I was contacted by a recruiter for SpaceX. A few days later, I had a phone interview with the group lead. In the interview, we discussed my experience in general and I was able to ask questions about the group, their work and SpaceX. A few days later, I had another phone interview with a design lead. In the interview, I was asked technical questions and was able to ask more questions about the role, the group and SpaceX. These first two steps went well, so I was presented a design project to complete. I was given approximately one week to complete the design and create a presentation describing my results. I found this to be an interesting way to express myself, but be aware that this can be a double-edged sword - scoping is important. I took a general approach to completing the project since the topic was fairly broad assuming that I could dive deeper during the review. After the week passed, I submitted the project and a review was scheduled a couple of days later. In the review, I was able to present my project, but unfortunately the deep dive didn't occur. The interview lasted 30 minutes with questions along the way and ended rather abruptly at the 30 minute mark. Word to the wise, the project is general by design, but do your best to find out more about specific areas of interest and also find out who you are talking with. Since you will be designing something that would take months of work in reality, these bits of information will help you tailor your work to achieve the best impact. At this point, I received feedback that I wasn't a good match for the role but I may hear back in 9 - 12 months.
