What Does a Server Engineer Do?

A server engineer is responsible for a range of issues surrounding server technologies. These professionals will help employers to set up and maintain servers, and will handle many of the technical questions around server systems. Businesses pursue server setup and development in various ways. Some will employ teams of people, with senior engineers as managers, to handle server related events, where others may have a different consultative system, according to server hardware and the needs of business operations.

One of the main duties for many server engineers is to calibrate the server environment, and set up servers correctly for ongoing operations. This can involve creating a good atmosphere in a server room or space, by controlling temperature and humidity. The server engineer might also participate in designing server systems before they are implemented.

As a server goes online, or begins operations, server engineers may be critically involved in the setup process. It’s not unusual for a server engineer to work overtime or be on-call when these events occur. A single server engineer may work with various departments within a company to make sure that servers operate correctly as soon as they begin operation. Server engineers may also stay engaged for a specific period of time related to testing servers.

A server engineer may also be required to deal with maintenance issues for existing server systems. This includes handling tech support phone calls from end users or other departments. The server engineer may pursue maintenance upgrades for the implementation of patches, along with other software and hardware upgrades or support processes. Another part of the duties of a server engineer might involve facilitating backups for servers on regular basis.

Many of the responsibilities of server engineers within corporate structures relate to effective communication. These individuals are sometimes called on to escalate tech-support issues as necessary, or to ensure compliance with corporate policy. Evaluating software licensing agreements and regulations can be one of these administrative duties. Server engineers may also be asked to document server processes in detail with event logs and other resources, or to assess opportunities for using “add-on” technologies.

Apart from handling problems and issues related to physical hardware installation and use, server engineers might consult with top-level management on a variety of technology related topics. Professionals involved in handling servers may help brainstorm about how to grow or expand the data handling processes of a company. This might involve looking comprehensively at how server operations complement business processes, such as regional sales, market research, or other areas where a server is handling a high amount of information daily.