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Comment by cryptoz | Hacker News Reader

I can't wait! SpaceX is the most amazing company right now. They're work is the exact opposite of the trivial-to-start social networking apps, the tedium of online advertising.

They want to send people to Mars. And they're launching to the ISS tomorrow, the most expensive object ever built by humanity. They have the world's trust. They have the world's best engineers. And they have some intense ambition and lots of money. So awesome.

I had a phone interview for a software position there just a few days ago (didn't get it) and it was the most thrilling experience I'd had, like, ever. I have to work hard and study more so I can try again in a couple months.

Best of luck SpaceX.

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Please continue trying, your head is definitely in the right place and I'm sure you'll be a great asset when you get to where they need you to be.

I am such a huge Elon Musk fan that there really are no words to convey. When you think of the phrase "anything is possible if you put your mind to it" this guy is the true personification of it. It is also a personal dream of mine to be able to work with him some day.

When I was young I was thinking how much of a shame it was I missed out on the 60s. But then I got to live through seeing Steve Job do what he did (I was born less than 2 months before Apple was incorporated)... and now I'm seeing this guy just tear it up in multiple industries cracking some really difficult and important problems. I'm totally dazed; what a great role model.

"They want to send people to Mars"

I was actually thinking the other day about the people alive today who might be household names in 500 years - if Elon Musk achieves his goals for reaching Mars then his is probably the only name on that list.

I don't think he'll need to get to Mars to be on that list.

Lastingly transforming the economics, reusability, and safety of rocket and vehicle technology in his short lifetime will be enough.

Musk and Spacex are already on track to benefit humanity 500 years from now and beyond.

And that's just one of his companies. Let's not forget PayPal and Tesla, which, while not as important to the future of humanity, both represent successful leaps forward in technology and economics.

The Christopher Columbus for the next millennium.

I would love to work there but they only recruit U.S. citizens and although I was contacted by them last year, it ended up going nowhere when I mentioned this "small" detail.

Can you elaborate on your phone interview?

This potentially has to do with regulations in the US over access to rocket technology. I knew a Canadian who worked at Lockheed ~10 years ago who had to be shuffled off a certain project due to objections from the US State Department.

All rocket technology is considered military technology by the US government (and probably every other government). There really isn't that much difference between a rocket that can put you into LEO and a rocket that can deliver a nuke to your enemies. And, as the North Koreans have proven, it's not the easiest thing in the world to get right.

It's not a small detail, it's because of ITAR -- and it's not taken lightly. Space companies can't even speak to people who aren't US citizens.

I was almost clicking the "Apply" button when I read that line in the bottom of the job description...

Glassdoor has some info on SpaceX interviews: http://www.glassdoor.com/Interview/Space-Exploration-Technol...

And best of luck getting your job there. If I were younger I'd do the same thing. The mission tomorrow is I think the beginning of the privatization of space exploration.

If you don't mind, please write up about your interview experience.

I'd love to work there. Just had a friend interview in fact (didn't quite make it but enjoyed the experience). The only concern is salary and working conditions. I mean I get the impact of the work and it is true that is by far the most important consideration for any engineer. But I have worked for smaller companies before where salary was well below average and there were 70-80-90 hour weeks. It was incredibly demoralizing. It would be nice to hear that isn't how SpaceX is.

This is a question I have about SpaceX. How much of their low development and launch costs depend on having large numbers of people willing to sacrifice compensation to work for such a transformative company?

I don't know anything solid about this, but I would very much like to know.

They claim the savings come from the fact that they're basically using the same engine for everything, i.e. a Falcon 9 has a cluster of the same engine used in the Falcon 1, and the Falcon Heavy will have three clusters of the same engine.

Though I'm sure they don't pay more than it takes to get the talent they want. Why would they?

I would love a sysadmin position there. A lot. I do't have the Windows background that they prefer, though. Maybe later.

Please tell me their spaceship doesn't run on windows.

Nah, the ships themselves run linux. They use Windows for the ERP stuff, like parts tracking, analytics, reporting, etc.

Their own public documentation says VxWorks is used in the spacecraft. I have not seen Linux cited, but would not be surprised.

Elon Musk said they use C++ on Linux a few days ago on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/elonmusk/status/198579161382649857

Right on, dude.

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