SpaceX's flight software team provides career advice for those pursuing software development. They recommend gaining experience through personal programming projects, contributing to open source, learning multiple languages well, tackling challenging projects, practicing communication skills, and constantly learning through code reviews and exploring new technologies. The overall message is to gain experience through practice, pursue interests passionately, and continuously improve skills.

1. S P A C E X S O F T W A R E
C A R E E R A D V I C E
E N G I N E E R T H E F U T U R E

2. – E L O N M U S K
“SpaceX is like Special Forces… we do things that others
think are impossible. We have goals that are absurdly
ambitious, but we’re going to make them happen. We have
the potential here at SpaceX to have an incredible effect on
the future of humanity and life itself.”

3. We asked members of our flight software
team the following question:
What advice would you have for someone
pursuing a career in software development?

4. - R O B E R T R O S E , D I R E C T O R F L I G H T S O F T W A R E
“Write as much code as possible. Nothing teaches
you programming like programming.”

5. - C H R I S T I N A W O L F S K I L L – M A N A G E R , G R O U N D
S O F T W A R E
“Show interest in programming outside of
work/internships/class. Programming on your own time to
create things that interest you demonstrates your curiosity
and interests, and can make your interview stand out.”

6. - J A M E S P H I L L I P S , S E N I O R S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Communication skills are as important as technical
skills. Make sure you develop both. Make
presentations, hone your skills."

7. - C H R I S T I N E B A N E K - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“No one can limit what you attempt - if you think it’s
possible, try! Your time is the only cost, wasting it
your only risk.”

8. - R I C H A R D P E T R A S I I - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Understand how hardware works. Read data sheets for the
chips installed in your PC. Figure out how to make it do
something unique. Ex. Bit bang a signal out of your parallel
port (yes, motherboards still have them).”

9. - C H R I S T I N E B A N E K - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Take what other people have spent time
perfecting, and make it better. Take two things you
love, and combine them. The greatest things aren’t
necessarily the most complicated.”

10. - J O H N P A L M I E R I - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Code reviews are critical to your growth as a
developer.”

11. - K E N N A I S H T A T - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Don’t fall for the Arduino trap - thinking you can understand 5
embedded systems just by following the instruction manual.
Make the same thing 5 times on 5 different platforms to
understand the differences between them.”

12. - R O B E R T R O S E - D I R E C T O R , F L I G H T S O F T W A R E
“Get to know two or three programming languages
exceptionally well. Get books, study them.”

13. - J E S S I C A H E S T E R - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Tackle big projects. There’s plenty of support online if
you get lost. You’ll learn far more from figuring out
what went wrong and fixing it, then from a project you
don’t have to think much about.”

14. - D E R E K B R O N I S H - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Pursue some interests other than software, and
figure out ways to apply coding to those interests.”

15. - K E N N A I S H T A T - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Use Github regularly. Clone projects, look at source code,
read comments. Identify which code you can follow and what
you can’t. Keeping a codebase consistently understandable is
a fundamental principle of software engineering.”

16. - E L L I S R A H H A L - S E N I O R S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Maintain a dynamic tension between stealing as
many good ideas as possible, while stretching
yourself to do what no one else has done.”

17. “Make something you think is awesome. If you like what
you’re working on, you’ll stay invested. Candidates who
stand out are the ones who can talk about (technical)
projects they were really invested in.”
- J E S S I C A H E S T E R - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R

18. - J A M E S P H I L L I P S - S E N I O R S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Get involved in open source projects. Read blogs.
Build stuff.”

19. - K E N N A I S H T A T - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Learn how to write both term papers and editorials. Half of
software engineering is effective communication in writing,
and knowing different styles of writing will help you describe
your work to other people.”

20. - D E R E K B R O N I S H - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Make an app, contribute to open source projects,
build a robot, design a web site. And, of course,
read ‘Gödel, Escher, Bach!’.”

21. - E L L I S R A H H A L - S E N I O R S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Always spend a portion of your time researching new ideas
and technology. If you aren’t uncomfortable and out of your
element, you aren’t doing it right.”

22. - C H R I S T I N E B A N E K - S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

24. Engineer The Future
SpaceX.com/Careers
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