5 ms·

exactly, who the hell would want to work for the US government when they can work for spacex? i worked as a contractor to multiple DOD projects in the past, it

exactly, who the hell would want to work for the US government when they can work for spacex? i worked as a contractor to multiple DOD projects in the past, it was incredibly bureaucratic and the quality of engineers that were involved was very low compared to the private sector. I get that space and defense are apples to oranges, but there is no reason to think it is significantly different.

GuB-42 5y ago
> who the hell would want to work for the US government when they can work for spacex? Can a SpaceX employee comment here? Work at SpaceX looks stressful. Elon Musk looks like a workaholic asshole expecting all their employees to do the same, but without getting rich. Maybe government work is boring by comparison, but you get a personal life.
- jvanderbot 5y ago
  My good friend worked on the landing faring (those strut things that flare out when it gets near the ground) for the Falcon 9. He said it almost killed him. Now he builds decouplers and other mechanisms for planetary rovers and enjoys it just fine. One of the members of my group just left for SpaceX last year, because he just wanted to work somewhere else for a change. He was one of the better FSW engineers we had seen, and I'm sure he's helping SpaceX do great things! Another friend of mine went off to Amazon to oversee their warehouse automation. And we just hired a bunch of really stellar folks from NG who were fed up with their workplace. They seem to love it here. It's an industry. Changeover is pretty normal.
- reducesuffering 5y ago
  https://www.teamblind.com/company/SpaceX/ https://www.teamblind.com/company/SpaceX/ They have an atrocious Work-Life Balance rating and reputation. Like bottom 2%. Expect their mission to become your life’s mission; 50-60 hour weeks.
  - misiti3780 5y ago
    50-60 hours a week doesnt seem super crazy to me, if you dont have kids
jvanderbot 5y ago
I think you read the opposite of my intended message. I work with the best, and we take from, found, and give to all the best companies as well. It's a point of pride that we compete with them ( as a workplace) with much less pay. Fostering a highly technical workforce for the nation and helping commercial space is part of our mission.
- FrenchDevRemote 5y ago
  How do you know you work with the best? Wishful thinking? Why would any smart person want to work long term at a low paying job for a tyrannical government with extremely frustrating bureaucratic processes? The best leave often apparently, how many of the best engineers actually stay for years?
  - jvanderbot 5y ago
    Ha there's so many assumptions (driven by bad experience -- I'm sorry about that). But I don't know where to begin. One indication that I work with the best is where they go when their work here is done. In some cases, the finest work e.g. SpaceX has done is done with our alumni in leadership and contributor positions. Another indication is top tier publications. Or the fact that our tech does what has never been done before by definition. Another indicator is how many people are willing to work for a pay cut to be here and work on what we do. Speaking of coming from SpaceX and every major aerospace company. Another indication comes from the partnerships we have where we collaborate as equals with any of those mythical "better" places. It may not fit your world view or experience, but it is possible for good people with top notch skills to choose a career that does not focus solely on pay. We just work in an unprofitable domain. We don't work with incompetent people.
    - moochmooch 5y ago
      JPL is such an outlier it's not even worth talking about in this discussion

GuB-42 5y ago

> who the hell would want to work for the US government when they can work for spacex? Can a SpaceX employee comment here? Work at SpaceX looks stressful. Elon Musk looks like a workaholic asshole expecting all their employees to do the same, but without getting rich. Maybe government work is boring by comparison, but you get a personal life.

jvanderbot 5y ago
My good friend worked on the landing faring (those strut things that flare out when it gets near the ground) for the Falcon 9. He said it almost killed him. Now he builds decouplers and other mechanisms for planetary rovers and enjoys it just fine. One of the members of my group just left for SpaceX last year, because he just wanted to work somewhere else for a change. He was one of the better FSW engineers we had seen, and I'm sure he's helping SpaceX do great things! Another friend of mine went off to Amazon to oversee their warehouse automation. And we just hired a bunch of really stellar folks from NG who were fed up with their workplace. They seem to love it here. It's an industry. Changeover is pretty normal.
reducesuffering 5y ago
https://www.teamblind.com/company/SpaceX/ https://www.teamblind.com/company/SpaceX/ They have an atrocious Work-Life Balance rating and reputation. Like bottom 2%. Expect their mission to become your life’s mission; 50-60 hour weeks.
- misiti3780 5y ago
  50-60 hours a week doesnt seem super crazy to me, if you dont have kids

jvanderbot 5y ago

I think you read the opposite of my intended message. I work with the best, and we take from, found, and give to all the best companies as well. It's a point of pride that we compete with them ( as a workplace) with much less pay. Fostering a highly technical workforce for the nation and helping commercial space is part of our mission.

FrenchDevRemote 5y ago
How do you know you work with the best? Wishful thinking? Why would any smart person want to work long term at a low paying job for a tyrannical government with extremely frustrating bureaucratic processes? The best leave often apparently, how many of the best engineers actually stay for years?
- jvanderbot 5y ago
  Ha there's so many assumptions (driven by bad experience -- I'm sorry about that). But I don't know where to begin. One indication that I work with the best is where they go when their work here is done. In some cases, the finest work e.g. SpaceX has done is done with our alumni in leadership and contributor positions. Another indication is top tier publications. Or the fact that our tech does what has never been done before by definition. Another indicator is how many people are willing to work for a pay cut to be here and work on what we do. Speaking of coming from SpaceX and every major aerospace company. Another indication comes from the partnerships we have where we collaborate as equals with any of those mythical "better" places. It may not fit your world view or experience, but it is possible for good people with top notch skills to choose a career that does not focus solely on pay. We just work in an unprofitable domain. We don't work with incompetent people.
  - moochmooch 5y ago
    JPL is such an outlier it's not even worth talking about in this discussion