Stephen Hawking Looking For Personal Techie 289
kaptink writes "One of the great grandmasters of space, time and the history of our existence is seeking an assistant to help develop and maintain the electronic speech system that allows him to communicate his vision of the universe. An informal job ad posted on Stephen's website said the assistant should be computer literate, ready to travel and able to repair electronic devices 'with no instruction manual or technical support.' He lost his real voice in a tracheotomy in 1985, but has something based on NeoSpeech's VoiceText speech synthesizer mounted on his wheelchair that helps synthesize speech by interpreting the twitches of his face. The synthesizer's robotic monotone has become nearly as famous as Hawking himself, but the computer — powered by batteries fastened to the back of Hawking's wheelchair — isn't just for speaking. It can connect to the internet over mobile phone networks and a universal infrared remote enables the physicist to switch on the lights, watch television, or open doors either at home or at the office. It's a complicated, tailor-made system, as the ad makes clear. A photograph of the back of Hawking's wheelchair, loaded with coiled wires and electronic equipment, is pictured under the words: 'Could you maintain this? If your answer is "yes", we'd like to hear from you!'. Hawking's website says that the job's salary is expected to be about $38,500 a year."
Re:You know... (Score:5, Insightful)
You could also probably supplement it later by writing a book or something about being Stephen Hawking's techie. It's a nice attention-grabber to have on your resume, too.
Good luck (Score:5, Insightful)
Finding someone for that kind of pay who is able to do all of this and do it well won't be easy:
Re:You know... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know -- I get the impression that he's bitter about his ALS and says there's no God b/c he has his condition.
Got a reference to back that up?
I've heard he's not a pleasant person to work with in the past. But, I think it's a stretch to say his work in physics has been fueled by some deep hate of his condition and a rage toward some guilty god... ...I bet it's more likely a chance to explore the universe outside of his rather confined body.
Re:also (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Peanuts (Score:4, Insightful)
Easy £50K for an EE? You're not talking about the the UK, are you?
So, it's totally irrelevant to a job based in the UK.
Are you all kidding me? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is for a graduate assistant to STEPHEN HAWKING.
My stipend was 1/4 of that at best and, oh yeah, did I mention... This is for a graduate assistant to STEPHEN W. HAWKING.
I know you guys are all so F'ing incredible that you don't need resume bullets or care about other peoples' ideas, but how's about
Um, if I were eligible I'd be making them KNOW I was their man!
Re:You know... (Score:5, Insightful)
Does he read /.? (Score:4, Insightful)
Does he read /.?
That may be important to consider, before you post.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Are you all kidding me? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is for a graduate assistant to STEPHEN HAWKING.
No, not really. It is for a personal assistant who has some technical skills to maintain the assistive devices he uses.
A graduate assistant position is a part-time position that is used to fund PhD or MS students while they are studying, and the webpage is quite explicit in saying that this is NOT a position for someone who wants to study physics. This position has nothing to do with a graduate student.
One thing universities are quite clear on, at least those I've attended and worked at, is that if you aren't a graduate student you aren't eligible for graduate assistantships. In fact, we just had a student graduate who needed a short-term position until her real job started, and she was not allowed to be a GRA, she had to get an appointment as a faculty assistant.
Not that this job wouldn't be interesting, but it would be more of a caretaker than an academic relationship.
Re:Wow (Score:4, Insightful)
Old people on the other hand have a better idea of how much their expertise is worth.
Older people should also have a better understanding of what friends and colleagues are worth.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
So, here we have a golden opportunity to work for one of the most brilliant humans to ever exist, tinkering with an amazing if poorly documented system, jetsetting around the globe, being paid to attend sold-out physics lectures... and all half the /. community can think to do is bitch about the pay grade.Seems the Green-Eyed Monster (and this global recession) has ruined a lot of folks.
I am the sole earner for my family. When I can pay the bills for their food, clothing, shelter medical, education and transport by saying I work for Steven Hawking (let alone having anything on the side to buy luxury items like gadgets) you can call me greedy. In the mean time grow up and stop calling people greedy when it is clear you don't have much of a grasp on what it might be like to really struggle. This is a job. Unless you're independently wealthy, you do it for the pay. You are not going to be paid to smoke a pipe and discuss the universe with Hawking - you are going to be his servant.
This may come as some surprise to you, but many people manage to support a family on "only" $40K a year - without public assistance. Maybe they don't live in a house as nice as yours or drive a car as nice as yours, but there's no reason why you can't support a 4 person household on $40K/year. But they don't buy many gadgets.
I'm not independently wealthy, but I chose to take a job working for a non-profit for less pay. It's not all about the money for all people. I do get paid (and it's more than $40K/year), but I think the cause of the non-profit is worth taking a lower salary.
I don't think this job is Hawking's servant any more than I am the servant of my current boss.
The way I see it, the fact that Hawking is likely footing the bill for the room, board, and travel expenses of whoever gets the gig (as they would be considered a member of his 'care team'), not to mention getting to hang out with Stephen fucking Hawking, $38,000 per annum seems like a pretty damn good deal.
Now, if only I could get my wife on board... I wonder if he needs an economist, too...
If you're seriously considering perhaps your wife would do better with a counsellor or failing that a divorce lawyer. You are suppose to be the bread winner for your family - travelling and getting free board may appeal to you but you are displaying a non-financial form of greed by not thinking about your family.
What do you mean he is supposed to be the bread winner for his family? Do you live in the 1950's when every wife was destined to stay home, raise the kids, and every day, touch up her makeup and meet the man of the house with his martini every night? A father doesn't have to buy his kids gadgets to show he's thinking of him - how about taking his son to work to help him refurbish a famous physicist's wheel chair? How about exposing his daughter to an extremely accomplished disabled man to show her that she can be anyone she wants to be - she doesn't have to relegate herself to being a housewife solely dependent upon her husband as the breadwinner for the family.
Re:Diverse skills (Score:4, Insightful)
Sounds like a lot of direct PR stuff is involved, including scheduling and logistics, and even graphics design, which are probably not skills the typical techie would be strong in. Also, the pay sounds kind of low considering it's a whole lot more than just maintaining his technology.
I agree, there's a lot of people in this thread saying that complaining about the pay is ridiculous but for all you're expected to do and all you'll have to know to do it it's actually very little money. It's grad student money. It's fucking insulting, is what it is. If you have some serious physics problems he promises to help you with, it might be worth it. We're talking about maybe only one job's worth of work, but it's three careers' worth of skills, and inadequate pay for any of them.
Valid point (Score:5, Insightful)
The circles that he would travel in would be quite prestigious. In the science community he'd be regularly in the presence of some of the greatest minds alive today. In the political community, he's among the "Rock Stars" that politicians want to have pictures of themselves standing next to... as if the association would make them smarter.
On top of that... companies focused on making hardware/software solutions would almost certainly consider a person who worked directly with Steven Hawkings on his accessibility solutions as an ideal CTO for their company. If a person is interested in accessibility solutions as a career and would be interested in starting a business, obtaining government grants or simply raising money for the company would be simple having had that position earlier.
I'd imagine that there are even some great UN posts for someone who held this position. Technical adviser or chairman of this committee of another.
So... while the pay sucks majors balls... if a person sticks around in this position for 4-5 years... they can almost certainly gain the visibility and even a certain level of prestige which would secure their future indefinitely.
Oh... the fact that the person could in theory learn something along the way or even have the opportunity to test their system upgrades by having high level conversations about theoretical physics with a person, who though not as amazing as the press makes him, but still certainly capable of holding his own might be a big bonus for some.
If I weren't married with kids, I would seriously consider this position.
Re:also (Score:5, Insightful)
[citation required]