Any company which uses computers cannot imagine its existence without an employee responsible for setting up these very computers, networks, and software (generally speaking, IT infrastructure). It’s a matter of making “everything work” as well as general information security.

Therefore, a system administrator is a popular profession. These professionals must have many technical skills and personal qualities to keep all computers and printers, fax machines, local networks, e-mail services, software, etc. in good working order.

More precisely, the system administrator is engaged in: 

– installation and maintenance of computer and office equipment, IP-telephony

– ensuring the smooth operation of the system software

– ensuring the operability and security of the company’s network

– troubleshooting and elimination of viruses

– installation, configuration, and updating of third-party software

– creating accounts

– providing backup and data recovery

– interaction with hosting providers and other contractors

– technical support for users

– and lots of other activities

Basic knowledge of a system administrator looks like this:

– Windows & Linux systems

– MS SQL and MySQL

– Network security and administration

– experience with VLANs, VPNs

– Office 365

– knowledge of database systems and server monitoring tools

Perhaps some people think that the work of a system administrator can be performed by a programmer, but this is not exactly so. While knowledge of languages ​​is mandatory for a programmer’s work, a system administrator may know programming languages, but this is not their direct responsibility. Most often, they have to work with ready-made software.

You can often find self-taught people who master new skills and features of work immediately in practice among system administrators. Therefore, both those who have mastered the profession independently and people with specialized education can become system administrator. In this work, the main thing is love for what you are doing and possession of the necessary knowledge and skills.

If we are talking about a specialist who wants to be in demand and receive a high salary, it’s crucial for them to constantly improve, study, and track new technologies. Although this work is mostly routine, the schedule is often irregular because problems and questions can arise at any time of the day or night. From this, we can conclude that stress-resistant people should deal with a system administrator’s duties. The trouble, as they say, does not come alone, which is why it’s so important to be able to multitask and prioritize tasks.

Because of this, companies greatly value tech-savvy system administrators with excellent communication skills. You will have to communicate with many different people with different levels of knowledge in IT and very often under pressure – after all, the work of the whole team depends on how quickly and skillfully such a specialist can resolve a problem. The ability to suggest working ideas and use humor to ease the tension will allow them to build good relationships with management and users without unnecessary anxiety and stress.

Sounds like an exciting challenge? Then try your hand at being a system administrator and find out if this is the right job for you!