What makes RSEs unique members of a software team?

Teatime Theme - Collegeville 2021

Charles Ferenbaugh, Los Alamos National Laboratory Jeffrey C. Carver, University of Alabama Ian Cosden, Princeton University Sandra Gesing, University of Notre Dame Daniel S. Katz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

In the past decade, Research Software Engineers (RSEs) have become increasingly recognized as contributors to scientific software projects, even though their role has been in existence (often unrecognized) for many years before that. What unique contributions can RSEs bring to software teams and communities? Is the recent increase in recognition an indication of the increasing importance? What’s the future of RSEs as part of research software development teams?

In general, RSEs can be a bridge between the two worlds of research and software engineering:

• They bring knowledge of, and attention to, software best practices that researchers may not know
• They bring an appreciation of the special needs of the research environment that other software engineers do not have
• They bring multi-project (and often multi-disciplinary) knowledge and experience
• They bring the ability to train others in software best practices that are customized for a project
• They bring the aspect of software sustainability into projects and thus sustainability of research projects
• They are incentivized by and prioritize software development, rather than direct research output, which improves the long-term sustainability, maintainability, and performance of research code In our experience, RSEs can help improve the work of an existing team, or set a good foundation on a team that is just starting up. Conversely, the addition of RSEs to a team could introduce some challenges, especially related to cultural differences.

In this teatime discussion, the authors will lead a discussion around experiences (good, bad, and perceived) with RSEs as part of teams developing research software. All RSEs out there, or those who work with RSEs, or those who are just curious, are welcome to join in!

Resources: US RSE Association International RSE association sites