Challenging and exciting work - Test Engineer SpaceX Employee Review

4.0
Mar 17, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

High level of responsibility right of the gate, everyone is a key contributor Challenging interesting work, never a boring day Awesome coworkers, super bright, both engineering and technicians, everyone eager to help each other and contribute The mission

Cons

Long, unpredictable, irregular hours. All combined hard to plan much activity outside of work. Aggressive schedules without a culture of defining how to meet them except by brute force (hours) High burnout/turnover means working with a lot of new less experienced folks often and in relatively high percentage, leading to reduced efficiency, more weight on experienced people to carry load at same pace while newer people get up to speed, more burnout

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5.0
Jun 17, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

good place to work and earn money

Cons

Heavy workload and long time work

5.0
Jun 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* **Unmatched Mission & Impact:** You are literally working on rockets and spacecraft. The cool factor is 10/10. * **Brilliant Coworkers:** You will be surrounded by some of the smartest, most driven engineers in the world. * **Insane Career Growth:** SpaceX on your resume is a golden ticket. You will learn more here in 3 months than in 3 years at a normal company. * **Hands-on Experience:** They actually trust interns with real, critical hardware. No boring coffee-fetching tasks.

Cons

**Cons:** * **Zero Work-Life Balance:** 70-80 hours a week is the norm, not the exception. Say goodbye to your social life and sleep. * **Extreme Burnout:** The "hustle culture" is toxic. You are expected to treat the company as your entire life. * **Mediocre Pay:** The hourly pay is average, especially when you factor in the insane hours and the high cost of living in LA/Hawthorne. * **Chaotic Management:** Decisions can change overnight based on whatever Elon Musk tweets or feels like doing that morning.

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