That seems like a pretty inaccurate job title then. Data Engineers are people working with data pipelines, storage, and schemas. They can lean towards more software engineering or towards analytics with dashboarding/machine learning but their primary responsibilities are the former.
Re:How to Become a Data Scientist, Part 2
by bigger_cheese on Sunday August 07, 2016 @10:14PM
(#12245061)
Yeah it is a pretty generic title. Regardless it fits my job description pretty well I am an Engineer I work with data.
The people who do the work you mention (schemas etc) are called Database Admins here. They work for Information Services - different department I'm not all that familiar with.
My Job basically aligns with Type A above. I mostly work on optimizing our industrial process through a combination of modelling and simulation work. Other than that I do quality/defect investigations when we have issues with defective batches etc and I do yield optimization work. I also oversee various plant trials as required.
I use Business Intelligence software (like SAS and COGNOS) but I use other tools as well (including my own C/C++ code). I lean heavily on my own theoretical knowledge - in particular metallurgy and minerals processing. (I am a Materials Engineer by qualification). I think most BI people would lack the background theory to do my role.
My Job title was more or less arbitrarily chosen by my manager (Other people in my team have 'Automation Engineer', 'Process Engineer' etc. as their role titles). I consider myself an Engineer above anything else.