  As software has become more essential to research across disciplines, and as
the recognition of this fact has grown, the importance of professionalizing the
development and maintenance of this software has also increased. The community
of software professionals who work on this software have come together under
the title Research Software Engineer (RSE) over the last decade. This has led
to the formalization of RSE roles and organized RSE groups in universities,
national labs, and industry. This, in turn, has created the need to understand
how RSEs come into this profession and into these groups, how to further
promote this career path to potential members, as well as the need to
understand what training gaps need to be filled for RSEs coming from different
entry points. We have categorized three main classifications of entry paths
into the RSE profession and identified key elements, both advantages and
disadvantages, that should be acknowledged and addressed by the broader
research community in order to attract and retain a talented and diverse pool
of future RSEs.
