Learning & Training
Onboarding
RSE
Learning foundations for research support staff
Research support roles at TU Delft span software, data, infrastructure, policy, and coordination.
While depth differs per role, many learning foundations are shared across support functions.
This section provides a common orientation to learning and development. It can be used for:
- onboarding and self-orientation,
- identifying learning priorities,
- conversations about professional growth.
- finding structured training & courses to follow.
Core technical foundations
These are baseline technical skills expected across most research support roles (RSEs, RDEs, data stewards and related roles).
- Version control with Git
- Programming or scripting (e.g. Python, R, and/or C/C++)
- Linux and shell usage
- Working on shared research infrastructure
- Understanding of structured data and common data formats
- Basic testing and validation practices
Software oriented roles (e.g. RSEs)
- Software design and modularization
- Code maintainability and refactoring
- Automated testing and CI/CD
Data oriented roles (e.g. RDEs)
- Data modeling and schema design
- Metadata concepts and standards
- Data validation, quality check and ETL pipelines
Structured training & course sources
In addition to self-directed learning, the following structured training opportunities are valuable for support staff across TU Delft:
Software architecture & maintainability
- Code Refinery - modular design, refactoring, and sustainability
- Netherlands eScience Center - software development best practices
- The Turing Way - software sustainability & design
Testing, CI/CD, and quality assurance
- Code Refinery - testing & CI lessons
pytestdocumentation- Property-based testing (Hypothesis)
- GitHub Actions (CI pipelines)
- GitLab CI/CD