Enterprise systems administrator vs senior system administrator

The differences between enterprise systems administrators and senior system administrators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an enterprise systems administrator and a senior system administrator. Additionally, a senior system administrator has an average salary of $98,146, which is higher than the $89,075 average annual salary of an enterprise systems administrator.

The top three skills for an enterprise systems administrator include troubleshoot, powershell and database. The most important skills for a senior system administrator are linux, windows server, and troubleshoot.

Enterprise systems administrator vs senior system administrator overview

	Enterprise Systems Administrator	Senior System Administrator
Yearly salary	$89,075	$98,146
Hourly rate	$42.82	$47.19
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	132,907	100,873
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

What does an enterprise systems administrator do?

Enterprise systems administrators install, maintain, upgrade software and hardware and interface with users to identify the support needs. They ensure system files and user safety by backing up the system's files to enhance system recreation after the system disc driver's hardware crashes. Besides installing, configuring, and supporting enterprise software applications, these systems administrators also assure system security by managing network security, including the operating system, files, and passwords. Moreover, enterprise systems administrators contribute to the computer services' success by performing all other assigned duties.

What does a senior system administrator do?

A senior system administrator specializes in overseeing the computer system operations in an organization. Their responsibilities primarily revolve around monitoring the performance of all software and hardware, installing servers, configuring systems, and making sure every technical aspect is running smoothly. Should there be any issues, they must take charge of troubleshooting and providing solutions. As someone with more experience, a senior system administrator leads and evaluates the performances of fellow skilled professionals in the department, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.

Enterprise systems administrator vs senior system administrator salary

Enterprise systems administrators and senior system administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Enterprise Systems Administrator	Senior System Administrator
Average salary	$89,075	$98,146
Salary range	Between $63,000 And $124,000	Between $75,000 And $126,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Adobe	Cambridge Associates
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between enterprise systems administrator and senior system administrator education

There are a few differences between an enterprise systems administrator and a senior system administrator in terms of educational background:

	Enterprise Systems Administrator	Senior System Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	Stanford University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Enterprise systems administrator vs senior system administrator demographics

Here are the differences between enterprise systems administrators' and senior system administrators' demographics:

	Enterprise Systems Administrator	Senior System Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 84.3% Female, 15.7%	Male, 89.0% Female, 11.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.8% Asian, 9.5% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 11.8% White, 61.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between enterprise systems administrator and senior system administrator duties and responsibilities

Enterprise systems administrator example responsibilities.

Work with e-services, EarthLink's customer facing team to manage mail and dns environment.
Save company many hours of manual testing and developing by engineering Java applications to automate tedious tasks.
Contact and coordinate with local network support to open appropriate SCCM, iLO, SCOM and HBSS ports.
Work with DNS for and on internal devices.
Lead for backup strategy and key member for PC imaging.
Install, maintain and troubleshoot server equipment and computer hardware/ software.

Senior system administrator example responsibilities.

Manage and optimize the design and delivery of project associate with AIX arena.
Manage all installs and setup of new servers, and server upgrades to server 2008 R2.
Implement IIS servers for both the internal and external web servers and managing security on all web servers.
Design, implement, and manage a network and domain extension in a remote location via a secure VPN link.
Manage Cisco network equipment including firewalls and switches.
Administer and manage daily backups via Symantec NetBackup.

Enterprise systems administrator vs senior system administrator skills

Common enterprise systems administrator skills

Troubleshoot, 6%
PowerShell, 5%
Database, 5%
Linux, 5%
Windows Server, 5%
SCCM, 4%

Common senior system administrator skills

Linux, 7%
Windows Server, 6%
Troubleshoot, 5%
System Administration, 4%
PowerShell, 4%
SAN, 4%

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Enterprise Systems Administrator vs Senior System Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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