Ivelina Momcheva edited Training.tex  almost 9 years ago

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Back to the full sample, in Figure \ref{fig:train2} we show the breakdown of answers as a function of research area. The trends remain the same across all fields.  The breakdown by country (Figure \ref{fig:train3}) shows that the results are similar internationally. The fraction of astronomers with significant training is largely independent of geography. Some geographical variations exist in the fraction of participants who have at least a little training: the USA has the largest fraction with training: $55\pm3\%$, while Australia has the smallest with $35\pm7\%$. Based on these results, we speculate that opportunities to receive at least a little bit of training are more available at US institutions or that more US researches seek out such opportunities.   In conclusion, across all career levels, research areas and countries, only a small fraction of astronomy researchers receive significant training in software development. The lack of a strong trend with career level may indicate that significant training only occurs at the undergraduate level (and some participants left comments to that effect). While graduate students are more likely to have had a little training, it seems that few graduate programs offer and/or require CS courses (otherwise, (otherwise  junior astronomers will have a higher level of significant training). Overall, $\sim90\%$ of the survey participants have received only a little bit of training at best, despite \emph{all} being software users, and most being writers of their own software.