Fiche métier - Computer engineer

The computer engineers are generalist and specialist computer scientists, depening on the company or entity for which they work (for instance an organization, a private company or the public service). They may be required to take charge of the design and development of applications and websites that are internaly and externaly used by their company, but also manage the company’s computer equipment and networks, as well as provide technical support to users.

In a SME, their tasks can be highly diverse, requiring a certain versatility of them, wheter in a large company they can be attached to the IT service for which they will carry out missions more specialized missions in connection with the sector of activity of the company (for exemple the banking sector, the defense or the large-scale distribution).

In a large company, the computer enginees can be hired, for exemple, as network construction engineers, system engineers, internet and multimedia engineers, or software development engineers.

In contact with the other services and the staff of the company, the compter engineers have to feel comfortable with machines and technologies as well as with their collaborators.
They might be expected to have the following competences :

• Excellent knowledge and competences in informatics (networks architecture, different protocols and different computer programming languages as Java, HTML and Python, layered organization, web development, etc.) ;
• Passionate about new technologies and willing to transmit this passion ;
• Great rigord ;
• Be well-organized ;
• Ability to work in a team and have a great communication sense ;
• Ability to find ingenious solutions and suggest innovative ideas ;

They might also need :

• An analytical mind ;
• An ability to adapt accros the company
• Versatility and autonomy ;
• An active listening and a sense of observation ;
• A great stress and workload management ;
• Managing skills (in an evolution context to become an IT manager) ;
• An oral and written master of english (especially for coding because english is the most used langage on computer programs).

Once more, the computer engineers’ missions will change depending on the company they are working for, but generally speaking, here are the different tasks he can be asked to do:

The « material » aspect:

• Installation, configuration and update of the company’s computer equipment and networks ;
• Diagnosis and resolution of computer breakdowns ;
• Integration of smartphones and tablets (or other tools) of the staff to the informatic system used by the company.

The « systems and softwares » aspect:

• Installation, configuration and software update, antivirus systems antivirus and applications on workstations of the different services, and integration to the local network ;
• Diagnosis et resolution of defects and bugs ;
• Configuration and deployment of a protection plan against cyberattacks and preventive maintenance plan ;
• Computer development (internal and external websites and applications) ;
• Websites and applications maintenance ;
• Implementation of an automation tasks process ;
• Technologic monitoring

The « General » aspect:

• Communication inside the company and promoting the use of computer tools and networks by staff ;
• Training of staff and users in the use of certain tools ;
• Drafting of procedures, best practices and user guides;
• Raising awareness of the importance of data security.