Agreed. However nothing annoys me more than people who join a company only to immediately start complaining about how much they dislike the culture. It just so happens the culture at SpaceX revolves around one guy. You can... leave... if you don't like it. Everyone knows this yet we're all supposed to act like SpaceX engineers were trafficked here in shipping containers and working to pay off a slave debt. No. The money is likely too good so they'd rather complain instead. The entitlement expressed by the individuals involved has buried the needle.
I think it's fair to want money/a job, and pursue getting hired for one, but then also be interested in improving the culture or working conditions of the job once you start working there.
You say they are entitled - high skill, difficult to replace workers are actually entitled to make demands of their employer which are proportional to the value they offer, in particular when they act collectively.
This is like the person who moves next to an airport, paying less than they would otherwise, and then complains incessantly and wants the airport to stop operating, it's called "coming to the nuisance". SpaceX is well known for not being "money/a job", it's extremely intense. If you join it without realizing that, despite how infamous it is for that, then that's totally on you. You kinda have to want to do really hard things that have never been done before to make it worth it.
If you just like rockets, and want some work-life balance, you can always apply for the SLS team, or Boeing Starliner.
I'm a business owner and hiring skilled employees is literally the hardest part of my job. If my employees are unhappy about something, then I am grateful that they have given me the chance to hear about it and maybe fix it rather than having them quit without warning, leaving me with customer deadlines and empty chairs.
I get what you’re saying, I have similar experience, but they’ve pretty clearly chosen iteration/execution speed over a low attrition/burnout rate. And that’s fine, different strokes for different folks. It seems to be working out fine for them so far, 20 years in. If I didn’t have kids whose childhood I wanted to be a big part of, I’d certainly consider throwing myself at trying to help make Starship work.
