What are some duties that systems engineers do?

jjwooyoung · January 2014

I had initially applied for a Jr information assurance position, but was contacted back regarding a systems engineering position. The job description is incredibly vague. So I was wondering if someone can shed some light? The company told me they want someone at entry level so they can train. Is this what contractors do most of the time?

Anyways, here are the main points I got from the description:
- Conduct requirements and systems development/analysis
- Work with team members to plan requirements and systems engineering practices across organization
- Conduct research and analysis of technical reports and formal documentations
- Basic qualifications: Experience with systems engineering, computer science, or systems analysis (academic or professional)

Base on this vague description, I think it's mostly systems architecture and design right? Or will there include configuration/administration of networks, etc?

Akaricloud · January 2014

Honestly it's a pretty vague title these days and that's a very vague description. You should be asking them exactly what this entails and what your responsibilities will be.

cyberguypr · January 2014

Remember one key thing, titles mean nothing. Let me illustrate with a few Systems Engineer position I grabbed from Indeed.com:

Position 1:

Primary Accountabilities

Identifying and resolving customer issues in a timely and thorough manner to include appropriate communication to the end user.
Assist local and remote employees of our clients with the installation, configuration, and ongoing usability of desktops and notebooks, peripheral equipment and software.
Work with our vendor support contacts to resolve technical problems with equipment and software.
Developing and maintaining processes and procedures to help streamline the support functions for each of our clients using our enterprise ticketing and monitoring tools.
Developing and scheduling reports to show the value we bring to our clients in the form of work done, health of equipment, etc.
Performing onsite site assessments to gather all information required to determine supportability identifying any suggested adjustments.
Identifying process improvements to help streamline and automate common support tasks.
Train and orient client employees on use of workstation hardware and software.
Perform upgrades and software patches on client systems.

Position 2

Qualifications:

Work in diverse hosting environments including Rackspace, AWS, Joyent and physical.
Knowledge with: Linux (CentOS, Debian), Windows Server 2003 and 2008 understanding of file system layout differences and installation tools used
ESX/VM-Ware
Amazon AWS EC2, Elastic IPs, S3, CDN
Architect and implement solutions that solve complicated application challenges around performance, database scaling/sharding, and data transformation.
Be able to troubleshoot any issues related to technical portion of game delivery.
Perform application deployments and maintenances that can occur off hour
Understanding of VPN and various firewalls including iptables
Network backup and recovery techniques.
Network monitoring tools such as Nagios, MRTG or other SNMP tools.
Able to quickly perform problem isolation in an online production environment.
Requires strong oral and written communication skills.
B.A/B.S. -preferably Computer Science or Engineering degrees

Position 3

Responsibilities

Leadership/Project Management:
- Provide leadership, guidance and mentoring in developing a positive, proactive approach to infrastructure systems service and support
- Cultivate excellent customer service to internal FA staff and clients of FA-Hosted applications and infrastructure systems
- Assist in the coordination of infrastructure projects and day to day work efforts of the server team to ensure timely execution of projects and tasks
- Work with management team members, decision makers and stakeholders to define business requirements and systems goals

Strategy & Planning:
- Proven experience in overseeing the design, development and implementation of application systems
- Design and deploy new services and enhancements to existing applications, software and operating systems
- Perform research, cost-benefit and return on investment analyses for proposed systems to aid management in making implementation decisions
- Interact and negotiate with vendors, outsourcers and contractors to purchase products and services
- Conduct research on software and systems products to justify recommendations and to support purchasing efforts
- Propose and create system documentation, design models and specifications

Operational Management:
- Performs daily and proactive maintenance of predominantly Windows infrastructure environment and respond quickly to alerts
- Develop solutions, install hardware and software according to schedule
- Participate and adhere to all Change Management meetings and practices
- Monitor server platforms to achieve optimum performance levels and make proactive adjustments to provide in-depth diagnosis
- Design and perform server and security audits, system backup procedures, and other recovery processes in accordance with the company’s disaster recovery and business continuity strategies
- Ensure system connectivity of all servers, shared software and other applications
- Create and maintain documentation as it relates to system configuration, application mapping, and network configuration

A key thing is to be aware that purposely vague descriptions may be trying to hide something. Some places post a Systems Admin position and insert the "assist Helpdesk as required" or "act as final escalation point for all Helpdesk issues" which in reality could mean that you'll be stock with whatever the Tier 1 password reset drone couldn't solve. Not saying that this is normal, just something to be on the lookout for.

NEVER assume anything. The best best is definitely to get a clear, concise job description and clear all questions beforehand.

Ukimokia · January 2014

Yeah, I would just contact them and get them to give you a full job description, because if it's vague then there's really no telling what to expect really.

There's no harm in calling them and asking for a full job description. So I'd go that route than asking people on here.

What are some duties that systems engineers do?

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