(Very) few research groups can fund a commercial grade software engineer. Unless they’re intending to sell the software, it might not even be sensible to do so

(Very) few research groups can fund a commercial grade software engineer. Unless they’re intending to sell the software, it might not even be sensible to do so - like hiring another nmr specialist or whatever. These would be considered departmental support staff and groups could bid for their services. Chem departments used to have staff modellers for this, but the $$ in industry sucked them all away. Coding somebody else’s problem lacks status in academia, and the money is poor. Why would people do this as a career?