The duties of a scientific programmer are to design a variety of tools for researchers to perform statistical and mathematical modeling on large datasets. They often work within a specific framework or software, and their responsibilities are to script tools that make it easier for scientists to use the programs or models. Their duties may include designing a new user interface or creating shell scripts for the UNIX or Linux operating systems. A scientific programmer also conducts code review and quality assurance tasks to ensure that programs are ready to be used. Qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in computer science, bioinformatics, or computational biology. If you want to specialize in a particular discipline, you may need additional experience or advanced qualifications.