Though I didn’t become a system engineer I was a part system admin earlier when I was about to start my professional career. The job was typical stuff, installing and maintaining DNS service, mail service, ensuring backups are done, and couple of times doing recovery etc. Along side I would troubleshoot issues like machine not being able to get onto LAN.
It was really fantastic learning wise. I really got to see how things are implemented. I use those learnings even to this day. When a junior full stack developer runs into system level issues I often times see them go completely blank and I then gleefully roll up my sleeves and put on my susadmin hat, it’s quite fun.
Authors and yours definition of Systems Engineer are incorrect.
I am actually getting my Masters in Systems Engineering and work for a large aerospace corporation - systems engineers are not admins and not even close. It’s simply not what they do.
The IT/Software world tends use "Engineer" somewhat differently to the outside usage. So there is some dissonance when terms from Software and Non-Software world overlap.
In an industrial plant Systems Engineer is a specialized discipline in the vein of Mechanical/Chemical/Electrical etc. Engineer.
My best attempt to explain it would be a System Engineer has a multi-disciplinary holistic view of the entire "system".
In my world the focus is process specific i.e each systems engineer would oversee one particular engineering "process".
For example with a fluidized bed reactor, Mechanical engineer would be familiar with mechanical systems (valves, hydraulics etc). Electrical engineer would know about PLCs, Interlocks, limit switches, Chemical Engineer would know about things like Chromatographs, Gas Flow meters etc.
The Systems engineer knows the big picture how pieces are integrated into the whole working system.
Systems Engineer is being thrown about haphazardly
People are overloading the term Systems Engineering.
My bachelors is in Computer Science.
Systems Engineering has its roots in Industrial Engineering. Which is why you will see courses in Systems Modeling and Analysis (eg Discrete Event Simulation), Decisions and Risk Analysis (eg Game Theory, Linear Programming), Requirements Analysis and Principles, and Researcb Methods (Factorial ANOVA, p value, t value, Residual Analysis, Regression Analysis, Treatments, etc.)
Systems Engineer means different things in different contexts. The fact that you are getting your Masters in Systems Engineering and work for a large aerospace corporation suggests you mean the tradition term, whereas the article and person you commented on means systems software engineer.
Without disagreeing with you, I was only chiming in with my experience in the same context as the author has written the article which is computer/software systems. Which is that being a part-time sysadmin is a great way to get into the computer systems field.
I think within the software engineering field there's a general agreement about what "systems engineering" means and entails. FWIW here's an OCW course[1]
Your link is not describing Systems Engineering. It is describing a course related to Computer Science (which is my bachelors). People are overloading the term Systems Engineering.
Systems Engineering has its roots in Industrial Engineering. Which is why you will see courses in Systems Modeling and Analysis (eg Discrete Event Simulation), Decisions and Risk Analysis (eg Game Theory, Linear Programming), Requirements Analysis and Principles, and Researcb Methods (Factorial ANOVA, p value, t value, Residual Analysis, Regression Analysis, Treatments, etc.)
It was really fantastic learning wise. I really got to see how things are implemented. I use those learnings even to this day. When a junior full stack developer runs into system level issues I often times see them go completely blank and I then gleefully roll up my sleeves and put on my susadmin hat, it’s quite fun.