5 ms·
Why on earth would you pick an engineer to be an assistant? Engineers are usually people who want to build things, and being a good assistant has nothing to do
by larrik 16y ago
Why on earth would you pick an engineer to be an assistant? Engineers are usually people who want to build things, and being a good assistant has nothing to do with that. I don't know what fields are ideal for this sort of position (MBA would be my guess), but I can't imagine any engineering field to be one.
- stcredzero 16y agoWhy on earth would you pick an engineer to be an assistant? Because I could also tell her to do stuff like "Set up an Amazon EC2 instance" and she could just look up instructions and do it. (I know, because exactly this happened!) She could do geeky, she just didn't understand "assistant." I wanted someone who could do both.
- tptacek 16y agoI'm not going to say that you're wrong to want to hire a person like that, but I will say that most people who hire "assistants" don't expect them to coordinate password databases with contractors or spin up EC2 instances. I can see why it would be particularly hard to hire the kind of assistant you seem to be looking for.
- stcredzero 16y agoFrom the writings others who have advocated assistants, like Tim Ferris, it seemed possible to find someone with a modicum of technical ability, but who also could generally "Get Things Done." I may have a skewed view of what constitutes trivial technical things.
- nl 16y agoI may have a skewed view of what constitutes trivial technical things. I think perhaps you are right :) System Admin and Office Admin are distinct jobs. You should expect an office admin (ie, an assistant) to work out how to use your phone system (but not to install it) or to drive Excel and your payroll system.
- true_religion 16y agoCorrect, most people don't do this but there's a class of 'assistant' where technical skills are worth more than secretarial skills. For example, research assistants are expected to help with the tedium of econmetric studies (e.g. performing regressions, collecting data, etc.) and this requires at least a masters level education.
- roel_v 16y agoRight, but you don't call those 'assistants', they're professional staff. 'Assistant' = title inflated way of saying 'secretary'. Who with a master's degree wants to have 'assistant' on their business card, unless it's very clear that it's a short stepping stone towards becoming whatever is after the 'assistant'?
- khafra 16y agoJust out of curiousity, what's the salary of a personal assistant who can both keep your schedule, and set up an EC2 instance?
- stcredzero 16y agoThis was a not yet employed recent engineering college grad who was contracting with me for $12/hr. And to be precise, she could spin up an EC2 instance, but couldn't keep my schedule.
- gamble 16y agoFrankly, for most people in that situation, (highly educated, working in a low-paid contract job doing menial tasks unrelated to their education or interests) their first, if not only priority is going to be finding a real job.
- stcredzero 16y agoThis what she eventually did, but in the beginning, she seemed enthusiastic about having some kind of part time work. In just about the time she spent almost arranging a meeting, she could have just gone ahead and arranged it. I think acting on your own initiative is something not everyone quite knows how to do.
- gamble 16y agoYes, that's quite true. Most people are by nature reactive - even many high-level engineers. I've known many great programmers who can do amazing things once they get started, but simply can't seem to get going until they're told what to do. Employees who actively identify and solve problems are incredibly valuable.
- stcredzero 16y agoEmployees who actively identify and solve problems are incredibly valuable. Valuable enough to make co-founders.
- billybob 16y agoHonestly this sounds kind of strange to me. It's almost like, "I need someone who can code Ruby and also take out the trash." Making appointments isn't quite the same, but it's certainly not using the skills of a technical person and seems insulting. At the very least, administration is a different skill set. It's like "I need a salesperson / chef" or "I need an accountant / news reporter." What you need is 2 people.
- stcredzero 16y agoHonestly this sounds kind of strange to me. It's almost like, "I need someone who can code Ruby and also take out the trash." Adjusting a Wordpress site or spinning up an EC2 instance isn't the same as coding Ruby. (For values of "coding" that are really substantive.) Making appointments isn't quite the same, but it's certainly not using the skills of a technical person and seems insulting. She knew what she was getting into ahead of time. I doubt she was ever insulted by what I asked her to do. At the very least, administration is a different skill set. It's like "I need a salesperson / chef" or "I need an accountant / news reporter." What you need is 2 people. Actually, there is call for someone who has some culinary skill and some sales ability, and they can be useful for making money. (The guy who did the Miracle Blade infomercials, for example. There are others in boutiques I see around town operating on smaller scales.) Accountant / news reporter -- I could see a valuable business reporting niche! What is a founder, but a W/X/Y/Z person?
- tptacek 16y agoAdjusting a Wordpress site or spinning up an EC2 instance sounds firmly within the job descriptions of an "IT operations manager", who clearly would not like the title "assistant". Just for what it's worth. Nobody is saying you're crazy for wanting to hire that person.
- stcredzero 16y agoPerhaps I was hoping for too much when I thought I had found her.
- noblethrasher 16y agoThere are a lot of reasons people study engineering besides wanting to build things.