System Administrator: Job Description, Skills, and Salary in 2024

The Google IT Support Professional Certificate equips you with the skills to tackle common sysadmin tasks such as SysAdmin / IT Support Specialist job customer support and troubleshooting. It also introduces you to commonly used systems like Linux and Domain Name Systems, and prepares you for the CompTIA A+ exam. Though not a certification, the course will earn you an industry-recognized professional certificate at the end. While the average system administrator may not command massive six-figure salaries, the role helps acquire important transferable skills to move into an SRE position.

• For example, if there’s ever something amiss with the present version of an application, sysadmins can roll back implementations or updates to fix the issue.
• Mastery of configuration management also helps keep up with growing infrastructure complexity in heterogeneous environments.
• Simply put, very little (or nothing) is apparent when a system administrator executes their duties flawlessly.
• Instead of conducting root cause analysis, they ask questions like how long it took to identify the issue and the remediation speed.
• The demand for system administrators who write code has given rise to an all-new job role called site reliability engineering (SRE).

System administrator skills

• A system administrator or sysadmin is a person who sets up and maintains technology systems.
• While you’ll gain specialized knowledge around servers with the Server+ certification, the A+ certification covers a broader set of skills applicable to other aspects of IT.
• System administrators must be comfortable using configuration management databases (CMDB) and then proceed to configuration automation tools such as Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and Jenkins.
• In the same vein, Glassdoor data (last updated on Aug 29, 2023) shows that the average salary of system administrators in the U.S. is $85,965 annually, close to Indeed’s estimates.
• Managing an efficient CI/CD pipeline while offering multi-unit visibility requires version control.
• Linux+ is an internationally recognized credential validating baseline competencies required for Linux administrators.
• According to Glassdoor, the average salary of system administrators in 2024 is between $76,000 and $112,000 per year.

System administrators usually oversee user permissions and all services and apps. They can designate user classifications and handle the entire company’s IT infrastructure, giving everyone secure access to the needed services and applications. These configure alerts according to access limits to get incident reports. Sysadmins support IT team members by ensuring systems and new feature Programming language launches are consistent with the current IT infrastructure.

Checking on server health

With AWS, Azure, and GCP ruling the market, system administrators everywhere must understand how to run cloud-based systems. This involves the tracking and notification tools needed in cloud environments, especially hybrid ones. After cloud migration, system administrators must choose the optimal method for managing networks and servers. To prepare for potential IT investments and enhancements, they record end-user demands, company specifications, and, if necessary, recurring IT issues.

Looking after access privileges

As much as tasks can be automated, staying organized helps streamline thought processes and keep track of the job at hand. System administrators must be comfortable using configuration management databases (CMDB) and then proceed to configuration automation tools such as Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and Jenkins. These enable system administrators to manage various application lifecycle tasks, resulting in lower error rates and faster deployments. Mastery of configuration management also helps keep up with growing infrastructure complexity in heterogeneous environments.

Each second a website or server is offline, it leads to reduced efficiency, revenue losses, and significant disruption expenses. Therefore, system administrators must be adept problem-solvers and keep track of multiple operating systems, network setups, and security concerns. They must engage skillfully with non-technical workers facing system-related issues. Oral and written communication skills will help share advice, lead teams better, and communicate more effectively with colleagues. Owing to the increase in phishing, ransomware, and data intrusions over the past few years, security is now a significant concern at all levels of IT.