2/3 the salary? Because they're putting rockets in orbit. The other factor is that I don't think SpaceX see software as a differentiator. They have talented software engineers, sure, but a lot will be a very different type of software engineering to the typical FAANG sort, lots more real-time and embedded software. I believe their main piece of non-real-time/embedded software is their inventory/work management application which is all on the Microsoft stack. My gut feeling, could be wrong, is that your average .NET dev makes less than your average dev at a FAANG company. The market may just not need the higher salaries.

CDSlice 6y ago

I would imagine it’s because you are working with rockets and satellites that actually go into space. Personally I’d gladly make the trade off with 2/3 less comp compared to FANG in order to work with Falcon 9, Starlink, and Starship. And considering how many capable engineers SpaceX has I think there are more top tier engineers willing to make that trade off.

biggieshellz 6y ago

Same reason Tesla talks a big game but has skipped their 401(k) match for three straight years. If they can get the people they need for less $$$, they will.

gamblor956 6y ago

Not sure why you're being downvoted, but yes, comp is very low at SpaceX for given level of experience. I know a number of people working in engineering in SpaceX (as in, designing the rockets or modules), and most of them are making between 50k and 90k, despite having PhDs or years of experience in aerospace engineering. To put the salary in perspective, a few of these people took a pay cut when they left JPL to work for SpaceX. They work at SpaceX because they find the work exciting and rewarding, but if you're in it for the money you'll have to work at one of their competitors.