I agree with James to some extent. I think the brightest hackers/engineers tend to be more focused on puzzles than communication skills. There is some trade-off there, but I think it’s better to err on the side of knowledge and passion rather than media professional, at least for this audience. We’re mostly technical people and knowledge will go further with us than energy.

@Bergo:
I don’t follow Ben Heck’s work super-closely, and I don’t want to diminish his work, but I wouldn’t say that he’s the perfect host for such a show. At least from what I’ve seen, he hasn’t really demonstrated a great understanding of electronics. His hacks are mostly wiring new switches to the pads of existing controllers and fitting hardware in shiny new cases. Fabrication is where he really shines, and the level of polish is what people like to see. It’s really a different audience, I think.

Jeri Ellsworth has the knowledge and passion, but I wouldn’t really call her super energetic. Using hosts of Revision 3, or similar internet TV shows as a benchmark, I can think of very few who she exceeds in energy.
That’s totally perfectly fine though. Like I said, we don’t really need ‘energy’. What we need is someone who’s actually capable of showing us interesting new tricks, and someone like her would be perfect for that job.

MY INVENTIONS TEND NOT TO WORK, I BARELY SPEAK ENGLISH, I HAVE A LISP AND A CRAPPY WEBCAM!
when should i expect my first paycheck?

You are going to have to find a pretty big sucker to rope in; an electrical engineer with a strong mechanical background and a high level of media skill, to work for 40K? EEs in the area start at 75K, Cost of Living is at 254 in Santa Monica! http://www.bestplaces.net/city/california/santa_monica#

Also, Ben Heck has a show on Revision 3 which, I would say, is pretty energetic.

This is all _really_ tangential though.

Wow good luck filling that. that location and chump-change pay rate.

Does it come with a cardboard box for them to live in? Santa Monica = gotta be rich to live here. and $40K is not rich.

I am a well paid R&D engineer in the Boston area. . . while I only have 4 years in industry at this point I can still command a very good salary. Regardless, I would do this just as I would take a teaching job at a university. I suspect there are many post-docs out there who fit the bill for this position. Yes, industry can pay more than twice HaDs offer, but their offer is on par with anything that can be found in academe.

- Robot

@Robot:
Yeah, I guess people can get caught up in salary and forget about job satisfaction! Working at HaD is probably a great environment to nurture a sense of job satisfaction for passionate hackers.

I’m side tracking but it would be cool if HaD or some other group made a “hackers guild” where people could physically come together, show and tell, and share their hacks, maybe even collaborate on bigger projects :-)

I could see someone that’s really good at this, starting for $40k… and earning a hefty raise as the ratings go off the charts… or vice versa. This would be a sweet gig for someone that wants to go have fun and be creative. The salary would get you a place to live, but it wouldn’t be great or anything. You would be consumed with hacking and having fun, so I don’t think that would matter much. I wonder if HAD will provide resources such as parts, PCB making supplies & services, tools and equipment… you know, typical stuff an engineering company would provide for you to do your job. If so, what would the annual budget be?

HurpDurp: Well, the person could also modify and expand on other well-done hacks out there. I’d also like to do a hacking 101 series for Mahalo.com as a bridge to get some folks into the space who might be intimidated.

finally, we might be able to have this person take requests/crowdsource project ideas.

i’m really into mobile/video/wearable/car/clothes hacks….. i think the lifecasting + mobile + interweb + sensor space is going to be big.

Don’t diss Jeri she’ll thermite your
work bench and test equipment while you
watch on, helpless, crazyglued to the spot.

This is an awesome opportunity.
Getting paid to hack….
I look at this as HAD giving back to the community. That money coulda gotten some one a nice vacation or bonus. Instead they recycle it into the community.

40k a year in Santa Monica?

For people that don’t know California real estate and living costs, that’s works out to be about 15k a year compared to the rest of the country. For someone with the combined skill set of hacker, inventor, camera man, editor and producer – you’re offering peanuts.

Shame on you HAD. Shame on you.

If you up the pay rate to something that an older, experienced hacker could stomach, you would be spending more but ultimately putting together a much higher quality show. Ideally, the right person would have more knowledge and experience than any of your current writers. Someone who still enjoys electronics and hacking things, but who has a lot to teach us all. I’m thinking someone on the level of Windell Oskay, Bill Hammack, Tom Igoe, etc…not someone who figured out one or two cool things for a senior project, but someone who has made a career of this stuff and miraculously doesn’t still have one. Gonna be tough to find. But you’ll get way better investment from your money, compared to putting someone inexperienced into a situation where they have to think what to do next with an Arduino, RC servo, and an LED.

i am pretty amazed with the salary related comments i read above.

Here in Greece, a normal day job (8 hours min – probably 10 hours) will provide a monthly salary of 1000 – 1500 Euro aka approx 1400 – 1800 $. And I am talking about serious office jobs in IT departments with project management etc.

If Bill D Williams is accurate…then having a salary of 40.000 $ – 15.000 $ cost of living = 25.000 $ free for personal use…that’s more per month than our pitiful 1.500 Euro/month salary….

Seems like in America, you have a totally different way of living… (not judging, i wish things were the same here).

Good luck to all candidates and HAD.

This is doomed because of the low pay your offering… it’s pretty much unanimous. If you do find someone for this ridiculous pay I’d be surprised if they can deliver what you ask for.

$40-$50 K and you might actually get some serious applications from someone that can actually deliver.

Everyone suddenly wants to be Element14.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?
Good luck HaD. :)

Echo the 30-40k being low.

The position and pay sounds more geared for a part time college student.

Second thought, if you get a list narrowed down, why not post demo rolls and let the HAD viewers vote on the final person?

who want to play psychic ? lets guess who HAD find
a) arduino freak
b) wannabe artist

@cafeine lets do math
40K-13k taxes (secret fact most taxes are illegal)
27K – (1.2K rent *12monts) = 12.6k
so you left with around 1k a months and we didn’t count freaking FOOD (300) electricity(100) phone(100) bla bla blaLikeCar(1k). AND if you unlucky to break a bone that year it cost you another 5-15K

so no its not gold on streets it is piss

If you want someone churning out high-quality hacks, say, every week, I think you’ll be disappointed. I had a short run doing articles for a magazine, and it’s hard as hell and really damaging for the creative juices to actually *have* to come up with something new and cool. Perhaps I set the bar too high (I usually want to do something no-one else has done or thought of yet), but I know I probably couldn’t do it. (And besides, everyone would probably laugh at my Dutch accent… :) )

@AnubisTTP
It kind of is a flaw because every euro or dollar should be worth the same no matter where you go, but they aren’t. I understand cost of living going up relates generally to higher salary in the area, but this is why some people commute from low cost of living areas (where they live) to high cost areas (the workplace) thus taking advantage of differing values of the currency.

Taking this even further, you could work online for a company in a country where cost of living is 5 times higher, making you rich compared to people who work where you live.

How about you instead pay me to do it, but not in CA. It’ll fit in nicely with the hacking show I’ve been working on for quite a while. I swear one day I’ll actually finish an episode.

thanks for all the replies!

it’s always interesting to see how economy works in other countries.

the problem is not specific to the euro currency. it involves VAT (23% in Greece), taxes, health insurance and all above mentioned. Even gas prices make a difference…in GR gas price is 1.62 Euro/litre etc….

Study Greek economy for a laugh….low salaries, extreme taxes, health insurance etc, everybody on loans and credit cards…..titanic should be emblem! :p

thank god we have OUZO and TSIPOURO to drink to forget our problems. :P:P:P

many hopes that a new “hacker” will join the HAD team in mutually profitable terms.

I want to ask a HAD team a favor, please just dont hire a fan (of anything)

I think it could be more interesting to have someone of a reasonable skill level, rather than someone with a vast knowledge of everything hack related. That way you could have them learning new skills to complete projects. Generally people are more enthusiastic when they have just learnt something new as apposed to something they’ve been doing for years. This would also make the position easier to fill.

I think part of the hacker mindset is to learn new skills as an when needed. Not just for the sake of it.

I wished I live in US..