Pros: Engineers have the final say. This company has a great culture of finding and following the truth, taking accountability, and picking things because they are the best. The big picture is very exciting, and you are surrounded by others who are all excited to push the boundaries of rocket technology. You get to work with some of the leading experts in aerospace on projects that have never been done before. Good pay fresh out of college. Employee stock awards provide incentives for individuals to improve the company.

Cons: Management does not care about you. They care about the work getting done at all costs. A team's best individual contributors are the ones promoted to managers. These are usually the people worst suited to managing others. Managers range from enthusiastic but inexperienced, to incompetent. It's not a sustainable workplace. Most people are here for under 2 years. To make it here longer than 5 years, you have to be a little crazy. Long hours, but I assume you already knew that. Your experience here will depend entirely on your manager. Some teams are very relaxed, have good management, and have fun. Often the teams working with the government are this way (Dragon, Starshield, HLS). The teams driven entirely by internal pressure are the worst (Starship mainline, user terminal, etc.) They give performance bonuses in the form of stocks that vest over the next few years, and they WILL try to cheat you out of them. I was fired due to performance reasons when a brand new manager came in, and they let me go 2 weeks before the bonus I had earned a year ago vested. This is not unheard of, and I know of several others who were treated the same way.

Pros: Intense culture where good ideas win and growth is very fast.

Cons: Pressure is high, and pay is lower than tech.

Pros: I've worked at SpaceX for over a decade. It is full of innovative people who love a challenge, and value achieving amazing things. The work is never boring. The goals are inspiring. The people I work with are motivated, hard-working, and friendly. Leadership is focused, flexible, wise, and technically excellent.

Cons: Lately, lots of negative media coverage despite SpaceX being a very safe, diverse, and engaging workplace environment. The media used to love SpaceX, and the company has only become better over time, so I'm guessing this'll unfortunately ebb and flow with the political landscape. Some people may say that work/life balance is difficult, but not in my experience.