What Does a Build Release Engineer Do?

A build release engineer is a person who oversees the process of building and altering a company’s software to market to customers. Engineers in this industry must have strong problem-solving and analytical skills, and they must be comfortable with multi-tasking and working in a fast-paced environment. Companies often look for these engineers who have four-year bachelor’s degrees or two-year master’s degrees in computer engineering or computer science, along with build automation experience. Professionals in the field often serve as liaisons among a company’s various departments, including operations, engineering, and quality assurance areas.

Building different applications for technologies such as cellular phones and making these applications available for manufacturing is a chief duty of an engineer in the software development field. For this reason, a build release engineer must be well-versed in a variety of computer programming languages in order to build these applications accurately. In addition, an engineer has to maintain and build automation scripts. He or she also needs to possess knowledge of various release procedures.

A build release engineer is responsible for researching ways to improve the software building process and for sharing production information with managers as well. After researching how to enhance software building tools and technologies, an engineer puts newly-researched tools to use so as to create build release process efficiency. The engineer is also required to produce regular reports and performance metrics to managers regarding how built applications are working. Professionals in this field additionally create and release guidelines for a company’s products. Both oral and written communication skills thus are important parts of the job.

Another important duty of an engineer in the software building industry involves testing, as quality assurance is necessary to ensure that created software applications work properly to meet customer needs. A build release engineer must create test plans and then implement these plans so as to pinpoint problems that need to be addressed. These professionals additionally create tools to monitor production systems and perform data mining, which involves extracting data from large databases and turning them into valuable information that helps a company to make various decisions.

Developing bug tracking systems also is critical in the role of a person who builds software applications. Using these systems along with test plans, a build release engineer strives to solve problems by producing software improvements and re-creating software to be released. These engineers often work on deadline and must have solid critical thinking skills and work well under pressure.