Cubbli software
You don't need root rights to install, compile or develop software. Software can be installed and run from your own home directory, including binary libraries and daemons. Most programming environments for scientific computing provide tools to manage library dependencies without any administrator rights (Python, R, nodejs and probably many others).
If a installer or a compiled software tries to install itself by default to a system location (like /opt or /usr/local), just change the default (yes, you might need to read the manual). This has the added benefit that your development will survive operating system and machine upgrades and can be reproduces later when the original machine doesn't exist anymore. And you can have multiple different environments if you have multiple projects.