You are correct: the formal discipline of Systems Engineering, done with appropriate levels of rigor, fits this.
That said, in most software orgs, "systems engineer" doesn't mean that discipline anymore. When the title's actually used in job postings, it's almost universally infrastructure/ops, servers, reliability. The name got co-opted by a different, unrelated role in most software companies (At least the subset i have visibility into!). A hiring manager looking to hire a "systems engineer" for interface discipline would likely get a stack of infrastructure resumes instead.
That's part of why the gap persists. It's not that the discipline doesn't exist, it's that even its name doesn't point at it anymore for large swathes of the industry.
The premise is simple: Dive into the dungeon, retrieve the famed Orb Of Zot, and abscond with it in your possession. Easy, yes?
What sold me were the vi-style controls, the ability to play directly from a terminal (or a prettier web GUI if you so choose), and how every action is on a turn-by-turn basis. You get to pause/stop at any time, and your progress remains for years.
It can be a little daunting to get into it, but it is a lot of fun!
It feels weird to see yourself hitting HN! I have joined Text IQ quite recently and it has been a great experience thus far. Cool tech with smart yet humble people.
Oh and a small correction, it is spelled Text IQ. With the space!
Hey! Glad you enjoyed what the IOT team was doing! I didn't think many people knew about us!
I was actually a part of that team and left Salesforce pretty recently. I think i can safely state that everyone involved in building the tech for that IOT product was pretty proud of what we built.
That being said, the team that built it 2-3 years back and the current team are fundamentally different. The department was thoroughly axed back around November 2017, and multiple teams, including my old one, were spun out into different other projects. It's a shame really, that project was what lured me into joining a behemoth like Salesforce in the first place.
Any time for the full length of the visa. That most certainly include the initial application as well.
In my case, i was asked by my employer to remain in the US for the length of the visa, as me being potentially unable to get back to the office was considered to be a business risk. Needless to say, that was rather displeasing, and eventually led to my departure from the company.
I have successfully obtained a TN-1 Visa with a mostly unrelated degree (CEGEP generic "IT" degree). It does require a fair bit of paperwork, but it is absolutely possible.
Fair warning, as i wish someone had told me exactly this when i got my own TN-1: Any given border agent has the power to repeal said visa for any reason, without oversight. If they have a bad day at the border, they may elect, at any time, to permanently repeal it.