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Infrastructure lead vs systems administrator

The differences between infrastructure leads 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 an infrastructure lead and a systems administrator. Additionally, an infrastructure lead has an average salary of $118,378, which is higher than the $77,156 average annual salary of a systems administrator.

The top three skills for an infrastructure lead include cloud, architecture and AWS. The most important skills for a systems administrator are linux, troubleshoot, and windows server.

Infrastructure lead vs systems administrator overview

Infrastructure LeadSystems Administrator
Yearly salary$118,378$77,156
Hourly rate$56.91$37.09
Growth rate5%5%
Number of jobs50,358134,500
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age4343
Years of experience22

Infrastructure lead vs systems administrator salary

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

Infrastructure LeadSystems Administrator
Average salary$118,378$77,156
Salary rangeBetween $85,000 And $163,000Between $59,000 And $100,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyThumbtackMeta
Best paying industryInsuranceTechnology

Differences between infrastructure lead and systems administrator education

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

Infrastructure LeadSystems Administrator
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Infrastructure lead vs systems administrator demographics

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

Infrastructure LeadSystems Administrator
Average age4343
Gender ratioMale, 88.3% Female, 11.7%Male, 83.9% Female, 16.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 13.7% White, 61.6% 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 Percentage9%9%

Differences between infrastructure lead and systems administrator duties and responsibilities

Infrastructure lead example responsibilities.

  • Manage and justify VDI with VMware view.
  • Manage vendor engagement for vmware consultation, design, and implementation.
  • Verse in configuring and managing Cisco routers, switches and VoIP networks.
  • Manage VPN solution (both appliance and Cisco router) with PKI for Verizon.
  • Manage security management system (SMS) integration projects for SPAWAR / DoD intelligence agencies.
  • Manage the successful delivery of new campus EMC storage, migrate from existing/older EMC hardware to newer hardware.
  • Show more

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.
  • Show more

Infrastructure lead vs systems administrator skills

Common infrastructure lead skills
  • Cloud, 10%
  • Architecture, 8%
  • AWS, 5%
  • Linux, 5%
  • Project Management, 5%
  • Amazon Web Services, 5%
Common systems administrator skills
  • Linux, 7%
  • Troubleshoot, 7%
  • Windows Server, 6%
  • Database, 5%
  • Technical Support, 4%
  • PowerShell, 3%

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