Question: How did you get into your profession (Radio telescope project manager) ?

Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 14 Jun 2011:

It’s a long story.

When I was very young I was somewhat interested in astronomy (my favourite book was about the stars and planets). Then, when I was about 6 or so, I saw a photograph of a radio telescope control room in a newspaper. The photograph totally amazed me and I knew that this was what I wanted to do when I grew up.

So, I went through school, being interested in lots of things, but especially science and, in particular, astronomy. When I left school, I ignored the advice of parents and teachers and studied astronomy at university. This meant mostly maths and physics, but also some other subjects too (like chemistry and geology).

After my first degree, I started a masters degree, but I was having some problems and at some point I couldn’t keep studying and so I started looking for jobs. And then I spotted a job for “operations coordinator”. It meant working at a radio telescope and coordinating (or organising) what the telescope does. I applied and got the job. (A few years later that allowed me to work in the exact same control room that I saw in that newspaper as a child!)

Now this job just means operating a telescope. It doesn’t mean managing new telescope projects. That came later. I did that first job for about 5 years, and then changed for another telescope support job. Two years later I had the chance of another job… this time writing control software for optical telescopes. In that job, I had to manage a small group of engineers. It was here that I got my project management experience (although on a very small scale).

Since then I worked on a few other projects, but then in 2009 I started work on a project called LOFAR. I was to help build a new radio telescope in Hampshire. But then, the project manager of that telescope left. There was someone in temporarily for a bit, but the people in charge, realised that I had project management experience and that I knew a lot about radio telescopes. So they asked me to take over as the new project manager.

Since then I’ve completed that project. Because it was a success, I’ve been asked to work as a radio telescope project manager the whole time now. I’m currently managing a project in Finland. After that I will start managing a project to build a telescope in the southern hemisphere.