Application Engineer

Once formed from towering columns of gears and levers that were slow and clumsy, computers have advanced into complex yet portable devices that perform so many different tasks it makes a user’s head spin. Programming a computer’s basic functions, and creating the applications that control those functions, have evolved into separate disciplines. Application Engineers create and use applications to improve a computer’s performance and help a company run more efficiently.

Think of an application as the control panel to all the computer resources hidden below it. Computers can only perform certain basic functions, but combine these functions in the right way and you can create everything from photo editing software to programs that solve complex math problems.

As an Application Engineer, you look at the problem at hand, whether it’s adjusting how an application runs or updating an old application. You sniff out and solve errors, input data into the application, and recode it to expand its range of performance. By the end of the day, your application is humming away, making calculations and graphing information.

Of course, Application Engineers can do more than just write applications. You can also use applications to examine and solve problems. Though still highly technical in nature, this line of work focuses more on the use of computer applications than on coding them. Wherever you choose to work, this field lets you pair your logic with creative thinking to solve real-world problems using virtual software.