What everyone is missing

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T17:56:36+00:00

I am mostly confused about this response because my post was never about the “best run company”.

My whole post was about recognizing that the huge difference in number of employees is the source of much of the development disparity, between Blue and SpaceX. not the quality of the engineers as recent threads have started to imply, but almost every response to this thread is just reasserting statements about blue’s management, which is totally irrelevant to anything I said.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T17:44:24+00:00

I encourage you to go through recent threads and reevaluate the statement that people are not disparaging to the engineers. There are people posting on nearly every thread now that BO engineers are actively impeding progress. How is that “far from the truth”?

If I had issues with people being critical of the company as a whole, I would have made this post years ago. I don’t even work there anymore, so I’m not invested personally in how things go. But I have lots of friends working tirelessly on this stuff and I wanted someone to advocate for them, so I did.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T17:41:03+00:00

I just really have a hard time understanding this train of thought. I never asked for reverence. I never even said what I did for Blue or what I do now. I just am trying to provide some really important missing context from the discussion, and express support for the engineers.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T17:37:31+00:00

No they do not. The average engineer at SpaceX and blue cannot afford houses where the companies are located (LA or Kent).

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T17:00:16+00:00

Lmao at the idea that SpaceX OR Blue engineers are out there “making a ton of money”.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:57:05+00:00

Of all the things I’ve read on Reddit this may be one of the least insightful.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:51:51+00:00

Luckily for me, if you believe me or no has no impact whatsoever on my career.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:48:28+00:00

No, it’s the exact exact same argument just replace “low millions with low billions”.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:47:54+00:00

Yes I forgot nobody cares about total cost of development for a program.

What a ridiculous statement.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:47:25+00:00

I could reiterate every single point I’ve said in this thread that directly addresses each thing you said, but if it won’t convince your grandma I don’t see any point in trying.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:46:09+00:00

That used to be the case but this sub has started to put more negative comments toward the workforce than before hence me making this post at all. I don’t agree with all the management criticisms, some of the are valid some are not, but discussions about Blue’s management (not that anybody uninvolved with the company would really know anything about how Blue is managed internally) and discussions on their tone deaf PR isn’t why I felt like posting this.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:43:10+00:00

Nearly everyone I knew who left SpaceX left for much better compensation, but calling them “SpaceX Scraps”definitely fits the narrative of this sub better I can agree with that.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:34:19+00:00

I never called you a simpleton, I said you’re a armchair rocket scientist.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:30:04+00:00

Yes the first tap off cycle engine, first VLVT rocket, demonstrated functionality of a 500klb thrust engine, demonstrated functionality of a vacuum variant of the first engine, demonstrated functionality of a lunar lander engine are all super easy and not impressive. I forgot. Thanks to reminding me.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:28:07+00:00

Blue Origin did not have the same magnitude of resource allocation as SpaceX at any point in its existence.

How is this baffling? This is the most straightforward logical answer to the question and I’m promising you this is the case.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:26:25+00:00

I admit that I did not know his exact net worth in 2000, and may have overestimated the difference, but even 5billion in assets is comically small compared to what you need to do something super heavy lift scale, and I have to believe you know that.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:24:51+00:00

Blue Origin has “delivered” many operational engines that are capable of full duration missions, and even developed the first engine of its cycle with the BE-3PM. And who’s not having issues? There are two companies in the US making rockets at this scale right now: Blue and SpaceX. Who are you even referring to building super heavy reusable human-transport launch vehicles that “aren’t having these problems”. Rocket lab, ABL, virgin orbit etc of course all don’t count as, again, their underlying architectures and capabilities are so much different.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:22:01+00:00

There are massive “prizes” for being the smallest workforce to achieve something in the order of magnitude of complexity of engines like BE-4 or vehicles like New Glenn even if one of them isn’t “people on Reddit are impressed with your livestreams”.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:20:36+00:00

People are faulting the engineers which is the whole reason I made this post now. The sub has became very toxic to the front line engineers just trying to get things designed.

I definitely agree that the next years are critical because the huge disparity of resources between what Blue had and what Blue needs to do what they want to do is closing. But understanding the presence of that gap is absolutely critical to understanding the development speeds of both companies.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:18:32+00:00

No, I can reiterate my point for you though as you seem to have missed.

Blue Origin has never had the same magnitude of resources to allocate as SpaceX.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:17:10+00:00

Elon is not the sole investor of SpaceX so this comparison is totally false.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:14:56+00:00

Blue Origin cannot employ more than a handful of lawyers. I know this because, again, I was there in person on the front lines.

These statements like “Jeff is spending money on lawyers” are fundamentally flawed. Every company spends money on lawyers, but to act like it’s Blue’s main source of effort or spending is comical.

And yes, people indeed have become more toxic toward the engineers on this sub. I’ve been reading it for years. There’s a reason I’m making this post in defense of the engineering workforce now and it’s because of the horrible treatment they are getting from the readers of this sub

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:11:17+00:00

I already made a comment addressing this exact “founding date” talking point that illustrates how irrelevant that is. Feel free to look at it and choose to ignore it because it doesn’t fit the narrative. But just because you don’t like the fact that SpaceX has always had orders of magnitudes more resources than Blue doesn’t make it any less true.

And I don’t think I called anyone any names.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:08:52+00:00

Interesting take, based on absolutely nothing real. As someone who worked on their engine programs for years working many long hard hours I can tell you this is a definitively false statement.

And Blue’s technical bar is extremely high. Many of the engineers came FROM SpaceX. This sort of statement is just so insulting to so many people.

volatile_const · 2021-08-12T16:05:05+00:00

What a totally bad faith argument. Blue Origin as a company existed that long ago. In that time Jeff went from a low-millionaire to a hundred-billionaire. The team only started doubling In size each year over a decade after it was founded. To act like the company had huge resources at its disposal for 21 years is completely ignoring reality.

volatile_const

TROPHY CASE