35 ms·

research software engineer?

by redanddead 4y ago

badpun 4y ago
It’s typically a role where you code internal software supporting a research group you’re a part of. Usually pays a small fraction of what commercial devs make, unfortunately.
yawnxyz 4y ago
Yep! It's way more than just "software engineering" though: I design + build the infrastructure around collecting samples, patient data, clinical trial data, etc. I do stuff like: figure out how to collect data and generate reports for regulatory approval; figure out how to collect / clean data in a way that supports ML in the future; set up the entire data capturing system, e.g. choose databases, build interfaces, set up automation/ETL/choose tech (e.g. R2 vs. S3?); help other team members publish papers (too lazy to publish my own, and as a software engineer that doesn't really help me); etc. It's a lot of stuff going on, and in some sense it's like a "CTO" role of both steering, designing, and implementing tech to help steer a clinical trial in the right direction. But we're not a pharma clinical trial — we're a research lab, so our group is tiny (<10 full-time), so we're constantly doing everything and under-resourced. So it kind of feels like a startup in a lot of ways, but with very different KPIs and measurements of success, since we're grant-driven. Professionally, it's me and another bioinformatician doing all the tech decisions, so it's giving a lot of experience that are transferrable out into the tech world if I ever wanted to come back (I used to be a UX designer). And yes, the pay is terrible (I make less than my first jr. UX designer role), but it's also much less stress than a tech job. And it's rewarding because I can say that our team helps treat people like a 7yo girl who almost got her leg amputated from an infection, and she's absolutely fine now! (But yes, I wish it paid more, and it might, if we score this massive pending grant.)

35 ms·

research software engineer?

by redanddead 4y ago

research software engineer?

badpun 4y ago
It’s typically a role where you code internal software supporting a research group you’re a part of. Usually pays a small fraction of what commercial devs make, unfortunately.
yawnxyz 4y ago
Yep! It's way more than just "software engineering" though: I design + build the infrastructure around collecting samples, patient data, clinical trial data, etc. I do stuff like: figure out how to collect data and generate reports for regulatory approval; figure out how to collect / clean data in a way that supports ML in the future; set up the entire data capturing system, e.g. choose databases, build interfaces, set up automation/ETL/choose tech (e.g. R2 vs. S3?); help other team members publish papers (too lazy to publish my own, and as a software engineer that doesn't really help me); etc. It's a lot of stuff going on, and in some sense it's like a "CTO" role of both steering, designing, and implementing tech to help steer a clinical trial in the right direction. But we're not a pharma clinical trial — we're a research lab, so our group is tiny (<10 full-time), so we're constantly doing everything and under-resourced. So it kind of feels like a startup in a lot of ways, but with very different KPIs and measurements of success, since we're grant-driven. Professionally, it's me and another bioinformatician doing all the tech decisions, so it's giving a lot of experience that are transferrable out into the tech world if I ever wanted to come back (I used to be a UX designer). And yes, the pay is terrible (I make less than my first jr. UX designer role), but it's also much less stress than a tech job. And it's rewarding because I can say that our team helps treat people like a 7yo girl who almost got her leg amputated from an infection, and she's absolutely fine now! (But yes, I wish it paid more, and it might, if we score this massive pending grant.)