The EEVblog is Hiring

[EEVblog]

Bit of a chuckle, You really need help with this one 
Nice add, wish most employer were like this. 

I can appreciate a well maintained lab, it adds a lot of often intangible value.
One of the most valuable positions in any EE company IMO has always been the lab manager. Sadly they are pretty rare these days.

[FrankBuss]

I don't think it's going to be easy to find someone at a hobbyist level that has tailored the skillset you ask for, but a basic understanding should at least suffice, if they are willing to learn a bit more (be enthusiastic), that should be easier to find.
I imagine you will get people who say they can, but in reality, they can't, might be a long boring process, bit like a talent competition.

It is not difficult to find out his/her real knowledge in an interview fast, maybe even a telephone interview first, if you know the things yourself that you exepect the employee to do, as Dave does, and ask the right questions. Once I was working as a freelance programmer for a client and I was asked to talk with someone who they wanted to hire. I needed a few minutes and I didn't recommend him. He was hired nevertheless (he was really good at impressing the managment), but then fired half a year later, leaving some messy code.

[EEVblog]

Cheapness will always bite you in the ass. IMHO.  We've all had that cheap-ass boss.  Don't be one of them.  We have more respect for you than that.  My 2 cents.

For the record, I know for a fact that I am offering around 35% more than some local EE students are getting in similar work experience jobs.
Don't bother replying, I just wanted to state that.

[all_repair]

Probably not wise to have public parade on the hiring process.  A small company hiring is like a short, fat, ugly person choosing his/her spouse.  Do not forget, the other end is also choosing. 

[EEVblog]

Probably not wise to have public parade on the hiring process.

I'm not. Any who applies will be held in the strictest confidence until such time as they are hired and inevitably end up on the live feed camera.
The live cam will be off during interviews.

[Zero999]

I say good luck. No doubt, the person you're looking for isn't thwe type who'd be after a lot of money. I'm sure you know you won't be able to find someone who'll hgave all those skills but you're right to set your standards high.

[rsjsouza]

Interesting employment opportunity. Back at the university I worked for free on a silicon processing lab just to get the experience... Despite I was already a pretty active hobbyist, it helped me have access to more "serious" electronics tools (circuit/PCB design with Protel, PCB manufacturing, advanced programming...) and other areas as well (mechanical, plumbing, chemistry). I ended up doing my graduation thesis with them.

What helped is that I was fortunate enough to still live with my parents (a common thing in Brazil for university students).

All in all, good luck with your quest. What I learned over the years of mentoring is that enthusiasm may or may not be present on the person you hire, but you quickly realize when the interest and eager is there. For what we also learn in the process, it is surely worth the journey.

[deephaven]

I agree with rsjsouza. This is a golden opportunity for the right person.

[EEVblog]

What helped is that I was fortunate enough to still live with my parents (a common thing in Brazil for university students).

It's very common here in Oz. I'd be pretty safe in guessing the majority of local university students would live with their parents. Very few students chose to move out of their home city to go to university, let alone another state. Total opposite to the US system in which it is mandatory at many (majority?) of universities that you live on campus.

[EEVblog]

Is that what you are offering? It sounded more like a casual thing without guaranteed hours. Or is the industry experience component usually unpaid in Australia?

Nope, only a fool would take an unpaid internship in Australia IME. In EE I'm not aware of any unpaid positions, but that doesn't mean there aren't.
Whilst it is legal, there are a lot of restrictions on unpaid work in Australia.

[miguelvp]

Let's put it this way,

It probably pays more than a student position at the UNI lab, you get to do cooler stuff than to teaching some stubborn unskilled student how to solder or use the equipment, and you get better skills than at the lab.

You do have to put up with Dave (which I don't know how easy it would be to work for) but that's about it.

I think it's a great opportunity for those students that take all the optional credits available just because they are hungry to learn. They are uncommon but there are plenty of them out there.

The interns we hire (programming) excel compared to your run of the mill students we do get those as well but they don't tend to last, and we ask for more than what Dave does.

[Dave]

... up to an average of 30 hours per week ...

No student has that much time on his hands, if he is taking his studies seriously. The enthusiastic people you want to hire usually take their studies seriously. Something doesn't add up here.

I expected you of all people not to devaluate the work of engineers (the work you described is the work of a full blown engineer). Paying someone peanuts and having a large EE community watching you do that sends a very, very bad message to aspiring engineers.

[miguelvp]

... up to an average of 30 hours per week ...

No student has that much time on his hands, if he is taking his studies seriously. The enthusiastic people you want to hire usually take their studies seriously. Something doesn't add up here.

I expected you of all people not to devaluate the work of engineers (the work you described is the work of a full blown engineer). Paying someone peanuts and having a large EE community watching you do that sends a very, very bad message to aspiring engineers.

You gotta be kidding, of course they have the time, I did work at the computer lab and as a student position I was allowed to even do homework when it wasn't too busy. I would think Dave will not only allow it but he can probably mentor you at the same time.

As for the tasks being for a full blown engineer I don't see where you get that. Nevertheless Internships at companies usually is to gate talent or at times where projects cycles demand extra hands but the company can't commit to full employment because then you end up with a lot of taskless employees and you drain more than you produce. The alternative is outsourcing.

So it's not unusual for Interns to have Masters or even PhDs, it's just a temp job and what you get is skills in the field that is hard to come by other ways.

[SeanB]

Dave may end up with 2 or more people to get the time down to a level where he is comfortable, and they will get a **__MUCH__** better education per week from Dave than they will at UNI/TAFE. Practical things, like how to actually do the job, how to organise ( I know looking at the lab this looks like it is sorely lacking, but there is seemingly enough done to keep to a schedule at least and get most of it done) and how to prioritise somewhat on the job.

Would apply, but the 20 hour commute each way would be a big issue, though with the new EEBunker and a sleeping bag, and a quick shower at the work facilities that would not be a problem.

[Dave]

You gotta be kidding, of course they have the time, I did work at the computer lab and as a student position I was allowed to even do homework when it wasn't too busy. I would think Dave will not only allow it but he can probably mentor you at the same time.

Okay, I understand that the hours are very flexible. Nevertheless, 30 hours a week comes to 6 hours per workday. I am currently studying electrical engineering and I have no idea how I could squeeze an extra 6 hours of work into my day. Not to mention driving to and from the lab.

As for the tasks being for a full blown engineer I don't see where you get that.

Oh, let's see:
-Managing production, ordering components, juggling with fabricators, assemblers
-Investigating, designing, developing, testing and debugging new products
-Dev. tool setups and evaluation
-Forum and website maintenance
-Production of blog content

Essential skills:
-Analog, digital and embedded project design
-Drawing schematics, designing PCBs, coding firmware and PC apps
-Soldering, construction and debugging
-Writing documentation

How is this not a skillset of a full blown engineer?

[FrankBuss]

How is this not a skillset of a full blown engineer?

It depends on the complexity of the project. As Dave wrote, many advanced hobbyists can do all the tasks. It's not like he would expect someone to layout a 16 layer PC mainboard, source the components and organize the manufacturing of it, what you would expect from a "full blown engineer", but I guess more something like a simple two layer USB power supply board, with Dave mentoring the employee if he/she gets stuck somewhere.

[miguelvp]

Oh, let's see:
-Managing production, ordering components, juggling with fabricators, assemblers
-Investigating, designing, developing, testing and debugging new products
-Dev. tool setups and evaluation
-Forum and website maintenance
-Production of blog content

That means what the internship will teach you.

Essential skills:
-Analog, digital and embedded project design
-Drawing schematics, designing PCBs, coding firmware and PC apps
-Soldering, construction and debugging
-Writing documentation

Translated:

He is looking for someone that at least is familiar with the tools and packages and is not a total slacker that is just getting a degree and the documentation will show your potential, but all of those are at an student level of knowledge, he is not asking for previous experience or expertise.

Edit: If you apply at your UNI for a student position at the lab, wouldn't it have the same skill set that Dave is asking for? I mean you are going to be there to support TAs, even TAs are expected to work harder than professors. That is life and it's because the TA even if he steps up to the plate compared to the rest of the students doesn't have the experience the professor has, but the TA will recognize the value of stepping up to the plate.

Take for example the first C++ internship that google found:

https://www.amd.apply2jobs.com/ProfExt/index.cfm?fuseaction=mExternal.showJob&RID=30647&CurrentPage=8&sid=254

The Heterogeneous System Software team is looking for software intern that is eager to learn and apply leading-edge processor technologies. As a member of the development team, the candidate will be responsible for working with the architects to implement OpenCL extensions and performance modeling and analysis. This is an opportunity to work with a team that is developing a software stack that unleashes the full potential of AMDs future generations of hardware.

Candidates must be expert C++/C programmers with strong debugging skills. Candidates must have a strong understanding and ability to apply programming primitives such as multi-threading, locking, queuing, and memory management. Prior experience in parallel programming models such as OpenCL and CUDA is desirable. Ideal candidates will have a good understanding of computer architecture concepts, such as CPU, GPU, multi-level caching, coherency, and virtual memory.

That is an AMD internship position which I dont work at nor am I associated with.
But that level of requirements are usually what big companies ask to get an internship with them.

Edit: the experience requirements are probably beyond what most experienced programmers out there can do, it's not unusual to try to get new blood into the field your company works with.

[EEVblog]

... up to an average of 30 hours per week ...

No student has that much time on his hands, if he is taking his studies seriously. The enthusiastic people you want to hire usually take their studies seriously. Something doesn't add up here.

As I've said, many engineering courses require a full-time or almost full-time industry experience component. Some courses you have to do 6 or 12 months work experience before you'll get your degree. I'm allowing for those people.

I expected you of all people not to devaluate the work of engineers (the work you described is the work of a full blown engineer). Paying someone peanuts and having a large EE community watching you do that sends a very, very bad message to aspiring engineers.

What part of I'm paying maybe 30% more than what other similar EE's might earn in a similar role did you not hear?

[EEVblog]

How is this not a skillset of a full blown engineer?

Because a professional level skillset is NOT expect, but basic hobby level.
How many times do I have to say it, any hobbyist worth their salt can do this stuff to a basic level.

[Dave]

What part of I'm paying maybe 30% more than what other similar EE's might earn in a similar role did you not hear?

Oops, I admit, I did miss that. You might want to mention that in the job offer PDF.

[8086]

What part of I'm paying maybe 30% more than what other similar EE's might earn in a similar role did you not hear?

This does sort of beg the question of why you're downplaying the pay in the ad (spec? The PDF).

You're acting in the ad like it doesn't pay much, now you're saying you're offering 30% more than market rate.

[EEVblog]

Oops, I admit, I did miss that. You might want to mention that in the job offer PDF.

I'd feel uncomfortable doing that because it might raise expectations that they'd be getting a professional wage or something.
Wages for positions like this vary greatly, and whilst I know I am paying 30%+ above what some others are paying local intern EE's, to a lot of people it still may not be much money, and I might be paying less than some others.
This is designed to perhaps be a first industry job for someone to get a foothold, or a student on work experience, and the wages reflect that.
In any case, it's paying more than I got paid for my first professional job in 1989 (inflation adjusted).

[RobertoLG]

I would love to work there if I could, probably a great expirience with all that equipment and Dave's knowlege, just my modest opinion...

[Muttley Snickers]

Some of this stuff might be worth a quick read, just for referance.

Prior notification is compulsory from what I understand.

Muttley

[Howardlong]

Some of this stuff might be worth a quick read, just for referance.

Prior notification is compulsory from what I understand.

Muttley

Red tape like that is why there are so many one man bands. Before you can employ someone in a salaried position, if you followed all the rules, you'd need an HR department and a lawyer. That is why casual employment makes so much sense to small outfits. Hopefully common sense will prevail.