[wcerfgba]

I am interested to learn about fields where software engineers can help to bring about innovation and push those fields forward, providing some of the tech that is missing there. I would like to apply my skills in a transdisciplinary manner and work on projects that are not just B2B SaaS products.

One option is research software engineering, where SWEs team up with researchers to produce better code for models and simulations. Are there any research fields where synthesis of domain knowledge, programming skills, and computational thinking could bring great benefits?

[ilikehurdles]

Drugs/medicine (both research and manufacturing). The pockets of potential pharma clients are immensely deep while the fields are largely dominated by haphazard taped-together tools consisting of paper, excel, and visualbasic, handled by outsourced contractors and constrained IT departments. If you can shave off some time to get drugs to market using modern technology you will enjoy financial success.

I imagine that technology in any kind of manufacturing or mining field is going to be similar or predominately dominated by one or two big players that haven’t faced an innovative competitor in decades.

[elliekelly]

> the fields are largely dominated by haphazard taped-together tools consisting of paper, excel, and visualbasic, handled by outsourced contractors and constrained IT departments.

Ditto for Wall Street. The “innovation” tends to sit on top of woefully outdated systems rather than replace them.

[carabiner]

Mechanical engineering is one. The problem is gaining buy-in from the old guard that your newfangled tech will make their lives easier, not harder. To do so, you might need to get a mechanical engineering degree and work as one for a few years. Reminds me of how FarmLogs was started by someone who grew up on a farm. Ultimately the block is communication/persuasion, not technical though.

[rdtwo]

Mech e problems are more regulatory and data driven. Lack of testing data and consensus amongst experts are what good back innovation. Mechanical stuff kills people, even if it’s has software people blame the gun not the bad software

[amelius]

You could become a scientific programmer.

[wcerfgba]

Is a scientific programmer similar to a research software engineer (RSE)?

[fancyfish]

Yeah, RSE is probably the term you’ll see in job ads

[the_only_law]

Fwiw, a vast majority of “scientific programmer” roles I’ve seen are more so looking for a “Scientist who can program”.

[rawtxapp]

Biotech is one, we are still nowhere near close to understanding the secrets of the human body, there remains lots of incurable conditions, etc.

I think the speed at which they were able to develop mrna vaccines just shows how far along we've come, but also how much more we have to go. Things like protein folding at deepmind definitely requires all these things you mention.