How To Become A Domain Administrator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a domain administrator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Bill McGinley

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a domain administrator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.79 an hour? That's $78,593 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 18,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a domain administrator?

Bill McGinley

President & CEO, American College of Health Care Administrators

LTC administrators should have at least a bachelor's degree in business or a healthcare-related field. A well-rounded internship that exposes the future administrator to all aspects of the operation is essential. Needed skills include business, marketing, finance, operations, management and leadership.
Post pandemic opportunities will be nationwide in this field with a greater need in rural areas.
Technology will continue to play a big role in the field. Computerized medical records, census management, and all clinical areas will continue to dominate. Online meetings are liable to continue as well, as employers realize that there is a savings to be gained by not having people travel to meetings and conferences.

ScoreDomain AdministratorUS Average

Salary

6.1

Avg. Salary $78,593

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 8.78%

Black or African American 8.85%

Hispanic or Latino 12.54%

Unknown 5.08%

White 64.44%

Gender

female 12.26%

male 87.74%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a domain administrator

Explore domain administrator education requirements

Most common domain administrator degrees

Bachelor's

55.9 %

Associate

32.4 %

Master's

6.9 %

Start to develop specific domain administrator skills

Skills	Percentages
Windows Server	14.33%
DNS	5.99%
PowerShell	5.61%
VMware	4.71%
Linux	3.75%

Complete relevant domain administrator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New domain administrators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a domain administrator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real domain administrator resumes.

Research domain administrator duties and responsibilities

Install service packs and patches to client workstations and servers; manage off-peak hour backups.
Manage and ensure effectiveness of security solutions, including firewalls, anti-virus solutions, VPN and intrusion detection systems.
Lead enterprise-wide virtualization effort, overseeing and completing vendor/hardware qualifications, architecture/design, installation, configuration, migration and documentation.
Upgrade and troubleshoot hardware issues.

Apply for domain administrator jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a domain administrator job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do domain administrators rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Domain administrator reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Cons

every day i learn new think,because i have background of computer science and i have to taring the non IT technical awareness staff

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019

Pros

talking to people