How To Become A Lead Unix Systems Administrator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a lead unix systems administrator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Maryam Farahani

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a lead unix systems administrator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $67.55 an hour? That's $140,506 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 lead unix systems administrator?

Maryam Farahani

Engineering Instructor, Bakersfield College

Thinking about the fields they want to experience or try. And to be intentional about their job search. The best advice is learning as much as they can about what company offers. Visualizing themselves in the next 5 years as a starting point. Do they want to travel a lot, or be in management positions? Do they want to be subject matter expert, or a hands-on engineer or technologist? Their goal may change as they progress in their career but having one makes a big difference in their career choices and keeping them on track.

ScoreLead Unix Systems AdministratorUS Average

Salary

8.7

Avg. Salary $140,506

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 13.67%

Black or African American 7.85%

Hispanic or Latino 11.58%

Unknown 5.00%

White 61.59%

Gender

female 9.64%

male 90.36%

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 lead unix systems administrator

Explore lead unix systems administrator education requirements

Most common lead unix systems administrator degrees

Bachelor's

68.1 %

Master's

15.9 %

Associate

12.3 %

Start to develop specific lead unix systems administrator skills

Skills	Percentages
Troubleshoot	7.25%
System Administration	5.75%
Unix	5.14%
Linux	5.14%
Solaris	4.24%

Complete relevant lead unix systems administrator training and internships

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

Research lead unix systems administrator duties and responsibilities

Create bash and sql scripts to automate daily checks and tasks.
Manage and maintain mail (sendmail and qmail) and DNS for central and remote locations.
Configure RAC cluster on VM to manage the oracle database and NFS share and other applications.
Manage and administer Solaris kernel and patch updates.

Get lead unix systems administrator experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a lead unix systems administrator. The most common roles before becoming a lead unix systems administrator include unix systems administrator, senior unix systems administrator team lead and systems administrator.

Prepare your lead unix systems administrator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lead unix systems administrator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a lead unix systems administrator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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