At this year’s RCD Nexus Day, nearly 70 RCD professionals came together in the Building Onramps to the RCD Profession track to tackle an important question: How does anyone actually find their way into this work, and what would we tell them if we could? Attendees came from big research universities, small colleges, libraries, national labs, and industry. We broke into small groups and talked about what the job really looks like day-to-day, which skills matter most, where the jobs are hiding, and how each of us got here. The common thread was that almost nobody planned it – they stumbled into their RCD career.
As demand for RCD careers is projected to grow in the coming decades, workshop attendees recognized the need to help students and those looking to change careers become aware of and excited about RCD field, and provide them with a clearer path to entry.
The result of the workshop is a new publication, Onramps to the RCD Field: A Guide to Careers in Research Computing and Data, a full-length guide with detailed information, resources, and advice to help those interested in pursuing an RCD career. In addition to the full-length guide, we have also developed a quick introduction to spark an initial interest in the field. Both are free to share.
Please help share the guide!
The people who need this guide most aren’t going to stumble across it on the CaRCC website. But they are talking to career counselors, academic advisors, and faculty – and you might know those people on your campus.
Please share the quick introduction and full guide with:
- Your career services or employment office
- Advisors in computer science, data science, the sciences, and less obvious fields like library science and digital humanities
- Students you employ or mentor
- Any high school or community college outreach programs at your institution
A huge thank you from workshop co-lead, Stephen Deems and myself to everyone who brought your time, stories, and honesty to the workshop. And thank you to the students and early career RCD professionals who helped us improve upon the early drafts. This guide is yours. Let’s get it to the people who need it!
Have additional ideas for helping to distribute the guide or ideas for improving the guide? We view the guide as a living document that will evolve and improve over time, so please share your ideas! And if you share the guide, we’d love to know about it and any feeback you might receive. Email daphne@carcc.org or message me on CaRCC Slack.