I was contacted by a recruiter regarding a mid-level manufacturing engineering position in their machine shop. I already had a high-paying job which I loved and was not looking for a change. However, I am a huge fan of SpaceX and figured it was worth investigating.

An hour later, during the initial interview, the recruiter/HR person who reached out to me was very arrogant and argumentative. She could have either been having a bad day or probing to see how I would respond. The follow-up interviews with management went well, with nothing out of the ordinary.

When asked my salary expectations, I replied with my current pay and only asked that it be matched. The recruiter told me that the position paid approximately 40% less, but the job would be a good "resume builder" and that SpaceX employees are working for the "betterment of humanity rather than personal gain."

They are very focused on grades, classes, academics, and test scores. The interviewers really didn't try to ascertain whether I would be a good team player or whether I had accomplished anything meaningful in my career. It felt like I was being treated as someone with zero experience.

It seems like they have a high turnover rate with a lot of very young engineers who are willing to crank out crazy hours for a year or two for peanuts. It didn't strike me as a great move for someone with 5-10 years of experience looking for work/life balance.

I'm still a huge fan of the company and their accomplishments!

The recruiter asked for my college GPA, high school GPA, and high school SAT scores.