There are efforts under way to improve the standing of scientific programmers, for instance the UK initiative described in this post:  <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;software-carpentry.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2015&#x2F;06&#x2F;what-is-a-research-software-engineer.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;software-carpentry.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2015&#x2F;06&#x2F;what-is-a-researc...</a> .<p>There are now fellowships in the UK specifically aimed at scientific programmers: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.epsrc.ac.uk&#x2F;funding&#x2F;calls&#x2F;rsefellowships&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.epsrc.ac.uk&#x2F;funding&#x2F;calls&#x2F;rsefellowships&#x2F;</a> . Even so, currently there no real career path for scientific programmers.  Hopefully this will change in the future!