Rewarding, but not for everyone - Manufacturing Engineer SpaceX Employee Review

3.0
Aug 18, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Company structure is designed to enable people to get things done easily and quickly, and to innovate ridiculously fast. For the most part, those goals are achieved. You get to personally and visibly influence a huge industry, and sometimes more than that. I'm relatively young and so are most of my coworkers, and there's a lot to have in common if you ever find to talk about anything other than work. Underperformers are few and far between so it's not difficult to gain the confidence to rely on others around you and your teammates to get your combined workload done. At the end of the day, almost everyone has something to do with building spaceships; there's not a lot of people on this planet that can truthfully say that.

Cons

Effort required to get things done means the hours vary and can be absolutely brutal, and the reward received for this often marginal. In many ways, there's a lot of effort being made to make getting off the planet easier, at the expense of making it difficult to actually live comfortably outside of work. Everyone being able to make things happen quickly also means things can go sour quickly, often through no fault of your own, but you still are expected to shoulder some or all of the mess. Younger than average workforce means less experience in-house, so your ability to rely on your coworkers to expand your knowledge and to minimize the need for trial and error varies and can be limited. By far the biggest drawback is the main location being in LA area; for some this may be the greatest benefit, but if you're not already here, there are a whole host of better options literally anywhere else in the country.

Explore other reviews about SpaceX

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.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All