Making Quantum Computing Open
Ruslan Shaydulin, Caleb Thomas, Paige Rodeghero · 2020
Quantum computing (QC) is an emerging computing paradigm with the potential to revolutionize the field of computing. QC is a field that is quickly developing globally and has high barriers of entry. In this paper, we explore both successful contributors to the field as well as the wider QC community with the goal of understanding the backgrounds and training that helped them succeed. We gather data on 148 contributors to open source quantum computing projects hosted on GitHub and survey 46 members of QC community. Our findings show that QC practitioners and enthusiasts have diverse backgrounds, with most of them having a PhD and training in physics or computer science. We observe a lack of educational resources on quantum computing. Our goal is to use these results to start a conversation on making quantum computing more open.