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Elon Musk is a nice chap
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HuronKing:
So just after the peak of the pandemic, I was contacted by Tesla as a candidate for a mid-level field engineering role. I went through 4 levels of interviews (including an aptitude test and a presentation) that culminated in a phone call with the VP of engineering.

The recruiter was excited to draft up an offer for me - promised to be forthcoming within a few days.

Almost 2 weeks later, they still hadn't contacted me back with an offer. At the same time I also interviewed for a role as a government EE which they did decide to extend me an offer (I took it and then quit 3 months later but that's another story).

Anyways, I decided to give Tesla a call and find out what happened. The recruiter told me they were still waiting to formalize the offer and to give them a few more days to get an offer together.

I then called back a few days later. At this point my interest in working for them had evaporated but I wanted to see what such an offer would look like. They STILL couldn't extend me a formal offer - even though the recruiter desperately wanted to and begged me to give them more time.

I eventually got him to tell me what the hold up was.

Elon Musk has to personally review the dossier of every... single... engineer they hire.

So, the CEO of several multi-billion dollar companies, who has never met me, has to rubber stamp a specially prepared dossier on the candidate after that candidate has already been vetted by recruiters, staff engineers, managers, and even the VP of engineering before the company can hire a mid-level field engineer.

On top of that, the compensation was less competitive than the government job and the relocation package was an absolute joke (not even enough money to rent a moving van, let alone make a deposit on an apartment near Fremont, California).

And where I'm at now, the place is getting flooded with ex-Tesla engineers fleeing a chaotic and capricious work environment.
Bud:
I would feel insulted if a company that contacted me on its own would put me through 4 levels of interviews.
Ed.Kloonk:

--- Quote from: Bud on February 13, 2023, 07:19:16 am ---I would feel insulted if a company that contacted me on its own would put me through 4 levels of interviews.

--- End quote ---

Yeah. WTF?
TomKatt:

--- Quote from: HuronKing on February 13, 2023, 07:11:16 am ---Elon Musk has to personally review the dossier of every... single... engineer they hire.

--- End quote ---
Perhaps you missed a Tweet ?

Seeing how Musk fires staff by public Tweets, perhaps he hires them that way as well  ::)

Also, I get the sense that Musk feels it's a privilege for you to be employed by his company.
HuronKing:

--- Quote from: TomKatt on February 13, 2023, 11:24:33 am ---
--- Quote from: HuronKing on February 13, 2023, 07:11:16 am ---Elon Musk has to personally review the dossier of every... single... engineer they hire.

--- End quote ---
Perhaps you missed a Tweet ?

Seeing how Musk fires staff by public Tweets, perhaps he hires them that way as well  ::)

Also, I get the sense that Musk feels it's a privilege for you to be employed by his company.

--- End quote ---

Hah! This was before his acquisition of Twitter but it was during the time he was price-manipulating Dogecoin and gearing up for his appearance on SNL. So, I'm sure he was much too busy to deal with doldrum stuff like hiring engineers.

And yes, Musk absolutely feels that way about his companies. The recruiter straight up told me that Tesla has no work-life balance because "our life is working for Elon to change the world."

To be clear - I do think Tesla Motors did a lot to make EVs 'cool' in the United States because I remember when even the concept of an EV in the USA was a joke (like this Simpsons bit):


What's irritating to me about MuskFanBois is them thinking that Musk invented systems engineering:


Nothing Musk says here is wrong... but this is like... basic systems engineering you can find in any introductory text - like the INCOSE handbook (which itself combines lessons developed by Lockheed and NASA):
https://www.incose.org/products-and-publications/se-handbook

Based on what I've read and my own experiences, the success of SpaceX and Tesla is more a case of it happening with careful handlers of Musk's ego and a team of very, very dedicated people working behind the scenes to achieve success in spite of his whims and promises (how many times has the Cybertruck been delayed, exactly?)

Meanwhile, Musk's acquisition of Twitter is what he's really like when no one is involved to keep his ego in check. Worse, it shows what happens when one TechBro with an Ego comes crashing into another TechBro with an Ego:


This top comment is pretty funny,

--- Quote ---Someone should take him at his word and actually start from scratch:
Musk: "Yesterday, I could use Twitter. Today it just says Apache Default Page and Hello World. What's going on?"
Dev: "We're starting from scratch, just as you asked.
--- End quote ---
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