There is a TV commercial currently running from Verizon Wireless using the tag “You’re looking at it” to imply that the network
is its people. We are led through pithy comments by supposed employees who also give their job titles. One of those titles really gnaws at my brain:
Data Engineer.
Data is the plural of datum and needs to be treated as a plural noun, such as “data are carried…” It certainly cannot be used as an adjective, so data engineer must be a compound noun for a person that actually does things. But what exactly?
I spent a little time with Google (did you know that if you Google "Google" you get an “about 129,000,000” responses?) and came up with all sorts of data engineer information.
First I ignored data engineer titles when they had yet another noun, or more, in front of the title. There were Aerodynamic Data Engineers (DEs); HPC DEs; Tick (?) DEs; Market DEs; Satellite System Analyst DEs; Network DEs; Financial DEs; Seismic/Strainmeter (sic) DEs. Another one, a Spam DE, I just had to look at in more detail.
“We are
seeking a talented Spam Data Engineer to join the Proofpoint Attack Response Center as part of our Spam Data Analysis team. As a Spam Data Engineer, you will be part of a world class team responsible for real-time detection and blocking of spam email for Proofpoint's substantial and growing customer global customer base.” So now you know, but do they not mean an Analyst of Spam Data?
OK, how about
this one from an agency: “De-bug skills on RF/Analogue (sic) circuits, Data/Pbx skills, Installation of mobile systems…” Data/Pbx skills? “How may I direct your call?” And adding debugging skills on RF and analog circuits seems like a completely opposite extreme…
And
this one: “The Data Engineer primarily works on projects related to existing AirGTI Product suite, especially AirGTI DocManager and Jouve Imaging solution implementations, including requirements gathering, data analysis and filtering, guiding XML authoring setup, cascading style sheet development, template development and customization/configuration file modifications. Provides technical support to Project Leaders and customers. A key role of this position is the Customer contact/communication aspect in terms of gathering of requirements, defining and following through implementation plan, technical services and deployment.” Can any reader explain to me what all that means? It just makes my head spin. I know AirGTI isn’t a Volkswagen product but something to do with airline maintenance publications. But that’s the limit of my know-how.
“Must have
experience installing, terminating and testing CAT5 data cabling.” Dear God, a cable installer!
“The individual is primarily
responsible for ensuring complete data acquisition and delivery via internet protocol to repositories, archives and analysis centers.” So this person sends files by e-mail instead of carrying them on a cart down the corridors of the office?
Enough. I turned to Verizon Wireless for their definition of a "data engineer." Unfortunately, I could not find a link to the commercial itself, but I did find a
job listing for one of these individuals to be based in Westborough, MA together with job description (on a secure server for some extraordinary reason)…
- Provides technical leadership and subject matter expertise for the design, implementation, and support of the Verizon Wireless data networks for the New England East Region. These networks include commercial and internal LAN/WAN, e.g. CDMA data such as 1X, EvDO, DORA (EvDO Rev. A), WVN, MPLS, EDN, WDN, ATM, and OTN.
- Proactively monitors, forecasts, report, and controls performance management systems and devices across a geographic area to maximize systems availability. Analyzes and ensures the resolution of technical problems. (Lucent RNC, PSU, Cisco 10k, 6509/6513, CRS1, Dacs, PacketDac's)
- Maintains IP Control and path design (Xng) for the Northeast Region.”
And it goes on and on for another six column inches. Talk abut a war of acronyms.
At least I can see that this position is a real engineering job. But, surely, this is a Network Systems Engineer?
The other positions are just insulting to the engineering profession as a whole. It is a continuation of the locomotive engineer status instead of him being called a train driver. And use of the word engineer around data says to me that it is a person who is ingenious with data -- rather like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or nuclear weapons in Iran. Who is the data engineer in the White House these days?
