Zelcastalumni map

People who leave NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory most often go to Amazon, Northrop Grumman and Google. 3% found something next. 12% go small. Median stay 1y 5m

These are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer, not NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's headcount: 142 people on a map of 26,572, the No. 64 company on it by people. Updated August 20, 2026.

People on the map
1420.5% of everyone on the map
There now
11% of the people here
Moved on
14199% of the people here
Median tenure
1y 5mmiddle half 3m to 3y

Put NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory side by side with another company, every number against every number.

Came from, went to

Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Google. Most leave for Amazon (6% of recorded departures).

NASA Jet Prop…Laboratory79 in · 126 out
3Google3Jet Propulsion…3NASA - National…Amazon76%Northrop Grumman76%Google65%Apple43%Meta43%Microsoft43%Lockheed Martin32%Tesla32%
9 of 79 recorded arrivals shown, 70 more from 65 other companies38 of 126 recorded departures shown, 88 more to 80 other companies

After NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  • 3%Founded something4
  • 12%Joined a startup15
  • 32%Joined a big company39
  • 53%Elsewhere

Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.

How long people stay

41%<1y
17%1-2y
22%2-4y
15%4-7y
5%7y+
1y 5m median tenuremiddle half 3m to 3y

41 stays with both a start and an end on the record.

Who comes and goes, by year

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
joined left2026 is a partial year

2012 to 2026: 130 joined, 132 left.

Caliber

84mediantop 10%93
0Eng Scorer caliber, 142 scored99

Titles held here

  1. Software Engineer Intern41
  2. Intern10
  3. Software Engineer8
  4. Software Development Intern4
  5. Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow4
  6. Research Intern3
  7. Student Intern3

7 most common titles, by people who held them.

First job on the record for 42% of people here.

Behind the median

Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.

  • 5%Exceptional7 people
  • 32%Strong45 people
  • 35%Solid50 people
  • 23%Emerging32 people
  • 6%Unproven8 people

142 of the 142 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.

Exceptional and strong are the top two of the five tiers. 52 of the 142 people here with a read sit in them, 37%. A tier is the band an Eng Scorer caliber score falls in, so this is the same measurement as the median on the caliber card, opened up.

Whether a title rose here

The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.

40%Titles that rose42 of 105 classified people

  • 40%Rose42 people
  • 60%Stayed level or fell63 people

105 of the 142 people here had a title that could be placed on the ladder before and after.

A title rose when the last title recorded here sits higher on the ladder than the first; for someone who recorded one title here and then left, it is measured against the first title of their next role. The ladder runs intern, junior, mid, senior, staff or manager, principal, director, VP, then founder or C-level. A title that matches no rung is left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely, being a different ladder. That leaves 105 of the 142 people here classified, and it leans towards people who have left: someone still here on a single recorded title has nothing to be measured against. A direction holding fewer than 3 people is printed together with the one next to it, because a bucket that small is a person rather than a pattern.

Where they studied

  1. Caltech16.9%
  2. UC Berkeley11.3%
  3. Stanford10.6%
  4. UCLA10.6%
  5. Carnegie Mellon8.5%
  6. USC7.0%
  7. MIT6.3%
  8. UC San Diego4.9%

The 8 most listed schools among the 142 people here with a school on file.

Of the 142 people here with a school on file, 24 list Caltech, 16 list UC Berkeley and 15 list Stanford. A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.

Public work

one square is one in a hundred
33%have a public GitHub account on their profile

47 of the 142 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check did not find reads the same as no account, so this is a floor rather than a census.

Across the 325 companies on the map that can show this figure, the median is 38%.

Where they are now

56% of the people who have worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Everyone on the map
  • 56%SF Bay Area80 · map 47%
  • 17%New York24 · map 33%
  • 14%Los Angeles20 · map 6%
  • 4%Washington DC6 · map 7%
  • 2%Seattle3 · map 3%
  • 6%Somewhere else9

All 142 people who worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory list a location, and every share here is over them.

Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while they worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: a metro here does not mean the company has an office in it. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map, for comparison.

Key facts

  • 142 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: 1 are there now and 141 have moved on.
  • The most common next employer after NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is Amazon (7 people, 6% of recorded departures), followed by Northrop Grumman and Google.
  • The most common previous employer before NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is Google (3 people), followed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
  • The median tenure at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is 1y 5m (middle half 3m to 3y).
  • Of those who moved on from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 3% went on to a founder title, 12% joined a company with 200 or fewer people, and 32% joined a company with 10,000 or more.
  • The median Eng Scorer caliber of people who have worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is 84 on the 0 to 99 scale (142 scored).
  • The most common title held at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is Software Engineer Intern, then Intern.
  • Of the 142 people here with a school on file, 24 list Caltech (16.9%), then UC Berkeley (16). A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.
  • 56% of the 142 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map. That is where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
  • 33% of the 142 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub account on it.

About this data: built from 144,786 jobs across 26,572 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated August 20, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving; companies with fewer than 20 people on the map are not shown, and destinations with fewer than 3 people are folded into the totals. Caliber is the Eng Scorer score.

Worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory? See how your profile reads to a startup hiring manager, and where it ranks among 26,572 engineers.

Previous on the mapApplied IntuitionNo. 63 by people · 144 on the mapNext on the mapWaymoNo. 65 by people · 142 on the map

Arrow keys move along the map.