How To Become A Junior Systems Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a junior systems engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Ariful Azad Ph.D.

A junior systems engineer is an entry-level professional who manages systems and infrastructure in a company. As a junior systems engineer, you will be responsible for installing and configuring systems, ensuring infrastructure availability, collaborating with I.T staff, and finding ways to increase system efficiency. If you are good at handling information technology systems and want to start fresh in this field, this is the job.

Your main duties and responsibilities include network design and implementation, network routing configuration, and deployment. Moreover, proactively ensuring the highest level of systems performance and infrastructure stability, liaising with vendors and other I.T personnel to resolve issues efficiently, and installing, configuring, testing, and maintaining operations systems, application software, and system management tools. Educational requirements include a bachelor's degree in a technical field, such as computer science or computer engineering. However, in order to progress to a senior position, you may be required to complete a master's degree in a similar field.

The average hourly salary for this position is $34.05, which amounts to $70,834 annually. The career is expected to grow 5% and produce over 18,000 jobs across the United States.

What general advice would you give to a junior systems engineer?

Dr. Ariful Azad Ph.D.

Director of Graduate Studies for the Dept. of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Assistant Professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington

Look for a job that you would enjoy doing, even if it takes some time to find such a position. Internships are great to explore various options.

ScoreJunior Systems EngineerUS Average

Salary

4.8

Avg. Salary $61,565

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 13.34%

Black or African American 8.37%

Hispanic or Latino 12.07%

Unknown 5.04%

White 60.86%

Gender

female 21.01%

male 78.99%

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 junior systems engineer

Explore junior systems engineer education requirements

Most common junior systems engineer degrees

Bachelor's

66.4 %

Associate

18.9 %

Master's

8.7 %

Start to develop specific junior systems engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Python	9.82%
Linux	8.03%
DOD	7.62%
Technical Support	4.81%
Database	4.46%

Complete relevant junior systems engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New junior systems engineers 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 junior systems engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real junior systems engineer resumes.

Research junior systems engineer duties and responsibilities

Install and manage all computer and network equipment including switches, routers, and firewall rules.
Maintain and manage the backup solution utilizing the Solaris servers in concert with the Exabyte and DLT systems.
Manage new ERP system procurement project through implementation.
Manage the storage infrastructure for virtualization, high availability systems and data consolidation.

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