A viral post highlights Sanjeev Sharma, a mechanical engineer from IIT Roorkee who transitioned from Indian Railways to SpaceX after 11 years.An X user shared a LinkedIn profile of a mechanical engineer who once worked for the Indian Railways for over 11 years and is now employed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The post, which has gone viral on social media, shows the work experience section of the LinkedIn profile of Sanjeev Sharma who is currently the principal engineer at SpaceX. “Indian Railways for 11 years to now at spacex is some next level stuff,” the caption read.A look at the Sharma’s LinkedIn profile shows that he worked as mechanical engineer with the Indian Railways from 1990 to 2001 after graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Roorkee. Following that he studied at the University of Colorado to pursue a masters in mechanical engineering. He then worked as a senior engineer at a technology company for over nine years before returning to the US to get another masters degree in Technology management.
From railways to space
After completing his second masters degree, Sharma began working with tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Space exploration company, SpaceX as a Dynamic Engineer for five years. “Worked on recovery and reuse ability of the first stage booster starting from F9-005 to F9-0059. Led the structural dynamics effort working closely with aerodynamics, GNC, propulsion and thermal,” his profile read.He then worked for a drone company for nearly 4 years before returning to SpaceX where he is currently a Principal Engineer. “Experienced Head Of Engineering with a demonstrated history of working in the aviation and aerospace industry,” his profile bio reads.
‘This is what patience looks like’
The rail-to-space story of the Indian mechanical engineer stunned users on X who commended him for a successful career spanning several sectors.“Working in Indian Railways for 11 yrs and then making a jump to a private entity, itself is commendable. Not many can resist the comfort and predictability of govt. jobs,” wrote one user.“This what patience looks like. A career of 20 years before joining Space X,” said another user.“Man took a promotion in the worst phase economically over the entire globe aka 2008,” said a third user, applauding the engineer’s career graph.