Data storage specialist vs systems administrator

The differences between data storage specialists and systems administrators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a data storage specialist and a systems administrator. Additionally, a systems administrator has an average salary of $77,156, which is higher than the $64,094 average annual salary of a data storage specialist.

The top three skills for a data storage specialist include data storage, architecture and performance issues. The most important skills for a systems administrator are linux, troubleshoot, and windows server.

Data storage specialist vs systems administrator overview

	Data Storage Specialist	Systems Administrator
Yearly salary	$64,094	$77,156
Hourly rate	$30.81	$37.09
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	70,296	134,500
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Data storage specialist vs systems administrator salary

Data storage specialists and systems administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Data Storage Specialist	Systems Administrator
Average salary	$64,094	$77,156
Salary range	Between $32,000 And $125,000	Between $59,000 And $100,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Meta
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between data storage specialist and systems administrator education

There are a few differences between a data storage specialist and a systems administrator in terms of educational background:

	Data Storage Specialist	Systems Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	-	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Data storage specialist vs systems administrator demographics

Here are the differences between data storage specialists' and systems administrators' demographics:

	Data Storage Specialist	Systems Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 79.6% Female, 20.4%	Male, 83.9% Female, 16.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 11.1% White, 62.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 11.5% White, 62.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between data storage specialist and systems administrator duties and responsibilities

Data storage specialist example responsibilities.

Deploy and manage EMC CLARiiON storage system.
Engage in managing SnapMirror performance management, fine-tuning.
Live host migrations (HP-UX / AIX / Linux) across arrays and switches.
Work with storage provisioning on VMAX, DMX-3, DMX-4 using SYMCLI, SMC, CLARiiON CX4-960 storage arrays using Unisphere.
Configure and allocate storage on EMC VMAX, DMX-4 / DMX-3, using SYMCLI, Unisphere.
Verify iscsi group and check the authentication.

Systems administrator example responsibilities.

Used Jenkins to automate most of the build relate tasks.
Manage windows file servers, messaging, and SQL databases.
Lead the project which integrate internal DNS into the corporate LDAP infrastructure for end user host management prior to deployment.
Lead business-critical information security initiatives involving encryption of customer data.
Authore and maintain shell and Perl scripts to automate administration tasks for infrastructure management.
Configure & manage all switches and servers responsible for providing WLAN connectivity and authentication services.

Data storage specialist vs systems administrator skills

Common data storage specialist skills

Data Storage, 16%
Architecture, 10%
Performance Issues, 9%
EMC, 9%
Capacity Planning, 8%
Provisioning, 7%

Common systems administrator skills

Linux, 7%
Troubleshoot, 7%
Windows Server, 6%
Database, 5%
Technical Support, 4%
PowerShell, 3%

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Data Storage Specialist vs Systems Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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