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Trae Cervantes has been working at Tesla for more than seven years.
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Cervantes played several roles in Tesla’s factory in Sparks, Nevada.
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He told Business Insider what it was like to work with the company and why he chose to leave.
This essay is based on a conversation with Trae Cervantes, which worked as an engineering technician at Tesla until March 2025. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I started at Tesla’s GigaFactory in Nevada as a manufacturing associate in 2018 and worked in the role of engineering equipment. I occupied at least four different positions in Tesla in time.
I was attracted to Tesla because I needed a way to improve my situation. Leading to Tesla, I didn’t do super well. I went through a divorce, arrested drinking and driving and worked in two jobs to finish the edges. One of my best friends worked there and he told me to apply. When I got the job, I left the two jobs and immediately received a better paid role with more rest.
The reason I stay is because they continued to treat me well. I was paid the most I have ever received in my life in adulthood. Without education, no real skills to speak and Tesla offered me opportunities to take responsibility for my life and develop my career.
I started on their production line for Model 3 and moved from there. When I started, it was a grueling job. He pressed heavy things up and down the paths. I was on my feet 12 hours a day, but they also give you three to four weekends a week to recover.
It was a physically demanding job, but it didn’t bother me. I knew that if I demonstrated good working ethics, I could work on my way and that’s what I did. Every few years, I was able to move up, from a manufacturing associate to a technician, to manage the engineering roles.
A month in a new role was March 2020 and we were all fired. It was a great nap for me. No one told us what was going on and I felt like I would lose my job. But we returned to work five weeks later and learned to work around the new Covid safety standards.
I had the feeling that I really took over ownership of my area and eventually became a leader for this team. To do it, I really had to show my value – I had to use my skills and build relationships and get. You have to do this in Tesla – skills are not enough, you also need relationships and you have to show that you can take the groin because things always change there.
In 2023, they gave me the opportunity to go to school through a program at a local college of community. They helped me get a certificate of advanced production. I took nine courses between January and May, all while I was still fulfilling my normal duties and even made the dean list. I later received another certificate, a green belt certificate for Lean Six Sigma.
“A cult of personality around the Elon”
I have never drank the help of Elon Musk Kul.
When I started with my orientation, they talked about his controversial tweets. They said he had put him in hot water with the securities committee and exchanges, but they are most joking about it, and his behavior is good because of who he is, what he is doing, or as much as it is worth it.
There has always been such a way of thinking in Tesla, a cult of the person around the Elon. I remember when he smoked a weed of Joe Rogan’s experience, seeing so many T -shirts mentioning him in GigaFactory.
I thought some of the things he did were wrong, like an incident with Thai diver, but I believed in the mission. Then suddenly he jumped into a capacity where he could influence my daily routine.
His participation in Twitter, his involvement in the election, all this worsens the company’s mission. I didn’t understand how much it matters to the last few months.
Emily Savings for Bi
When Musk started throwing his money into politics, it was a big thing for me. What I took a problem with the most was the distribution of future voters. It seemed so morally wrong. I didn’t want to get in touch with it.
I began to actively view his history of the company as well. The price of the shares and how we make money – none of this makes sense to me. That was another reason I wanted to go out. There are many empty promises that are not fulfilled, such as full self-driving or lower EV consumption.
When I first left, I exposed hard
When he raised his hand and made this Nazi greeting, I was disgusted. (Editor’s note: While discussing the incident with Joe Rogan, said Musk, “May people realize I’m not a Nazi.”)) Last year, I started to be ashamed to tell people where I was working.
I talked to a few people in Tesla and explained to them why I believed it was a Nazi greeting, and most of the time they just heard me.
Nearly by the end of my time in Tesla, I began to raise politics, because somehow I got to a point where I was not really interested. I started working on my summary.
I spoke to my wife, my very close friends and explained the reason I wanted to leave. My wife just wants to be happy. Many of my friends are really, really angry with Musk, just as I am. Everyone was excited to leave the company. I have a pretty good maintenance system.
I changed my profile in Memus’ Meme teams. I remained that day.
When I left for the first time, I had difficulty. I had no tidy job and could stay longer or wait for me to be fired and at least tear. But then I started thinking about the cuts last April and I remember sitting in the building, seeing people sending text messages and teams messages and wondering if they were working. There were people who did not understand until they reached the security gate at the factory. Why would I like to experience this?
In between, and then on the day Trump bought Tesla on the grass of the White House, which happened the same day, when I resigned about my resignation, I felt more decisive in my decision.
When I met with my leader and wrote down, I told him, “I have to leave. I can’t do it anymore. I get to the point where I feel like a moral compromise, walking through these doors every day.”
I won’t lie, I cried a little. Seven years is a long time and Tesla has not always been bad for me.
What I would say to people is, if you sit in my shoes and feel uncomfortable, continue. Do what you think will help you sleep at night.
There are many good people in Tesla. I did not leave the place because of the company. I left because of the face of the company.
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