HEP Software Foundation Community White Paper Working Group - Training, Staffing and Careers

TL;DR

This paper discusses the necessity for enhanced training programs in high-energy physics (HEP) software development to equip researchers with advanced computing skills like concurrency and AI, addressing current educational gaps.

Contribution

It reviews existing training initiatives in HEP and identifies key issues for developing effective programs in modern computing skills.

Findings

Current HEP researchers lack sufficient training in advanced computing skills.

Existing initiatives are underway but face implementation challenges.

Enhanced training is crucial for meeting future experimental and computational demands.

Abstract

The rapid evolution of technology and the parallel increasing complexity of algorithmic analysis in HEP requires developers to acquire a much larger portfolio of programming skills. Young researchers graduating from universities worldwide currently do not receive adequate preparation in the very diverse fields of modern computing to respond to growing needs of the most advanced experimental challenges. There is a growing consensus in the HEP community on the need for training programmes to bring researchers up to date with new software technologies, in particular in the domains of concurrent programming and artificial intelligence. We review some of the initiatives under way for introducing new training programmes and highlight some of the issues that need to be taken into account for these to be successful.