Pros
-As an engineer, you get to work on some of the coolest projects in the world -Immediate impact of work is visible -Most people are insanely motivated to do their best, which makes it an exciting and fast paced work environment -Some of the smartest people work at SpaceX -Engineers are given huge responsibilities and power to impact so many aspects of the rocket -Technically, there is nearly unlimited room to learn and improve
Cons
-Long hours at times can be draining, even if they go by quickly, little effort by upper management to find solutions to reduce these hours -Middle management receives mixed directives due to unclear goals/vague messages from director/executive level leadership -Pay is not very competitive -No 401(k) matching -Path for promotion is bleak even for top performers depending on team layout -Company culture is not always supportive of working "normal" hours -Upper management is highly disconnected from "grunt engineering" and consistently demonstrates poor decision making -Schedules/budgets are unreasonable and lead to repeated effort or net more expensive projects -Long term opportunity costs of short term decisions seem to be rarely considered at upper level -Once the "cool factor" wears off, lower level engineering quickly becomes frustrating due to inconsistent directive from upper level management
