Zelcastalumni map

People who leave NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory most often go to Northrop Grumman, Google and Amazon. Of them, 17% go somewhere small. The median tenure is 1y 6m

Not NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's headcount: these are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer. 339 people on a map of 67,181, No. 68 on it by people. Updated September 30, 2026.

People on the map
3390.5% of everyone on the map
There now
144% of the people here
Moved on
32596% of the people here
Median tenure
1y 6mmiddle half 4m to 3y 11m

Put NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory side by side with another employer.

Came from, went to

Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Most leave for Northrop Grumman (6% of recorded departures).

NASA Jet Prop…Laboratory169 in · 286 out
4%6NASA - National…3%5Google2%4Northrop Grumman2%3HP2%3Jet Propulsion…2%3Lawrence Livermore…2%3Lockheed MartinNorthrop Grumman166%Google135%Amazon124%Lockheed Martin83%Meta83%Microsoft72%Tesla62%AWS52%Apple52%
27 of 169 recorded arrivals shown, 142 more from 127 other companies80 of 286 recorded departures shown, 206 more to 176 other companies

After NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  • 2%Founded something6
  • 17%Joined a startup46
  • 34%Joined a big company92
  • 47%Elsewhere

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

How long people stay

42%<1y
12%1-2y
23%2-4y
17%4-7y
5%7y+
1y 6m median tenuremiddle half 4m to 3y 11m

133 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: 323 joined, 316 left.

Caliber

84mediantop 10%93
0Eng Scorer caliber, 167 scored99

Titles held here

  1. Software Engineer Intern66
  2. Software Engineer26
  3. Intern18
  4. Research Intern9
  5. Summer Intern9
  6. Machine Learning Intern7
  7. Data Science Intern5
  8. Data Scientist5

8 most common titles, by people who held them.

First job on the record for 41% of people here.

Behind the median

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

  • 6%Exceptional10 people
  • 29%Strong49 people
  • 31%Solid51 people
  • 25%Emerging41 people
  • 10%Unproven16 people

167 of the 339 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.

59 of the 167 people here with a read sit in exceptional or strong, the top two of the five tiers, 35%. A tier is the band a 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.

37%Titles that rose85 of 229 classified people

  • 37%Rose85 people
  • 60%Stayed level138 people
  • 3%Fell6 people

229 of the 339 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 with one title here who then left, it's 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. Titles that match no rung are left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely as a different ladder. What's left leans towards people who have left: someone still here on one recorded title has nothing to measure against.

Where they studied

  1. Caltech16.0%
  2. Stanford10.4%
  3. MIT9.5%
  4. UC Berkeley8.3%
  5. UCLA8.0%
  6. Carnegie Mellon7.1%
  7. USC7.1%
  8. Georgia Tech6.8%

The 8 most listed schools among the 338 people here with a school on file.

54 of the 338 people here with a school on file list Caltech, 35 list Stanford and 32 list MIT. A person can list more than one, so these overlap.

Public work

one square is one in a hundred
31%have a public GitHub account on their profile

104 of the 339 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check missed reads the same as no account, so this is a floor.

31% is the median across the 857 companies that can show this figure.

Where they are now

45% of the people who have worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 41% of everyone on the map.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Everyone on the map
  • 45%SF Bay Area152 · map 41%
  • 14%Los Angeles49 · map 5%
  • 12%New York41 · map 18%
  • 6%Washington DC20 · map 13%
  • 4%Boston12 · map 2%
  • 4%Seattle12 · map 5%
  • 2%Denver6 · map 0.8%
  • 2%San Diego6 · map 0.5%
  • 12%Somewhere else41

All 339 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 working at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: a metro here isn't an office there. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map.

Key facts

  • 339 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: 14 are there now, 325 have moved on.
  • Most leave for Northrop Grumman: 16 people, 6% of recorded departures. Then Google and Amazon.
  • Most arrive from NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration: 6 people. Then Google and Northrop Grumman.
  • Median tenure at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: 1y 6m, middle half 4m to 3y 11m.
  • Of the people with a recorded next move after NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2% went to a founder title next, 17% joined a company of 200 or fewer, and 34% joined one of 10,000 or more.
  • Median Eng Scorer caliber here: 84 on the 0 to 99 scale, across 167 scored people.
  • Most common title held here: Software Engineer Intern, then Software Engineer.
  • Top school: Caltech, listed by 54 of the 338 people here with one on file (16.0%). Then Stanford (35).
  • 45% of the 339 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 41% across the map. Where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
  • 31% of the 339 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub.
  • 85 rose, 138 stayed level, 6 fell, out of the 229 people here whose title could be placed on a ladder before and after.

About this data: built from 352,028 jobs across 67,181 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated September 30, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving. Companies under 20 people on the map aren't shown, and destinations under 3 people fold 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 67,181 engineers.

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