What is an RSE?
On the us-rse.org we describe an inclusive definition of what it means to be a research software engineer, or RSE. It generally means you use practices from software development to advance research. But what if you also do a lot of open source development? Or research on your own? What if you serve multiple communities?
Why the RSE Phenotype Generator?
It wouldn't be right to say that an RSE must fall within a strict set of categories, or dimensions. Nor would it be correct to assume that all RSEs serve the same user communities. This is the reason that this tool exists - with the RSE Phenotype generator you are the one that gets to decide the dimensions that are relevant to you (open source and research? high performance computing and software engineering? Documentation and testing? Something else?) along with the communities that you serve, for which you could provide a score for each dimension.
How do I participate?
If you self identify as an RSE, we want to understand the work that you do! We need the help of the community to paint a picture of all the different kinds of RSEs that are out there. With this general information, the global RSE community can better support you. To participate, use the generator to create an image the describes your role, where:
- Dimensions: is a comma separated list of the facets that describe your work. It could be as simple as software engineering, research, and high performance computing. It might be something else.
- Groups: is a second comma separated list of the groups or communities that you serve. For example, you could do a large chunk of software engineering for an open source community, and then provide research support for an academic community. The idea is to give a score for each dimension, and for each community.
- Name: is a title for the plot!
Once you have finished your image, export it and tweet it with the tags #rseng and #rsephenotype. Guess
what? We will be selecting one tweet at random to win a prize.
How do I edit the scores?
You can edit the scores directly on the plot by dragging the points. You can use the randomize button first to select a color scheme that you like!
Can I use or edit the generator?
Sure! The code is all on GitHub, here