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'Working for Tesla Motors.
- Thread starter SDTricket
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- Tesla Inc.
Sounds like you could apply at SpaceX.
LOL. I'm done with being an employee. But oddly enough my company does sell astronomy products.
Purposely misquoting you: I too find that competence is of utmost importance. And I believe that such competence is best shown by what a person has done in the past year and not in the past hour (the interview). Somebody who has a family I judge differently from somebody who's just out of school and single. If people have related passions that counts. If they are - or their CV's lead me to believe they are - coach potato's they're out.
Or if they spend too many hours reading fan-boards for hardware packages that aren't even released yet.... :smile:
Ah, but he didn't take this side interest without passion! And his interest was relevant to his work. Whatever the side activities are, you have to view these in the proper context.
But we seem to agree that doing "work stuff" 168 hours/week is unhealthy. But after 40 hours of work there still is some freedom left in how to spend the remaining 128 hours. And you can choose to give yourself a head start by spending some of these 128 hours on relevant matter.
I can't understand (and that may be my problem) that someone would choose an occupation they are passionate about for 40 hours, and after 40 hours the passion suddenly dies out. Why only spend 23.8% of your time on something you love (especially when you're 18-25 years old and don't have a family to support)?
SByer
'08 #383
I think you over-read what I wrote. I by no means was implying that obsessive consumption of discretionary time was important; that would be bad, too. Balance in all things.
'Hardly ever' isn't 'none', and none is the issue. I find a high correlation between none and not doing so well on the practical interview questions. Coursework is usually not sufficient to get a good feel for a craft and apprenticeships are rare, so home projects with friends are a reasonable substitute while in college.
Well, that math is somewhat disingenuous as much of ones day isn't freely available. A typical person might have something like:
1 hour lunch (though, like many, you may work it, but I often go to the gym)
1 hour of commute
1/2 hour each for breakfast/dinner
8 hours sleep (7-9 is normal)
1/2 hour shower, shaving, etc.
1 hour on average clean house, pay bills, do laundry, get car oil changed, etc
=~ 10-12 hours of non-free time
So, of your 12-14 hours of "free" time each work day, you're spending 8 working on a normal job. I think spending ~60% of your time most days on anything shows a pretty significant level of interest.
That was my exact point from the beginning in response to SByer and vfx saying any candidate that wasn't also working at home would be tossed. Many incredibly talented people don't take their work home, they have the ability to be passionate about more than one thing in life.
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SByer
'08 #383
Now you're putting words in my mouth. Stop it, that's a shameful twisting of words.
Your words were exactly "If you're not following your passion at home... how is it your passion again?"
That tells me you believe they should be doing <insert field specific activity here> at home and at work or you didn't think they were passionate and, by implication, not a good candidate. How should I have interpreted it?
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deckofficer
Member
I'm new here, in fact this is my first post, as I didn't find an "Introductions" topic. I'm done working, would still consult. I have read the need for passion aspect of this thread with a lot of interest. I joined the ranks of EV hobbyists 11 years ago after a rather distasteful working experience in the oil industry. I now have (3) EVs, but still have ICE hot rods too. My name is Bob, and I DO have a passion for EVs.
SByer
'08 #383
That some personal project away from work related in some way to one's chosen field gets at least some time. It's not a very high bar - I know how hard it is to get the time, and even a few hours a month shows passion - though I hold the bar higher for new grads, as it's easier at college to both have the time and find a club, and for software engineering at least, course work alone is generally insufficient to get the skills and aesthetics needed. It's a correlation, I don't hold it as a causation, and while I'm always excited to find an exception, it's very, very rare.
It's a signal, one of many, but for new grads it's one of the stronger ones I've found.
mt2
Member
There's an old expression that a man (woman) who makes a career of his passion never works a day in his life. The point is simply that if you love doing it, you'd do it with or without pay. I'm an Internet Infrastructure Integrator full-time, and I volunteer my time doing Internet web sites in my spare time - in spite of the fact that I'm married and have raised two kids. I consider it more of who am as a person than what I do for a living.
My son is married and working on his masters degree in Public History (with honors, by the way). Yet he still finds time to be active in WWII reenactments and is considering Civil War reenactments as well. This has led to recent consideration as a volunteer at a local museum. Sure, it's unpaid and will lead to a cut in hours at the grocery store he works at to pay the bills. But it's what he feels he must do to secure a position in a field he's passionate about.
So I agree with the responses that the OP needs to take the appropriate courses - but when distinguishing between two equally qualified individuals, the one who shows they love what they do rather than just talks about it will always win out.
Tailor your hobbies to the job description.
http://learn-how-to-write-a-resume.blogspot.com/2008/05/hobbies-and-interests-should-these-be.html
http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/2008/06/resumes-when-ho.html
http://cv4.biz/cv-interests/
http://www.cvtips.com/improve_CV.html
http://www.ehow.com/way_5777408_tips-hobbies-resume.html
http://learn-how-to-write-a-resume.blogspot.com/2008/05/hobbies-and-interests-should-these-be.html
http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/2008/06/resumes-when-ho.html
http://cv4.biz/cv-interests/
http://www.cvtips.com/improve_CV.html
http://www.ehow.com/way_5777408_tips-hobbies-resume.html
Good news: that last one will soon be a thing of the past! :smile: I'm glad 90% of my bills get paid automatically. Is that just a Dutch thing? I've authorized the cable, power, insurance, etc. companies to transfer money for monthly bills from my bank account: no hassle.
Oh, and you forgot the additional 48 hours/week (32 if you want to sleep) we call weekend. Without kids that's the big one for out-of-control hobbies!
It's not "working at home". It's "having fun at home". Or that's what I think such activities should be.
Tech26
Member
I'm fairly new here as well and have recently applied to Tesla (have a meeting coming up soon). On my resume I included that I was one of the captains for the electrathon vehicle team at my university. You can bet we'll be talking about that in the interview!
deckofficer
Member
haha Very funny. No I meant the Honda's F22 engine.
Thanks for the advice. Yes I do have many projects. In fact my car is a never ending project, and I have done much work on it in the past.
Thank you a million times!
Please Please keep me updated on the interview.
I appreciate everyone's input. Keep them coming.
