Saturday, December 3, 2022

There's a Lesson in this Article Somewhere


However, I don't think the right people will be listening.  Crucial Computer Program for Particle Physics at Risk of Obsolescence at Quanta Magazine.  Top-of-article tag line:
Maintenance of the software that's used for the hardest physics calculations rests almost entirely on a retiree. The situation reveals the problematic incentive structure of academia.
It's odd, but it is also true.  The crazy thing is that funding managers too often don't want to hire on a pipeline of young up-and-comers to fill these gaps, and then there's a mad scramble when The Old Dude up and decides he'd rather be sailing with the grandkids.  It's akin to the deferred maintenance problem, but with a multi-decade time scale.

Other than get better management, no, I don't have a solution either.

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