Systems engineers are trained to think in terms of the whole system.
How does systems engineering work? Take a car for example. Mechanical engineers work on the engine and other mechanisms; electrical engineers work on the wiring; computer engineers might work on the programs that allow the car to run. All of these pieces are the machine itself, we haven’t even gotten into the user experience yet!
None of these things alone constitutes a car. This is where a systems engineer comes in. They work to integrate each individual system to develop the system of systems – or, the car in this example.
Systems engineering is an intrinsically interdisciplinary field.
It focuses on the holistic understanding of stakeholder needs, exploring opportunities and documenting requirements. This is done through synthesizing, verifying, and validating solutions while considering the life cycle of the complete problem.