You are not wrong, my experience comes from what I think might be a niche. A startup doing both hardware and software, and does so with an offshore team. For '

You are not wrong, my experience comes from what I think might be a niche. A startup doing both hardware and software, and does so with an offshore team. For 'simple' systems, Systems Engineer is not needed. Typically Software Engineers share architectural responsibilities. I recommend listening to this https://youtu.be/pSfZutP9H-U?t=386 https://youtu.be/pSfZutP9H-U?t=386 from 6:30 to 10min. I find it very valuable. > I find the larger problem is how most engineers define "smart people" - they typically only mean someone with a high technical aptitude when really things like communication skills, collaboration, motivation, etc. are better indicators success on a software team. I agree 100%.