Application administrator vs systems administrator lead

The differences between application administrators and systems administrator leads can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an application administrator and a systems administrator lead. Additionally, an application administrator has an average salary of $100,258, which is higher than the $99,956 average annual salary of a systems administrator lead.

The top three skills for an application administrator include troubleshoot, linux and technical support. The most important skills for a systems administrator lead are linux, project management, and windows server.

Application administrator vs systems administrator lead overview

	Application Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Yearly salary	$100,258	$99,956
Hourly rate	$48.20	$48.06
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	78,004	132,285
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

What does an application administrator do?

Applications administrators are information technology (IT) professionals who manage specific applications or software in a company. They are in charge of installing, updating, and maintaining their assigned application. They also troubleshoot concerns and respond to inquiries from application users. They are expected to be experts on matters related to the application. Applications administrators collect information from users and program prompts. They primarily collect data on program usage and common user concerns. This data will help application administrators identify trends in software usage and recommend solutions for software improvement.

What does a systems administrator lead do?

A systems administrator lead is responsible for planning, designing, and implementing procedures for critical enterprise systems. Typical duties of systems administrators include managing the day-to-day operations of a company's computer and network systems, developing new application and system implementation plans, and establishing guidelines for installing and managing the organization's computer operating systems. In addition, you are expected to ensure the security of computer systems by preventing unauthorized use, user abuse, and acts of nature.

Application administrator vs systems administrator lead salary

Application administrators and systems administrator leads have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Application Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Average salary	$100,258	$99,956
Salary range	Between $73,000 And $137,000	Between $77,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Cloudflare	Kabam
Best paying industry	Retail	Telecommunication

Differences between application administrator and systems administrator lead education

There are a few differences between an application administrator and a systems administrator lead in terms of educational background:

	Application Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Computer Science	Computer Science
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Application administrator vs systems administrator lead demographics

Here are the differences between application administrators' and systems administrator leads' demographics:

	Application Administrator	Systems Administrator Lead
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 68.0% Female, 32.0%	Male, 84.6% Female, 15.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 12.8% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 9.7% White, 63.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between application administrator and systems administrator lead duties and responsibilities

Application administrator example responsibilities.

Manage IIS folders and services.
Implement new back up systems for test and production, write UNIX shell scripts to automate and validate daily backups.
Manage databases and servers, tune queries, set up jobs, assist software engineers by integrating T-SQL with proprietary applications.
Manage various consultants providing Salesforce development services.
Manage and troubleshoot applications/database systems in order to validate work orders.
Create, manage, update layout/content/database for corporate website using Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

Systems administrator lead example responsibilities.

Manage all Citrix user connections and issues, print network, server environment and supplies.
Manage printers on the print servers and re-serve IP addresses for devices from the DHCP servers.
Manage software development group SharePoint portal.
Save company many hours of manual testing and developing by engineering Java applications to automate tedious tasks.
Manage development, manufacturing, test and delivery of custom broadband RF electronic test systems for military and aerospace customers.
Perform day-to-day management of system applications and services (NTP, DNS, LDAP, etc .).

Application administrator vs systems administrator lead skills

Common application administrator skills

Troubleshoot, 9%
Linux, 5%
Technical Support, 5%
Java, 5%
SQL Server, 4%
Application Support, 4%

Common systems administrator lead skills

Linux, 6%
Project Management, 6%
Windows Server, 5%
System Performance, 5%
Technical Support, 5%
Database, 5%

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Application Administrator vs Systems Administrator Lead

Updated January 8, 2025

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