Scaled Composites

What is the best part of working at the company?
Learning, the learning of how to was instrumental to expanding what i thought was already large experience and training i had in aviation, what i learned there launched me to SpaceX and now Airbus, now the culture was ok... albeit competitive, tribal even, (us contractors didnt get alot of... appretiation for our sacrifices just moving to a black hole in the desert, away from all we love) hopefully that has changed in the 6 years since my time there, still super proud of my work there with the largest acft on earth. For those seeking work tgere and the Spaceship Company; DO IT, just go take it, learn, love it, if you get to stay? Appretiate it and dont let the detractors disuade you from staying, they dont last long...

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The tribals... folks who think outsiders and contractors come there to take theur jobs, instead of seeking mutual education and understanding.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Amazing, albeit it is a desert, so adjustments will have to be made on the fly to survive the weathers, taxes (CA yikes) the locals are good people, strong desert duelers and bear by tehachapi is a rodeo heaven, LA is a few hard hours but worth it, Vegas is close, pack lots of water, lotion, hot weather motor oil, summer thermostat on your radiator, keep mouth closed or sand blows in, animal dangers exist mostly scorpions and snakes, peaceful area with most ammenities without overwhelmage, all local mom and pop owned eateries (great) lancaster and rosemond are nice.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Drilking, cutting meassuring, learbing... INNOVATING AND TROUBLE SOLVING, your immagination is the limit to the question... can we build it? That answer as in all experimental aerospace will be answered by the solutions YOU create on the fly, or came with from your other fields.

Scaled takes the whole idea of a company being a family way too far. They indoctrinate new hires with lots of company cheerleading and hype, and include fringe benefits like occasional paid pot luck lunches to try and buy your loyalty. But then they will try to take over your life with insane amounts of overtime. Of course, their pay is far below average, so you end up working the overtime because you have to pay the bills. If you don't buy the hype and don't work the long hours, you end up an outsider. Of course, they wouldn't have to require the long hours if management had a clue where they were headed next. They spend a large amount of time reworking previous work which wasn't well thought out in the first place, a consequence of having inexperienced engineers, which is itself a consequence of underpaying and abusing their experienced engineers. In the end, the only upsides is that the place is close to my home and the health insurance is fully paid by them, but I'll be jumping ship as soon as I can find a job that pays more and doesn't require that I work at least 60 hours a week.

A typical day at work consist of installing fasteners , drilling, reaming, bonding clips, sanding, wet lay-ups and building templates.
The things that I have learned is how to bond clips and other parts of the aircraft as well as learning how to do wet lay-ups. Management is good they could do a better job in certain areas. My lead is great works with his people and is a very understanding person. 90% of my co-workers are good people. The hardest part of my job is finding the tools we need to do the job or finish the job and climbing up and down 40+ steps each day as well as climbing in very confined spaces inside the aircraft wing. The most enjoyable part of my job is when I get to work with people who are very knowledgeable and lunch time.

Flightline construction of experimental and contracted manufacturing is the stuff aviation dreams are made of.

Position required a secret clearance initiative which promoted trust and advancement with experience.

Leaders of factory environment had world acclaimed ability and testing. There were no fakes or low achievers, only dedicated professionals and incredibly talented heads of departments.

Early composite career experience in America's Cup design and manufacturing was the initial contact point and was developed into space pioneer programs at SCALED.

Heard of Scaled since it's beginning, and am proud to have been hired as just a laborer. 
Take full, intelligent initiative.Watch the adept and skilled, ignore slackers and whiners. Be cheerful, meet folks and learn. This place has work for those that want it, and promotes those that can.
 Engineering on the fly, rapid (or is that rabid?) prototyping, brainstorming...change over time, change last second, do it over, repair it,do it again. What an amazing, whirlwind way of building stuff no one else will.
 Toughest part? It can get uncomfortable in closed up areas.
 Most enjoyable part?  This still my dream job, I like it all. I came to Scaled to work and will (by force of will if I must) be content in whatever capacity Im employed.

As a fabricator there is not much advancement to go further up the ladder, it stops at the lead position. Don't expect to make a decent wage because it will not happen they have no pay scale at all. Most people I know are making around the $15.00 an hour mark. Scaled then hired contractors in between $25-30 an hour leading to a low morale and quite a few people leaving the company. Management hardly hands out decent raises anymore. The hardest part to get over is a new person coming in to the company that has been there 6 months and he becomes your boss. The most enjoyable part of the job is the relaxed atmosphere. USE THIS COMPANY AS A STEPPING STONE!

What is the best part of working at the company?
The type of work, atmosphere and the friends I have made over the years!!! 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Scaled can be a very fast pace environment but for me personally  I thrive in this type of job.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
We have many talented and skilled individuals that work here that have an open minded environment to come up with a product from the design, build and testing. The culture is very unique with a family oriented and team comradory. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
It can vary from day to day.

I've been at Scaled Composites for close to 10 years. 
The company has grown leaps and bounds from when I started as well as keeping up with industry standard pay. The type off work has evolved and continued opportunities have kept me there. The management team has grown immensely while continually getting better. .
I would definitely recommend Scaled for those willing to work hard, have an open mind, think outside the box and will do what it takes to get the job done.


Composite Fabrication – Responsible for following blueprints for fabrication and assembly of aircraft parts. Building and fabricating parts out of carbon fiber, fiberglass, epoxy resin and various other composites/chemicals. Grinding and sanding parts to be fit to designated spaces or assembled with other parts. Follow and keep up with safety and HEPA laws. Freeze/Thaw required parts in climate controlled environments in the time allotted. Create templates/molds for aircraft parts. Transport oversized loads from hangar to hangar via forklift. Clean up after work is done.

With just a little talent you can go real far at this company. But unfortunately seems like this company is growing into "big prime " culture without the pay. So it also means that many departments are growing really fast but no one knows how to run them properly so it's gonna take a while for the company to get it together which makes you want to look elsewhere.

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