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I'm curious as to what motivates your question. Is there an expectation that a software developer could contribute to climatology more than a climatologist coul

• Jemaclus 11y ago
  That's a great question. I don't think it's a matter of "Can I contribute more than a climatologist? but rather "How can I help a climatologist make better models and predictions?" or "How can I help my city reduce homelessness?" or "How can I help microbiologists develop vaccines for Hepatitis C or HIV?". Maybe it's building software. Maybe it's just getting word of mouth out. I don't really know. But I have a particular set of skills that don't directly map to those industries, and I'm not sure how I can contribute beyond just throwing money at the problem. To give a little more context, my fiancee is a microbiologist (lab researcher). I talk to her often about her work, but I don't understand 95% of the jargon she's talking about, just like she doesn't know the difference between OOP and ASAP. I mean, at some point it's about educating myself on these issues. But like I said in my original post, I don't know where to start. If I don't know anything about microbiology, how do I learn enough to contribute software, without requiring a 4 year degree in microbiology? Does that make more sense?