The LHCb Starterkit initiative

The vast majority of high-energy physicists use and produce software every day. Software skills are usually acquired on the go and dedicated training courses are rare. The LHCb Starterkit is a new training format for getting LHCb collaborators started in effectively using software to perform their research. The initiative, combining courses and online tutorials, focuses on teaching basic skills for research computing, as well as LHCb software specifics. Unlike traditional tutorials we focus on starting with basics, performing all the material live, with a high degree of interactivity, giving priority to understanding the tools as opposed to handing out recipes that work “as if by magic”. The LHCb Starterkit was started by young members of the collaboration inspired by the principles of Software Carpentry, and the material is created in a collaborative fashion using the tools we teach. Three successful entry-level workshops, as well as two advanced ones, have taken place since the start of the initiative in 2015, and were taught largely by PhD students to other PhD students.