Tesla

Tesla Adviser

September 2017 • Glen Allen, VA

What I liked

I liked the idea of working for a company that seemed to be focused on a mission of sustainability.

What I wish was different

In the last two years I have worked here they have found multiple ways to continually cut our pay while telling us to be scrappy. When we pushed back to ask for something more equitable they denied us our rights. I wish this company was focused on a true model of sustainability and not just a show to everyone looking in.

Advice

If you value yourself do not work here. Yes it sounds cool and impresses people. They do not treat you well as an employee.

20 ${count} people found this helpful

Workplace Operations, Intern

June 2017 • Palo Alto, CA

What I liked

I was very involved and treated just as any employee. I never felt like I was at the bottom at the food chain being an intern. I was given mass amounts of responsibility.

What I wish was different

I wish there had been a more formal training process.

Advice

Say yes to everything and meet as many people as you can.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Engineering Intern - Quality

June - September 2017 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

The amount of responsibility you're given at work and with it the knowledge you learn from tackling difficult problems.

What I wish was different

Only the cost of living in the bay area, but that's hard to control.

Advice

Make sure you absorb as much information as you possibly can and learn about things you're not yet familiar with. Just make the most of your time on your internship.

5 ${count} people found this helpful

Quality Engineer Intern

June - September 2017 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

The internship was very hands on, and I was given my own projects to work on. The experience felt much like a real job so it was an invaluable experience for me.

What I wish was different

Since my internship began in June, whereas semester school students had started earlier than me, the beginning of the internship was slower paced because the other interns on my team had already claimed several larger projects for themselves. That said, I still found smaller projects and day-to-day issues to work on before getting larger projects to work on.

Advice

Be ready to be thrown into the job from day one. It was very fast paced but there are a lot of great people at the company that are willing to help, but it'll only happen if you aren't afraid to ask for help.

3 ${count} people found this helpful

Mechanical enginnering intern

May - August 2018 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

Amazing company, very fast paced and passionate

What I wish was different

I wish it was my full time job

Advice

Shoot for the stars, be a self starter

Be the first to mark this as helpful

mainenance technician

June 2018 • Sparks, NV

What I liked

I enjoyed the hands on experience working with expensive robots and automation systems. Not only were you able to learn mechanical work but how the programming worked too.

What I wish was different

I wish I was given a formal robotic and programming course to go through to be trained more.

Advice

be ready to learn as you go and don't expect everything to be taught to you.

1 One person found this helpful

Production Associate

April - August 2018 • Sparks, NV

What I liked

I enjoyed the ability to work at night while being able to attend school during the day. The ability to work up to 30 hours of overtime per week was also a huge benefit.

What I wish was different

I wish that management would actually listen to employees.

Advice

Great experience and great way for an engineering student to get their foot into the door.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Automation

May - August 2018 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

Tesla gave me a lot of accountability and the freedom to pursue what is most interesting to me. You would not imagine it. I could easily ask my manager to take tours around different Tesla facilities, hop over to other teams to see what they do and spend a day with them, take a day off from my normal job to work on the assembly line, as long as I got my job done, of course. However, I also set my own timelines for projects, project manage my own tasks, and sat in a lot of very important meetings. I was only about 4-5 levels from Elon Musk in the company directory , so in general the company is very flat! Elon and JB's office is also open, and you can just peek over your shoulder and see JB coding away everyday in Palo Alto, and Elon walking around his favorite area overlooking the Fremont factory. You are allowed and encouraged to email anyone above you if you want to learn more or need to get something done. Everyone on every team responds instantly. It's the people who CAN'T get stuff done that stand out among the crowd because everybody works extremely hard. Despite how hard people work, the social life was amazing. My team came in before I woke up on my Birthday, wrapped my desk and gave me a ton of cupcakes and presents. One of them was also a pilot and flew me to Napa valley for a wine tasting tour. We would have a full team outing for every occasion. The people became what I remember most from this summer.

What I wish was different

I was not treated like an intern, instead, a full time employee, so I was mostly on my own in terms of code review and mentorship. I was never told what to do, and had to figure out my own plans and projects based on the team's roadmap. I had to frequently ask for mentorship or help from full time employees and pester them to review my code. In addition, since priorities change so often (my summer was the summer Tesla tried to hit 5,000 cars a week), I was pulled into different tasks very often and had to keep myself up to date about what was going on. There were also a lot of people leaving due to the huge layoff. It was very eye opening to see a company going through a huge change, especially when you are in the middle of it. I cried in the middle of a meeting when my manager told me he was leaving during the middle of my internship. Nothing really could have been done about this, but I just wished I was more prepared for the realities that came with a fast-moving company.

Advice

Make the most out of your experience. Don't just sit down at your desk and do work. Go out and talk to other people, learn what they do in the company, and spend some time working with them to learn about their setbacks and successes. I am most likely returning to a team who let me sit in one of their meetings and showed me around Tesla HQ for ONE DAY, and learned my most valuable lessons from the production associates working on the assembly line. I also got Tesla to sponsor a 15K senior design project this year!

127 ${count} people found this helpful

Sales Consultant

May 2017 - August 2018 • Minneapolis, MN

What I liked

At Tesla every morning we had a team huddle and being able to connect with management and the team and keep everyone accountable helped to increase productivity. A lot of autonomy within the company and not just with the self driving cars. We had different tasks and knew how to do all of the jobs within our branch. This showed a since of teamwork and that everyone was equal. Driving the luxury cars to work in the morning was a huge plus. Learning about and understanding how powerful electric vehicles are really was a new and exciting experience.

What I wish was different

I found that everyone had their own way of doing things within the company which entailed autonomy but everyone also had their opinions on how this could be done. This wasn't a negative it showed me how to listen and adapt to hybrid style to increase my efficiency.

Advice

Get an internship that you think you are going to be interested in and do your research. If you are able to do some extensive research you will know what you are getting yourself into. Also, I found that the type of internship you do. You will increase the likelihood of getting that said career after college. During a job interview this is extremely helpful for you to expand on your knowledge, and where you want to go within their company.

11 ${count} people found this helpful

IT Operations Intern

June 2020 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

Environment and coworkers

What I wish was different

Nothing

Advice

Apply anywhere and everywhere, you never know what you might get into

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Manufacturing Engineer

May - August 2017 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

Tesla not only expects you to operate as full-time employee while being an intern but also expects you to grow and learn as a student. You're held to a higher standard of work than most companies because you were selected over thousands of others to be there.

What I wish was different

Was assigned to more indivual projects rather than team assignments.

Advice

Expect to work long hours but don’t think working a lot translates to accomplishing a lot. Don't expect to have your hand held. Seek out new work and projects. Compensation is good, housing relocation assistance is provided.

1 One person found this helpful

Electrical Engineer

August 2018 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

Accelerate the transition of sustainable transportation.

What I wish was different

That I worked harder I while I was at school

Advice

Work hard and you will get your positivity point

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Lean Intern

June - December 2016 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

Variety of problems and situations to address greatly expanded skill set and thinking

What I wish was different

Less fire fighting

Advice

Be willing to put your projects aside to fire fight

2 ${count} people found this helpful

Software Engineering Intern

July - September 2018 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

A lot of responsibility was given and learned a lot.

What I wish was different

A more diverse team and I wish the culture was more inclusive of diverse backgrounds.

Advice

Take ownership of your projects/work.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Glass Coatings & Film Development Intern

June - September 2018 • Hawthorne, CA

What I liked

Working with some of the smartest people.

What I wish was different

Longer time to work on projects. Less drama at the CEO level.

Advice

Remember that there are many companies that want Tesla to fail, and to not let the media reports make you question the mission or the future of the company.

1 One person found this helpful

Communications Intern

May - August 2018 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

Tesla is such an amazing company. All of the employees that I met there are very dedicated to their job and seem to have tons of experience. I learned from them a ton and respect everyone there immensely. I really enjoyed the experience I got whether it was summarizing Tesla news coverage, researching for media influencers on YouTube or pitching to magazines about the Solar Roof. I also got to drive a Tesla Model 3 Performance! Highlight of the summer!!

What I wish was different

NOTHING! Even though a little crazy at times, this internship was fantastic. I learned so much!

Advice

The ability to think on your feet is everything! Always be offering to help whenever you can, because it will be appreciated if not rewarded.

17 ${count} people found this helpful

Delivery experience specialist

June - November 2018 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

The mission of the company is inline with my values.

What I wish was different

I wish that the company had been more organized.

Advice

Be more considerate of employees career desiress.

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Project Management Intern

June - September 2018 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

I really enjoyed the team environment and getting the chance to get exposed to multiple projects across the facility.

What I wish was different

Nothing, it was a overall awesome experience.

Advice

Apply early and if you can take a quarter off do it!

1 One person found this helpful

Vehicle Test Intern

May - August 2017 • Fremont, CA

What I liked

Open ended, relaxed atmosphere, all around well-paid and convenient location

What I wish was different

More structure, more variety of work

Advice

Always be working

Be the first to mark this as helpful

Engineering

January 2018 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I am currently member of the power electronics manufacturing engineering team, and we worked together on a variety of large-scale projects where each of us was responsible for one part of the project. I really enjoyed the teamwork aspect of the job, and liked seeing how all the pieces of our projects came together in the end. The teamwork aspect of that job — and this job — is something that greatly appeals to me, because I typically end up learning a lot about what I’m capable of when working in synch with others.