The challenge in attracting, retaining and graduating equipped engineering professionals is exacerbated by a lack of understanding of the complex relationship between forms of knowledge and practices in real world engineering contexts. Drawing on theoretical tools from the Sociology of Education, a research project analysed South African technician and technologist problem-solving processes which reveal the complex relationships between engineering disciplines and technology in different sociotechnical industrial sites of practice. This paper problematises the nature of engineering `problems' and problem-solving processes by presenting a rich description of aspects of a systems integration project life cycle case study. The analysis reveals that effectively solving technology-based engineering problems in the twenty first century world of work requires the ability to `code-shift' between different engineering disciplines and different ways of thinking. The overall research findings suggest that it is imperative for engineering educators to build code-shifting strategies into their curricular and pedagogic practices.