

SpaceX Resume - cole-maclean

Hi everyone,
I've made an online resume at http://www.spacexresume.appspot.com in an attempt to get a position at SpaceX. I'm posting it here looking for any comments or advice you guys might have and to use you as a resource to help my chances. It may also help in the off chance the right person sees it and likes it.<p>A couple comments: 1. I've intentionally broken some links to content I don't want posted in this version 
2. Part of me is nervous about posting this to the wild. I've copied SpaceX's base webpage without explicit permission, but my intentions are good and believe it's an innocent use of their source code. If some of you disagree, I'll take it down. 
3. If anyone works/knows anyone that works at SpaceX, feel free to put in a good word for me =)
Thanks everyone, 
-Cole
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runjake
As logn mentioned, the images look like they were done in 1995. I'd go so far
as to say the entire website looks very antiquated.

Also, don't use online slang like "tl;dr". It took me years to figure out what
that actually meant. We're not all on Reddit. In fact, the inclusion of such
slang in a professional document biases me into thinking you'd probably spend
a good portion of your work day on Reddit.

Better alternatives for "tl;dr" are "summary", "synopsis", "overview", etc.

You mention that you know a lot of the site and its contents sucks. You should
have cleaned all this up _before_ posting it to HN, as that would probably be
the short window in time where someone with SpaceX would see it. Don't publish
half-ass work.

~~~
cole-maclean
Okay that's fair, sounds like a better path to go would be to make an entirely
updated website.

Hahaha, you're right, I'll change the slang.

The link content is broken on purpose, and I think the About Me section is
weak, but I don't consider this half-assed. Maybe I posted this prematurely,
but I did want to get a sense of peoples opinions and advice. And I'm glad
people are giving me honest advice. I'm getting the sense that it's simply not
good enough, which I think is better to find out now from you guys other then
a rejection letter from SpaceX.

Really appreciate the comments.

~~~
ameister14
You need to have someone edit your copy. 'Your Motivation Statement' is a huge
jumble. I know you're excited but calmly examine why you want to work for
SpaceX and then, when you're done, get someone good at editing to read it
through for you and rip it apart.

This is a first draft, that's why he said it was half-assed.

Your final version shouldn't have any obvious mistakes at all. You're applying
to work for a SPACESHIP company. Details are incredibly important.

example: "Each section of this website will start with a TL;DR to summarize
the content of that page. Fell free to have a look around!"

TL;FR, Fell, and !. You're writing something that should actually be fairly
formal. Don't use exclamation points. Fell is a typo. There should be no
spelling errors or typos. TL;DR was covered.

Not trying to break you down, just trying to tell you this shit really
matters.

~~~
cole-maclean
You're absolutely right. Don't worrying, you're not breaking me down, it's all
valid and solid advice. Sounds like I got too excited in both my motivation
statement and posting the site. I've diabled the site, but hopefully I can
take all the comments here and post a nearly final version.

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yodakohl
SpaceX has a very clear description how to apply
<http://www.spacex.com/careers.php>. They offer the possibility to inculde a
videolink, thats definitely a chance to stand out. Depending on the position
your applying for you may have to work on very critical szenarios. Try to give
your application the level of perfection a mission critical component would
require. Also consider SpaceX probably recieves hundreds of applications. It
may be better to stricly follow their guidelines in order to keep their
application system efficient.

~~~
cole-maclean
I think that's a valid point. My plan was to upload a conventional CV, but
have the opening line refer to the website. I'll work on the perfection part.
Thanks for the tips.

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sgpl
clickable: <http://www.spacexresume.appspot.com>

Also, your linkedin profile says you are in Canada. I hope for your sake that
you're a US Citizen; otherwise you won't be able to work at SpaceX.

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logn
Your tl;dr on About Me is 20%+ of the text that follows.

Your images are dithered like it's 1995.

This all feels a bit cheesey. I'd just make a general homepage for yourself
with a blog page. Invest in your own domain name. Also, mimic the style of
modern web pages (not SpaceX). Take your News to Me stories and make a fuller
blog post for each one. Omit the dates so it doesn't look like you put this
together in a day. Maybe add some physics/space/engineering posts too.

Further, blatantly copying the SpaceX homepage is a foolish move. One, instead
of calling you for an interview, their legal department might send you a stern
letter. And two, it looks a bit desperate. You should be an all around
brilliant person in high demand for jobs, not someone spending a week thinking
how to weasel your way into an interview for one company.

~~~
blockjack
While I don't think they'd be so heavy handed, I do agree that lifting content
directly from their website and using it as part of your application probably
wont give the best first impression. Also it looks like you're using a
standard web palette in your GIFs which is causing the ugly dithering effect.

~~~
cole-maclean
Okay awesome, thanks for the tips blockjack.

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sfrechtling
That's an interesting idea! The major point I would make is that it isn't
clear why you want to work at SpaceX - the only point that alludes to it is
that you want to work there because "Mastering space is one of the toughest
challenges this generation will work on, and I want to be a part of that
challenge from the beginning by working for one of the first private companies
to tackle it"

Secondly - I'm not quite sure what you want to do at SpaceX; you haven't
really defined your value to the company. If you want some further points
email: seb [at] xtextx [dot] com. I used to work as a recruiter.

~~~
cole-maclean
Awesome. I'll try to better communicate why SpaceX is _the_ company I want to
work for. Specifying where I see myself working and adding value is a great
idea, thanks sfrechtling.

~~~
sfrechtling
Good luck!

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drstewart
Don't you have to be a US citizen/permanent resident?

