2014 SpaceX Internship Program

[Kevin Watson]

Hello all, I just wanted to make sure everyone knows about the amazing 2014 SpaceX internship program just for FRC & FTC students:

http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/internships

Applications are due Monday May 5th 2014 at noon PDT. I and others from SpaceX will be at the FIRST Championship this week, so if you have any questions drop by the SpaceX booth, or grab me if you see me around. If you're not attending the Championship event, then leave your question(s) here and I'll try to answer them.

Here's a link to the discussion on Chief Delphi from last year:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115918

-Kevin

[RoboMom]

I also see there are internship interview slots scheduled for Thurs. & Fri. on-site.

[Kevin Watson]

I also see there are internship interview slots scheduled for Thurs. & Fri. on-site. We did a handful of interviews last year, but will only be doing phone interviews this year after all applications are in. -Kevin

[ryaneogilvie]

This is incredible opportunity for an internship and I will definitely be applying. SpaceX has many amazing projects and it'd be a dream to work on any of them. It'll also be great to talk to some SpaceX employees this week at championships. Thanks for reminding us of this opportunity.

[Tim Lehmann4967]

I would LOVE to apply for this, but sadly I am a Sophomore. Hopefully it will still be around in two years!

[Kevin Watson]

SpaceX has many amazing projects...

Ryan,

Three examples of cool things we've done in the past week:

1: We launched another mission to re-supply the International Space Station, and berthed with ISS at 6:09AM PDT Sunday morning. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnf0GArEDsI

2: For the first time in history, the first stage autonomously flew itself back to Earth. For safety reasons, we did this in the middle of the ocean, but we have telemetry that shows that it landed gently in the ocean and stayed vertical for eight seconds before it went horizontal. We're doing stuff that was formally science fiction. Info here: http://www.spacex.com/news/2013/03/31/reusability-key-making-human-life-multi-planetary

3. Our last grasshopper flight demonstrated that the new F9R (for reusable) landing legs work very well. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjWqQPWmsY

Yes, we have some amazing projects :-)

-Kevin

[DampRobot]

Where and how should we submit letters of recommendation?

[weberr]

Is this for seniors in high school or senior citizens? I just turned 47 so in a few years I would qualify for a senior citizen.

No joking aside. I grew up watching the Apollo launches; I can even remember the Apollo 13 accident. The whole NASA thing was ingrained in my blood as my father and I would connect when it came to space. This is a wonderful opportunity and I thank Space-X for giving our youth this chance.

By the way, do you think Space-X would want a 47 year old intern janitor?

[Kevin Watson]

Where and how should we submit letters of recommendation? Send the letter(s) in Word or PDF format to the e-mail address provided. If you have a letter on paper, there are many ways to scan and convert to PDF. I use TurboScan on my phone. If the people who are writing the letter(s) want to send it to us directly, please have 'em send it to the same e-mail address, but make sure the students name is in the subject line.

-Kevin

[Kevin Watson]

I would LOVE to apply for this, but sadly I am a Sophomore. Hopefully it will still be around in two years!Well, I would certainly assume it will be. You have the luxury of having additional time to get the grades up <grin>.

-Kevin

Psst, let me give you a little hint just between you and me. Okay? In the second section of the application where it says "[t]his section is one of the most important areas." It is very important to take this very seriously because we put more weighting on applicants who have demonstrated that they really enjoy engineering by doing cool outside projects. So, go build and fly a rocket, build and understand how a trebuchet works (having a personal siege weapon is always cool), learn to program the GPU in your computer, or build a low-current Tesla coil. The list is almost endless. This will, of course, also look great on your college application(s).

[Andrew Rudolph]

Bump for an awesome opportunity!

[Bryce2471]

If you're still open to questions...

What is the relationship between deans list winners, and this internship?

Have winners of the award applied in the past?

Has it helped them to get excepted?

Thanks in advance!

[Kevin Watson]

If you're still open to questions...

What is the relationship between deans list winners, and this internship?

Have winners of the award applied in the past?

Has it helped them to get excepted?

Thanks in advance!

1) No connection. 2) I don't know. 3) I don't know that any have applied, so I don't know if any have been accepted. I can say that of the candidates I've interviewed, none were Dean's List winners. 4) Not sure I was of any help, but you're welcome. -Kevin

[coolhandluke811]

Hi!

Question: How do you want us to report our test scores?

I mean, I can write them into the app and such, but I would like to know if I need a more formal version. I don't think we can officially send them to you because you aren't a college, but I may be able to take screen shots.

Sorry if it's meant to be a matter of trust, I just don't want to be discounted over a technical error.

Thanks!
Luke

[Kevin Watson]

Hi!

Question: How do you want us to report our test scores?

I mean, I can write them into the app and such, but I would like to know if I need a more formal version. I don't think we can officially send them to you because you aren't a college, but I may be able to take screen shots.

Sorry if it's meant to be a matter of trust, I just don't want to be discounted over a technical error.

Thanks!
Luke

I just texted your question to Meagan, and she says you can:

1) Send a PDF of the letter the College Board sent you.
2) If you have the option, have your high school include the report with your transcript.
3) Screenshot.
4) Include the scores in your bullet list of accomplishments.

-Kevin

[coolhandluke811]

Awesome!

I think I will have to do option 3.

This also brought up a second issue. My school grants us access to a PDF version of our transcript so I was just going to email it. But does option 2 imply that our school has to send an official version? I only found out about this opportunity when I got back from st Louis, and my school is on break this week. The earliest I could put in a request would be Monday with the earliest of it being there the a week from today.

Thoughts?

[Kevin Watson]

Awesome!

I think I will have to do option 3.

This also brought up a second issue. My school grants us access to a PDF version of our transcript so I was just going to email it. But does option 2 imply that our school has to send an official version? I only found out about this opportunity when I got back from st Louis, and my school is on break this week. The earliest I could put in a request would be Monday with the earliest of it being there the a week from today.

Thoughts?


We're totally cool with an unofficial transcript for the time being, but we'll likely need an official transcript at some point. It would be unreasonable to expect otherwise.

-Kevin

[EricH]

3. Our last grasshopper flight demonstrated that the new F9R (for reusable) landing legs work very well. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjWqQPWmsY


And then they follow that one up with ANOTHER hop while Dragon hangs out at ISS... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwwS4YOTbbw

Gotta quit scarin' them cows, though! (That's at least the second time they've run from an F9R or Grasshopper, if you look through the other videos...)

[coolhandluke811]

We're totally cool with an unofficial transcript for the time being, but we'll likely need an official transcript at some point. It would be unreasonable to expect otherwise.

-Kevin

Sounds great! Thank you Kevin

[Kevin Phan]

How should I place my planned major and colleges accepted/committed to on the application? My school counselor sent out my transcript and sat scores to the email address, but I noticed that section 1 of the application wanted the colleges accepted and applied in that section. Is it fine for me to have that information in the section 2 part of my application? Also is it fine for my essay to be in the same document as my accomplishments/projects?

[Kevin Watson]

How should I place my planned major and colleges accepted/committed to on the application? My school counselor sent out my transcript and sat scores to the email address, but I noticed that section 1 of the application wanted the colleges accepted and applied in that section. Is it fine for me to have that information in the section 2 part of my application? Also is it fine for my essay to be in the same document as my accomplishments/projects?

Kevin,

Submit as much information on the same document as possible. Please also make sure any documents not included with your application have your name in the subject line of the e-mail.

-Kevin

[Arpan]

For those who have already submitted, did you get a reply confirming it was recieved? I didn't and was wondering if I messed up somewhere.

[Kevin Watson]

For those who have already submitted, did you get a reply confirming it was recieved? I didn't and was wondering if I messed up somewhere.I just fired-off an e-mail to the person that receives the paperwork and asked her your question. I will respond back with an answer once I get one.

-Kevin

[Arpan]

Thanks a ton!

[Kevin Watson]

For those who have already submitted, did you get a reply confirming it was recieved? I didn't and was wondering if I messed up somewhere.

Okay, here's your answer:

"We plan on going through all of the applications on Monday and making sure that all of the pieces are there. Then we will email the students to either confirm that their application is 100% good to go or tell them that a piece is missing--we will give them a few days to get a missing letter or transcript to us. I figure it's not necessarily the student's fault if a school office or teacher forgets to email us so they shouldn't be penalized for that. "

"...while I'm on board with leniency on missing letters of recommendation, transcripts, and test scores, I do expect that the students submit what they are in control of by the Monday deadline."

-Kevin

[DampRobot]

Are the people reading these applications familiar with FRC, or should we explain the basic premise of the organisation and competition?

[Kevin Watson]

Are the people reading these applications familiar with FRC, or should we explain the basic premise of the organisation and competition?Everyone reading the applications are very familiar with FRC. Most, like myself, have quite a bit of experience.

-Kevin

[frccarlos]

Hello Kevin,

If I get selected to the internship, am I committed to take it? If not, when would I have to commit to it?

Thanks!

[Kevin Watson]

Hello Kevin,

If I get selected to the internship, am I committed to take it? If not, when would I have to commit to it?

Thanks!No, you're not committed to accepting the internship.

-Kevin

[stefanp]

Is this available to Canadian students as well?

EDIT:
We don't do any sort of tests to get into university. We only submit our marks and sometimes some additional information about our school/community involvement.

[EricH]

Is this available to Canadian students as well?


I don't have any inside knowledge (for sure--I work at SpaceX, but not with Kevin et al), but despite the application saying "FIRST students" as the only real requirement, there are U.S. government regulations that would probably preclude accepting anybody not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Someone asked a similar question last year, and got a very similar response.

[Kevin Watson]

Is this available to Canadian students as well?

EDIT:
We don't do any sort of tests to get into university. We only submit our marks and sometimes some additional information about our school/community involvement.I will see if I can get clarification on this, but I believe Eric is likely correct.

-Kevin

[Kevin Watson]

Is this available to Canadian students as well?

EDIT:
We don't do any sort of tests to get into university. We only submit our marks and sometimes some additional information about our school/community involvement.

I just received confirmation that the intern program is limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents only. This is due to ITAR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations) restrictions placed on us by the U.S. State Department. I'm sorry that this information wasn't included in the documentation.

-Kevin

[Arpan]

Hey all,

anyone gotten confirmation that their app was recieved?

I'm slightly concerned because I forgot to capitalize the X in the domain name of my email.

I might just be paranoid :P

[Kevin Watson]

Hey all,

anyone gotten confirmation that their app was recieved?

It's a manual process, so they'll get to you soon.

I'm slightly concerned because I forgot to capitalize the X in the domain name of my email.

Domain names are case-insensitive. kevin.org == KeViN.OrG.

I might just be paranoid :P

It's understandable. I can assure you that in all likelihood, we probably haven't lost your application.

-Kevin




P.S. Sorry, I had to go for the comedy. I asked, and assuming there aren't two people with the first name Arpan submitting applications from your high school, we have received your application. :)

[Arpan]

Thanks so much. :)

[iyermihir]

It has been more than a week since the submission deadline and I have not yet gotten a confirmation that my application was received. Could there be an issue with my application or have they not sent out confirmations for all of the applications yet?

-Mihir Iyer

[Kevin Watson]

It has been more than a week since the submission deadline and I have not yet gotten a confirmation that my application was received. Could there be an issue with my application or have they not sent out confirmations for all of the applications yet?

-Mihir IyerI know it's hard to wait, but they will let you know if there is a problem.

-Kevin

[cmendizabal]

Hello, is it OK if I haven't received a confirmation that my application was received yet?

[Arpan]

I haven't recieved an email either. Since the company is growing so fast,it is quite possible the talent acquisition department is busy and no one has gotten around to sending out confirmations yet.

The waiting, though. Its killing me. :P.

This (http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/05/spacex-lifts-the-lid-dragon-v2-crew-spacecraft/) is not making it easier. XD

[ojiarichards]

About how many finalists are selected?

[Anthony4004]

So, should we begin to be worried about not receiving a confirmation notice yet? I understand that it can take awhile, though at the same time it has been a fair month or worry :P. Has anyone received their notice yet?

[jvriezen]

About how many finalists are selected?

Last year there were 15 that were accepted into the program:
http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/nloct13/spacex-internship-winners-reach-for-the-stars

[Talks Too Much]

I received notice Wednesday evening (EST) that I had been selected for a phone interview, and have my phone interview this afternoon. I never received any sort of confirmation email acknowledging the receipt of my application so I wouldn't be worried about that. The announcement said applicants would hear back by July 1st so I imagine you're not out of it yet!

[ojiarichards]

Last year there were 15 that were accepted into the program:
http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/nloct13/spacex-internship-winners-reach-for-the-stars

But is there a difference between a finalist and someone who makes the final list?

[Talks Too Much]

I wonder how many more than 15 are invited to phone interviews?

EDIT:

current/future applicants: That was the chillest interview I've ever been in. It was conversational and it felt like the interviewer was just trying to get to know me, what I've done, and what I want to do. I was super nervous but y'all shouldn't be worried about it at all.

[ojiarichards]

I wonder how many more than 15 are invited to phone interviews?

EDIT:

current/future applicants: That was the chillest interview I've ever been in. It was conversational and it felt like the interviewer was just trying to get to know me, what I've done, and what I want to do. I was super nervous but y'all shouldn't be worried about it at all.

I had the exact same experience. Out of curiosity, who was your interviewer?

[Talks Too Much]

Aisha Ayoub, a build engineer with avionics.

[ojiarichards]

Ah I had her too.