Stephen Barnes

ALT At SpaceX, work was taken away from me in case I “might retire or die.” I was a “hardcore” Principal Engineer at SpaceX, achieving performance goals and working longer hours than most of my colleagues—yet I saw my work roles gradually transferred to younger engineers who fit the company’s “frat bro” mold. By John Johnson, former Principal Engineer at SpaceX I have watched the recent news about the takeover at Twitter without much surprise. I was an employee of one of Elon Musk’s other companies; for many months, I’ve refrained from speaking about my experience there. As an older white male, I hadn’t confronted the impediments to success that many people face—until I started at SpaceX. But as we move into this new era of wealthy industrialists taking the helm of the largest tech firms, I feel compelled to tell my story, as I believe it is essential that their workforces reflect all the demographics of our pluralistic society.