Since I can't stand any personality cult: A medium post (Or lounge..) on your experience for my own edification ?
They advertised for a need for a Metrology Engineer in order to bring their calibration lab up to ISO 17025 and ANSI-Z540.3 Standard compliance (not accredited per se but compliant).I was sold on a job, Metrology Engineer, went through 5 interviews (toughest in my career), and got the job. Although I did learn to step WAY outside my comfort zone, it was one of the biggest regrets of my life.
Firstly, any quality program, especially one which the primary focus is rocket science, relies heavily on quality data. Know how much data they had regarding their measurement assurance program? ZERO. They took no data except for the National Instrument DAQ cards – and the only reason data was available was because they purchased a system that captured “as-found,” aligned if necessary, then performed “as-left” data. Everything else was treated like “she glows, she goes” meaning it gets a new calibration label with no accompanying data. So why is this important? When a rocket explodes, and they always do (it’s not a matter of “if” but a matter of “when”), EVERYTHING used in the construction of that rocket, recorded in configuration management, is subject to scrutiny… EVERYTHING… right down to the last torque wrench or micrometer to determine if an Out of Tolerance (OOT) condition of the instrument contributed to the explosion. You can’t do root cause analysis without proper data. This was something that Elon felt slowed things down....taking data.
The reason their rockets are cheaper is BECAUSE they take a lot of shortcuts that the ULA’s and NASA’s of this world don’t.
There is a very high attrition rate due to burnout factor because of the incredible long hours you’re expected to put in. It isn’t uncommon to put in over 85 hours per week. And I was expected to answer my phone and email 24/7.
They have forced performance ranking. You are either “Leading the way, consistently strong, or lagging behind.” We were told we WILL put our peeps in the third category. Consequently, anyone put into the 3rd category was fired within 6 months. They call the state of CA and explain they are having a layoff consisting of greater than 10% of their workforce so they don’t get sued (they did the year I worked there) for not notifying the peeps they are getting canned.
They have a thing called the “Iron Maiden” (no shit, it’s real) which is a cable harness system hooked up to multiple Flight Data Computers/Recorders (FRD's). The objective is to test the FDR’s and the cable harness for flight, so the system thinks it flying a rocket. If you’ve never been around FDR’s, they consume a lot of power and produce a lot of heat. Elon was in avionics taking to one of the chief HW engineers and said “sure would be nice to get the size of these FDR’s down to the size and power consumption of an iPad. The engineer kinda laughed and said “not with today’s technology, it’s just not possible yet.” Elon fired him on the spot.
On the positive side, their Christmas parties are legendary, I have video…. and I stayed long enough to get 20% of my stock options which played out to about $135k
Is that enough inside information?