4 ms·

> Coders are under valued in today's research environment. Exactly because it is a research environment. Coders are valued in a tech company environment becaus

> Coders are under valued in today's research environment. Exactly because it is a research environment. Coders are valued in a tech company environment because that's where they're the stars. In any other organization, such as a transportation company or a government bureau, a coder is just an assistant to the main tasks, and there is no reason it shouldn't be different.

metaobject 11y ago
Yep. I write simulation and data analysis software for a large company. My names appeared on ~5 papers simply because of the fact that I wrote the software used for the research.
- spooningtamarin 11y ago
  You could have easily added a BSD derivative license where one would be required to cite your paper or just your authorship if they've used the software. I've noticed this being a good way to maximize credit.
  - Athas 11y ago
    This is both BSD- and GPL-incompatible, which has all sorts of potential ramifications. Particularly the GPL-incompatibility prevents you from including GPL-licensed code. Although both BSD and GPL already require attribution, so you could say that it's redundant.
spacecowboy_lon 11y ago
And in scientific computing the senior researchers are not paid very much so the supporting developers/tecnhnicians are badly paid. When I was a Research Assistant/Experimental Officer at a world leading Rnd organization I was paid about 1/3rd of what other jobs with similar entry requirements did.
- jcoffland 11y ago
  That depends on who you work for. I've gotten paid well for research programming but only from top level universities and research institutions with money. Working for a state university usually won't pay well if at all.
- jcoffland 11y ago
  That depends on who you work for. I've gotten paid well for research programming but only from top level universities and research institutions with money. Working for a state university usually won't pay well if at all.
aiNohY6g 11y ago
(scientist w/ 15+ years experience in software dev in bioinformatics, with nice results, see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=grosdidier+aur%C3%A9lien http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=grosdidier+aur%C3%A... ) I think a decent software development capability is one among the many skills a scientist must be able to be comfortable with in order to provide society with valuable research results. Professional developers are given a task, or a goal, and are focused on the right way to do it. Some do wonders, but they aren't paid to go beyond the goal they are assigned. When you're a scientist, the software is not a goal, but only a tool that will be subjected to further iterative refinement. No one else but you knows about the proper efficiency / flexibility / level of abstraction you need. There's a strong need for scientists combining both scientific and development skills. Btw, I'm looking for a new position ^^
jcoffland 11y ago
Your argument fails miserably for research in computational biology.

metaobject 11y ago

Yep. I write simulation and data analysis software for a large company. My names appeared on ~5 papers simply because of the fact that I wrote the software used for the research.

spooningtamarin 11y ago
You could have easily added a BSD derivative license where one would be required to cite your paper or just your authorship if they've used the software. I've noticed this being a good way to maximize credit.
- Athas 11y ago
  This is both BSD- and GPL-incompatible, which has all sorts of potential ramifications. Particularly the GPL-incompatibility prevents you from including GPL-licensed code. Although both BSD and GPL already require attribution, so you could say that it's redundant.

spacecowboy_lon 11y ago

And in scientific computing the senior researchers are not paid very much so the supporting developers/tecnhnicians are badly paid. When I was a Research Assistant/Experimental Officer at a world leading Rnd organization I was paid about 1/3rd of what other jobs with similar entry requirements did.

jcoffland 11y ago
That depends on who you work for. I've gotten paid well for research programming but only from top level universities and research institutions with money. Working for a state university usually won't pay well if at all.
jcoffland 11y ago
That depends on who you work for. I've gotten paid well for research programming but only from top level universities and research institutions with money. Working for a state university usually won't pay well if at all.

aiNohY6g 11y ago

(scientist w/ 15+ years experience in software dev in bioinformatics, with nice results, see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=grosdidier+aur%C3%A9lien http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=grosdidier+aur%C3%A... ) I think a decent software development capability is one among the many skills a scientist must be able to be comfortable with in order to provide society with valuable research results. Professional developers are given a task, or a goal, and are focused on the right way to do it. Some do wonders, but they aren't paid to go beyond the goal they are assigned. When you're a scientist, the software is not a goal, but only a tool that will be subjected to further iterative refinement. No one else but you knows about the proper efficiency / flexibility / level of abstraction you need. There's a strong need for scientists combining both scientific and development skills. Btw, I'm looking for a new position ^^

jcoffland 11y ago

Your argument fails miserably for research in computational biology.