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The careers in systems development are relatively unknown outside the IT profession. Still, these careers are highly technical, demanding and rewarding.
IT Systems Analyst
IT systems analyst is one of the most common beginner jobs for recent graduates. These IT technicians develop documentation, create supplemental specifications and provide application development support. All of these activities revolve around new applications, change requests and necessary enhancements for existing applications. They collaborate closely with the partners, customers and other technicians in order to identify application needs, establish project specs and manage workloads. Senior IT systems analysts are responsible for verifying that delivered applications meet the customer’s expectations to ensure minimal defects and customer service problems. They are also accountable for the identification and documentation of risks, defects and user issues throughout the project’s development life-cycle.
Systems Development Supervisor
Systems development supervisors oversee interdisciplinary teams of application developers, software architects and systems engineers. They also interface with business departments, third-party vendors and technical specialists. They are involved in every stage of the systems development life-cycle, so they must have strong organizational and project management skills. They are responsible for the creation and maintenance of online documentation regarding testing plans, schedules, scenarios and outcomes. Because they are responsible to complete application development deliverables, they must have strong technical backgrounds. Systems development supervisors assure compliance to customer standards and seek necessary approvals from decision makers throughout the project’s life-cycle.
Systems Engineer
Systems engineers are considered to be senior technical staff, according to Incose. They are responsible for supporting servers, software and workstations. They are expected to have extensive working knowledge of standard programs, such as PowerShell, Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange administration. Systems engineers are responsible for creating and maintaining support procedures and documentation for each enterprise system. They often perform capacity planning, application monitoring and systems tuning to ensure maximum efficiency and performance. Systems engineers must have excellent communication and customer service skills because they work with both internal and external users. Systems engineers will need to have demonstrable leadership and project lifecycle management skills.
Operating Systems Technician
Operating systems technicians install and maintain operating systems and OEM hardware in accordance with policies and standards. Their responsibilities include monitoring and reporting on the utilization of system resources. They provide the highest levels of support for application programmers and software engineers regarding system tuning, updating and debugging. They also responsible for researching proposed new programs and evaluating existing software and hardware. They maintain operating systems by analyzing, configuring, troubleshoot and installing utilities, operating systems and software and hardware systems. They also prepare all required documentation for assigned work and provide technical assistance to assigned clients.
Systems Development Specialist
Systems development specialists provide business analysis and application development expertise for IT teams. They collaborate with various system and business partners to provide application support. They regularly provide consultation services to business units and managerial staff during all phases of the project development cycle. They coordinate closely with clients to specify project requirements and business processes for target development platforms, computing environments and related tools and technologies. Systems development specialists research and evaluate alternative solutions so they may recommend the most efficient and cost effective solution for the project.
Related Resource: Software Development Careers
Other careers in systems development include computer programmers, who use existing codes to develop software solutions and modify existing programs.