The Long Shot is Done

"E. Julius" (soonerfrommi)
12/16/2014 at 08:17 • Filed to: Internships

Just submitted my application to SpaceX. I know it's pretty competitive, but through a stroke of luck I happened to have a small amount of expertise in a semi–obscure field (at least for interns). Of all the companies I'll apply to, SpaceX and Tesla—I guess I have a thing for Elon Musk—are my top choices, and probably the longest odds. I'm hopeful, so let's see what happens.

DISCUSSION (20)

f86sabre > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 08:28

Kinja'd!!!

Good luck!

E. Julius > f86sabre
12/16/2014 at 08:33

Hahaha, that image is perfect. Thanks!

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 08:39

Describe this obscure thing for us.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 08:48

Did you happen to apply at Blue Origin?

Justin T. Westbrook > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius
12/16/2014 at 09:08

He makes a killer souffle.

E. Julius > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius
12/16/2014 at 09:20

It's nothing too obscure, but I got a lot of experience with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems in my last job. As far as I know, that's not something that's covered in many undergraduate curricula, so I got lucky and happened to get some first hand experience. I also get doubly lucky in that I came into the company I worked for at a time when they were setting up the ERP system. So not only did I get to use it, but I also got to learn a lot about how it works on the back end.

One of SpaceX's openings is for an ERP Systems Analyst intern, and my last company has actually kept me on as a consultant doing pretty much exactly that, so I think I've got a decent shot. My only apprehensions are due to the fact that it's a pretty competitive position, and that I only have really basic coding skills.

E. Julius > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole
12/16/2014 at 09:21

No I haven't. Musk > Bezos.

That's a good idea though.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 09:36

We're launching an ERP right now!

E. Julius > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius
12/16/2014 at 09:38

Ha, have fun. What system are you using?

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 09:39

I think Bezos is just doing things his own way as far as Blue Origin. He's not worried about being first. The facility is really cool.

E. Julius > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole
12/16/2014 at 09:40

I'll definitely do some research into it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 09:42

No problem. My old neighbor worked there. I felt like a kid let loose in a toy store when he took me there for a tour.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 09:42

It's a contractor specific ERP called ComputerEase (corny 1980s name) but it's very simple to use which was a primary concern for the Gen-Xer with an office full of Baby Boomers.

I chose this one because Job Cost is the backbone of everything. Plus, union benefits is integrated into the system from the start. Normally, those two things are 'customizations' and incredibly expensive.

E. Julius > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius
12/16/2014 at 09:51

Yeah that's pretty much the key priority for cost effectiveness, it's good that you were able to find one that fit your needs so well out of the box. The system we used is pretty scalable (they have customers from $10m companies to $1b companies), which they achieve by separating functionality into individual modules which communicate with each other and use common databases. We needed a function that wasn't included in our subscription (it was cloud–based), and they had just switched their pricing from a per module basis to a module group scheme. Ended up having to buy a bunch of extra crap we didn't need.

jariten1781 > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 09:54

ERP is a big mystery to me. My main client uses it and when they're late funding my contract or line item I've learned to ask "Is the money in ERP?". If the answer is 'yes' I'll get paid in the next two weeks so I can request exposure money from financial to float everyone, if it's 'no' then my payment is ~40-90 days out and I have to start shutting down lower priority charge codes and asking people to take vacation or finding them spots on someone else's accounts.

Basically, when they implemented it (whatever it is) it added another step to their budget and funding process...no one I interact with directly knows what it does. They used to get money from their financial group then fund us, it was easy...now they have to issue a request to financial to put the funding in ERP then at some point (1 day to 3 months later) they do that then sometime a couple weeks after that the funding pops out and my line item can be funded. It's so weird.

E. Julius > jariten1781
12/16/2014 at 09:57

That's stupid. It sounds like whoever chose the software/set it up had a pretty narrow objective in mind, in which case they shouldn't have used a complete ERP system. If implemented properly, it should be eliminating steps instead of adding them, as I'm sure you understand.

JR1 > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 10:17

Good luck! "Aim for the moon that way even if you miss you will still be amongst the stars"

-William Clement Stone

jariten1781 > E. Julius
12/16/2014 at 10:18

Oh, they use it for way more than that, but since I do solely consulting/analysis/planning (produce no physical products) we don't get to play in the inventory/production/logistics stuff that it was implemented for. We were essentially collateral damage because other folks needed to get their shit together.

E. Julius > jariten1781
12/16/2014 at 10:20

Ah ok, makes sense.

E. Julius > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole
12/16/2014 at 19:21

Looked into it. Unfortunately the only open positions are for engineering roles, and I don't think they even had any internships among them : (