I was reached out by a recruiter on LinkedIn two months ago about an opportunity. I replied with my contact info but was ghosted.

A hiring manager reached out two months later on LinkedIn, and I was able to schedule an informative call.

A screening interview was scheduled for the same day with the same recruiter who had ghosted me. However, I was not called at the scheduled time. I called the recruiter after a 15-minute wait, but he didn’t pick up.

I received an email minutes later stating he had called in sick that day and was unable to inform me. The interview was rescheduled for the next day.

Eventually, I received a call, but it was 8 minutes late, with no apology whatsoever.

I was asked to be in a quiet area in an email, but the background noise from the SpaceX office was unbearable. I could hear the echo of my own voice, which indicated he was not using headphones.

Questions asked included:

• Tell me about your citizenship status.
• Would you be able to come to the office to work 5 days a week?
• Why SpaceX? Why are you interested in this role?
• Tell me about yourself.
• Tell me about a project and your role.

The first one was easy. I received an email about scheduling a second interview with the hiring manager and a lead engineer.

For the second interview, the manager called at the scheduled time, but it was 3 minutes late. The whole thing felt rushed and unprofessional. He jumped right into ‘Why SpaceX?’ right after asking ‘How are you?’.

I like to answer questions with detailed answers/stories, but there was no feedback from the other end the whole time. It felt like I was talking to myself, which was weird. He did not seem interested in anything I said (even during our first informative call), which made the situation even more awkward. It was just formal questions after questions.

Questions asked included:

• Why SpaceX? Why are you interested in this role?
• Tell me about a project you are proud of and explain your role.
• Tell me about a thing that you made.
• Two concentric tubes (steel and aluminum) are touching at their ends. An object is placed on top of them. How is the load distributed? If you heat up the tubes by 100 degrees, how would the load profile change?
• Walk me through your thought process on calculating how many square meters of pizza are consumed in America in a year.

After I finished all the questions and asked some of my own, the manager went straight to ‘The recruiter will be in touch for the next step.’ I told him I had another scheduled call with a lead engineer shortly, and, of course, that lead engineer did not call.

I waited 15 minutes and emailed the recruiter, and I have heard nothing since then. I guess the manager told the lead engineer not to call because he thinks I am not a suitable candidate. I think that is fair. I don't think I got the tube question right, but at least inform the candidate that you are not going to call.

I prepared for these two calls for a week and sat there for 15 minutes before deciding to give up, not on the probability of getting the job, but on dealing with unprofessional people. I am not going to judge whose time is more valuable, but that was very unprofessional.

If any SpaceX leadership is reading this, get some professionals to run your organization instead of kids straight from college. They may do well technically, but definitely not professionally. Just imagine, how would I be asked twice ‘Why are you interested in this role?’ when I was reached out by both the recruiter and the hiring manager?

Why SpaceX? Why are you interested in this role?

Tell me about a project you are proud of and explain your contribution.

Tell me about a thing that you made.

Two concentric tubes (steel and aluminum) touching at their ends. An object is placed on top of them. How is the load distributed? If you heat up the tubes by 100 degrees, how would the load profile change?

Walk me through your thought process on calculating how many square meters of pizza are consumed in America in a year.