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> The problem is more pay gap with industry. Even though they tend to pay well by academic standards (e.g. no PhD required, yet pay is much higher than a senior

> The problem is more pay gap with industry. Even though they tend to pay well by academic standards (e.g. no PhD required, yet pay is much higher than a senior postdoc), the salary is still way below what industry in London or Oxbridge offers. I know sufficiently many good programmers who would love to do scientific programming (because they love science) and would immediately accept less pay. The problem, in my opinion, rather lies in the non-monetary work conditions. For example, in Germany it is nearly impossible to get permanent employment contract when working at a scientific institute and doing something remotely related to scientific work. Even worse: you are not even allowed to work more than 6+6 years (before and after doctorate) in a fixed-term employment position at a scientific institute If this time is over, you are not even allowed to take any non-permanent contract at a scientific institute (the infamous/insane Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (WissZeitVG)). No programmer (even if (s)he has a great passion for science) will be willing to work under such extraordinarily bad conditions.

nextos 7y ago
That sounds bad indeed. Here it is a bit better. Most positions I know of are de facto permanent. On paper they are not, as most labs go through 5-year funding cycles. So there's a tiny chance of loosing funding. It's quite rare for big labs. Besides, places like MRC have created permanent research assistant positions. Which are actually permanent and put zero pressure on publications. As you say, connecting with interested and talented programmers is another problem. I feel that Nature Jobs postings, which were already a big leap forward for rusty uni administrators, are not good enough.