It's been almost 8 years since I was there. Working on flight software was probably fairly unique compared to other parts of the company. We were critical path for the company more often than not, so there was a lot of visibility and support, and a lot of praise when we hit milestones. Other engineering disciplines often worked harder than us, but didn't get the same praise due to less visibility. Folk at SpaceX are allowed and encouraged to work unsustainably hard, though, and so there's lots of depression leading to burn-out. My manager cared about my well being and it was possible for me to strike a sustainable balance; I had to consciously prioritize it though. I liked most of my coworkers and I'm pretty laid back socially, but a few drove me crazy. We'd play lan games on occasion. The froyo and eventual coffee bar and cafeteria were nice, and most of the company parties at the time were over-the-top. The first 20 seconds of a rocket/spaceship launch that succeeds or fails as a direct result of your work is a notable high.
I wouldn't say I know Elon Musk, but I attended meetings with him on occasion, and happened to sit next to him once at a fancy team dinner. I never directly had a negative experience with him, and in all the outrageous stories that I heard both sides to, he seemed to be acting rationally. He's definitely an intense, awkward dude. If there's a problem he thinks he can solve, he solves it; if you say a problem can't be solved and you don't have hard physical evidence, he'll fire you. As long as you act in good faith, he seems willing to move mountains for you if it will help reach the company goal. He has flaws like any human/martian hybrid, so I imagine some of his detractors are right about some things and some of his proponents are wrong about some things. I certainly wouldn't bet against him though.
hey so it seems like someone mistakenly flagged my comment, so im going to just go ahead and paste it here so this fascinating response can have some context for people who come across it later...
"what was the work environment like? do you have an opinion on elon musk? whos more right, his detractors or his proponents? i coulnt help but notice that you suffer with an inflammatory disorder -- just wanted to mention that eliminating carbohydrates is one of the most effective methods of reducing inflation that ive come across. dont write it off until you check out the success stories on meatrx."
Yep, inflamed cells love glucose. That's the whole reason PET scans work. I ate low carb for a while (while I was at SpaceX actually,) and the health benefits were obvious and plentiful. It's difficult to maintain that lifestyle when you have a family though.
Oddly, one of my social circles while I lived in LA was "Herbalife health coaches" since they put on high intensity beach workouts. It was an interesting bunch, and a change of pace from the aerospace crowd. The person that had dibs on me entering the organization got progressively more irritated when I didn't sign up or buy anything beyond a smoothy after each workout...
