You know, on both my business cards, and on the staff site — I’m listed as the “Systems Engineer” for eXtension. (or “Senior Systems Engineer” — but the people working in IT in eXtension started dropping all the “Seniors” with our titles when it seemed like everything and everyone in eXtension was a “Senior something” or a “Blah Leader” — it just sounded… well, it didn’t sound right)
But I’m not a Systems Engineer. I grok the discipline of Systems Engineering — probably way more than any normal Tom, Dick, or Harry that calls themselves Systems Engineer. But as a Computer Science graduate, and having worked in an Academic institution where I do actually believe that words matter — I’m not a Systems Engineer. I haven’t gone through any of the Academic Programs (which, by the way, run the gambit of disciplines — e.g. see UVA’s list of disciplines). And while I wouldn’t really think I’d have to do that if I was actually doing Systems Engineering — I’m not even doing that. (and part of me wonders if I’m supposed to be doing that 😉 ).
I really am more the Systems Manager. I think I’m probably going to go change the labels on the staff pages for a while.