[chilukrn]

I agree the post makes valid points, but is there anything new in that? It had been discussed several times here and on other forums as well. "RSE" is just another made-up position with a very average pay structure -- even this is not new.

However, RSEs (or just general software training) may help research groups establish a structure on how to format code, put some standards in place, and at least have some basic tests. This way, more people can read/modify the code efficiently (more = not necessarily general public, but it at least helps incoming grad students/postdocs to pick up the project easily).