Vantaggi
I've always been a top performer at every job prior to SpaceX. The people here are crazy smart and talented I eat it up. It's great to finally work with people that match my brain power and my drive for success. I've always put in more than 40+ hours a week but at my previous engineering job, I was put down and scolded for being 'a young go getter trying to make people look bad'. SpaceX is a meritocracy at its core where "best idea wins". Performance matters, not age. My wife says that I work the same amount of hours at spacex as I did at all of my other jobs. The main subjective difference is that I come home happy. Company is constantly redesigning the rocket. This leaves huge opportunities for growth and really tough problems that need fixing. I became an operations manager after 3 years. The position did not exist. I helped identify a need and filled a position that was needed. Somewhat flat organization in Vehicle Engineering department. It goes President, VP, Director, me (manager). I have regular conversations with the VP and makes me feel like I can really drive change in my department. And I regularly change my group where I feel like it needs to go. Lots of freedom for good ideas.
Svantaggi
Contstantly shifting goals can wear on some people that dont like change. I'm more easy going. work-life balance is tough for me personally. There's always some huge catastrophic issue every month that needs fixing so you have to pick and choose your battles. It's something I actively work on improving and I found a happy medium.