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> There are areas I feel I could be helpful with, e.g. creating reproducible experiments or ensuring a codebase could be open sourced in relation to a paper. It

> There are areas I feel I could be helpful with, e.g. creating reproducible experiments or ensuring a codebase could be open sourced in relation to a paper. It's a lot of grunt work that nobody really has time to do. Nobody has time to do those things because they are valued less than publishing new research, and thus are of lower priority. You'll have a frustrating time in academia if you define yourself around your ability to do things that the people evaluating you believe to be unimportant. If you can meet or exceed expectations on delivering research and get all those lower-priority things done, you'll be very well-liked. Just remember that the former is a requirement and the latter is icing on the cake.

Fomite 8y ago
"Or ensuring a codebase could be open sourced in relation to a paper" This is required in a 1.7 million dollar grant I'm the PI on. I run a computational lab - making sure my research code base is high quality is one of my highest priorities, and I've seen people have very fruitful careers doing just that.
- slavik81 8y ago
  If those things are valued, the academics will be doing them. Like in your lab, for instance.
  - Fomite 8y ago
    "If those things are valued, the academics will have already be doing them. Like in your lab, for instance." We're trying to. Doesn't mean I wouldn't like to hire someone whose better at it. Just like we do a lot of mathematical analysis, but I was still excited about hiring an applied mathematician. And when I said I knew people with fruitful careers, that implies I know academics already doing them.
    - slavik81 8y ago
      That's great to hear. I do think those values are spreading, but they are definitely not universal yet. If a prospective student wants to be sure that sort of contribution will be appreciated, they should seek out groups who have expressed interest in those skills.
      - Fomite 8y ago
        Indeed. But I think the demand is there - most of my colleagues are actually having trouble recruiting people with those skills. We complain about it on...a regular basis.

Fomite 8y ago

"Or ensuring a codebase could be open sourced in relation to a paper" This is required in a 1.7 million dollar grant I'm the PI on. I run a computational lab - making sure my research code base is high quality is one of my highest priorities, and I've seen people have very fruitful careers doing just that.

slavik81 8y ago
If those things are valued, the academics will be doing them. Like in your lab, for instance.
- Fomite 8y ago
  "If those things are valued, the academics will have already be doing them. Like in your lab, for instance." We're trying to. Doesn't mean I wouldn't like to hire someone whose better at it. Just like we do a lot of mathematical analysis, but I was still excited about hiring an applied mathematician. And when I said I knew people with fruitful careers, that implies I know academics already doing them.
  - slavik81 8y ago
    That's great to hear. I do think those values are spreading, but they are definitely not universal yet. If a prospective student wants to be sure that sort of contribution will be appreciated, they should seek out groups who have expressed interest in those skills.
    - Fomite 8y ago
      Indeed. But I think the demand is there - most of my colleagues are actually having trouble recruiting people with those skills. We complain about it on...a regular basis.