Exciting but expectations are high - Anonymous employee SpaceX Employee Review

4.0
Oct 4, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Being a part of history is crazy exciting. Relatively flat management style. Great opportunity to learn and gain lots of experience in a short time. Lots of perks : - good benefits - stock awards - on-site restaurants with quality/cheap food - coffee/fro-yo stands (FREE!) - great maternity benefits - pumping rooms for new moms - EPIC holiday parties They make it easy to spend all you time in the office...

Cons

...because they WANT you to spend all your time in the office. Expectations are sky-high. 50 hours is expected of salaried employees but many put in waaaay more than that. Work-life balance is not good here. It's possible to find a balance if you make it a priority you just have to accept the guilt knowing you aren't working as much as everyone else and that you probably won't move up or be noticed much. I have a lot of friends in Engineering but I never recommend SpaceX to them because I want them to enjoy their young families. I've only ever recommended it to young singles (and even they get burnt out).

Explore other reviews about SpaceX

4.0
Apr 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You learn so much because the work is so freaking intense, its a lot of fun if you're the type of person who loves to get emerged in hard problems. The hours for me were not too bad but I was the exception, all the other interns I was with dealt with 60-70+ hour weeks, some interns came in at 10am and left at 12am, when I say its intense, I'm not joking. This is however very unique to the Starbase location. I've heard Hawthorne is a lot more chill. I honestly despite how challenging the role was always look back on it with a sense of pride in my work, and longing to be back there. It really does feel that you're doing world changing things.

Cons

Very un diverse upper management, I'd say the company is pretty diverse in the lower ranks, but once you start to look at the org chart and see who's in charge, you realize that its mainly just white people. Makes you wonder if as a person of color you too will be able to move up. Housing sucks: there was limited housing on campus for full time employees, you have to wait a year plus to get off the queue and once you're off you only really get tiny homes as the option that are in an inconvenient location. Interns don't even have the option to get on campus housing, they give you 3k in a housing stipend and expect you to find a place in Brownsville. I'd say its very hard to maintain a relationship while working here if you don't have an understanding partner, the work schedule is brutal and you really can't slack off.

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