System Integration Engineer

Human beings learned early on that even when two things are very far apart, they can build something that brings them together: a bridge, for instance, a road or — if you’re a Stunt Performer — a zip-line!

In the case of a System Integration Engineer, what’s being brought together is systems, including technology systems and information systems, to name two of the most common.

Indeed, it’s your job as a System Integration Engineer to take two disparate systems and devise a way to effectively and efficiently marry them so they work with — not against — each other. The most common example is in the IT industry, where a System Integration Engineer might be hired to integrate all the various components of a computer (for example, the hardware, processor, operating system, software, and peripherals) to make sure they’re compatible, even though each component is often produced by different companies operating by different standards.

Take an Internet browser: If you work for Google, it’s your job to make sure Google’s browser works with all variety of computer hardware and software so users can access the Internet seamlessly from their PC, even though Google didn’t make it.

Another example exists in the defense industry, where you’re paid to help various military and government agencies physically and functionally integrate their various databases and applications.

Wherever you work and whatever systems you integrate, you’re an Engineer who’s like a really technical Carpenter: You glue, staple, screw, and nail things together — figuratively speaking, of course — by borrowing skills from the likes of Software Engineers and Information Architects.