How To Become A Scientific Programmer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a scientific programmer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Brian Glas

The days of scientists haphazardly mixing chemicals in basement labs are long gone. Today's labs are much more high-tech than that and often involve complicated software to track experiments. Since most scientists don't specialize in programming in addition to physics or chemistry, the scientific programmer helps them out.

A scientific programmer works with scientists to develop software tools to meet the needs of their experiment. They can design tools that help process large amounts of data, modify existing products to fit the needs of the lab, or even code something from scratch. The scientific programmer also maintains the software tools in a lab and makes sure that there are no bugs.

Many scientific programmers have advanced degrees such as master's or doctoral degrees. It takes a real smart cookie to master computer coding and complicated lab sciences like the scientific programmer do.

What general advice would you give to a scientific programmer?

Brian Glas

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Union University

Build relationships: Different technologies will interest and challenge you, but throughout your career, you'll find that it's the relationships that are the most important. This is harder to grasp earlier in your career, but much easier to understand after 15-20 years.
Gain different perspectives: Spend time with people in other roles that your job interacts with, and gain a solid understanding of how they view things; this is most valuable for career progression and understanding of how your work fits into the big picture.

ScoreScientific ProgrammerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $83,969

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.1

Growth rate -7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 19.13%

Black or African American 4.92%

Hispanic or Latino 8.69%

Unknown 4.68%

White 62.40%

Gender

female 18.56%

male 81.44%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

5.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a scientific programmer

Explore scientific programmer education requirements

Most common scientific programmer degrees

Bachelor's

67.1 %

Master's

20.6 %

Doctorate

7.9 %

Start to develop specific scientific programmer skills

Skills	Percentages
Python	16.97%
Visualization	7.30%
Linux	7.29%
Software Development	6.70%
Java	5.83%

Complete relevant scientific programmer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New scientific programmers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a scientific programmer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real scientific programmer resumes.

Research scientific programmer duties and responsibilities

Manage web server on NT.
Design object-oriented, pattern-driven Java tools to flexibly manage scientific data archive to an SQL database.
Develop an automate faculty evaluation application using SAS, UNIX and VMS scripts.
Research, design and implement a velocity function prediction algorithm in C++ on Linux under the Promax geophysical software.

Apply for scientific programmer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a scientific programmer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams