Operations system administrator vs senior administrator

The differences between operations system administrators and senior 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 operations system administrator and a senior administrator. Additionally, a senior administrator has an average salary of $103,102, which is higher than the $76,891 average annual salary of an operations system administrator.

The top three skills for an operations system administrator include technical support, linux and customer service. The most important skills for a senior administrator are customer service, SR, and troubleshoot.

Operations system administrator vs senior administrator overview

	Operations System Administrator	Senior Administrator
Yearly salary	$76,891	$103,102
Hourly rate	$36.97	$49.57
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	173,494	58,887
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

What does an operations system administrator do?

In the information technology industry, an Operations System Administrator is responsible for overseeing and maintaining computer systems, including software, hardware, and applications. They are responsible for supervising staff, spearheading installations and repairs, troubleshooting problems, diagnosing and resolving technical issues and concerns, and ensuring data security and safety by implementing back-ups, firewalls, and other protocols. Moreover, as an operations system administrator, it is essential to lead and encourage staff to reach goals while implementing standards and regulations to maintain the smooth flow of operations.

What does a senior administrator do?

A senior administrator is responsible for managing the overall administrative duties in an organization, including coordinating with higher management to identify process and operations improvement and other business opportunities to grow revenues and increase profitability. Senior administrators monitor and delegate tasks to the administrative staff, resolve discrepancies on record-keeping, respond to the customers' inquiries and concerns, ensure the adequacy of inventory, and train new staff. They also inspect and update the database regularly for business information and customer details, as well as handling complaints or directing them to the appropriate personnel and department.

Operations system administrator vs senior administrator salary

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

	Operations System Administrator	Senior Administrator
Average salary	$76,891	$103,102
Salary range	Between $59,000 And $98,000	Between $73,000 And $145,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	PayPal	The Walt Disney Company
Best paying industry	Utilities	-

Differences between operations system administrator and senior administrator education

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

	Operations System Administrator	Senior Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Operations system administrator vs senior administrator demographics

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

	Operations System Administrator	Senior Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 76.2% Female, 23.8%	Male, 42.6% Female, 57.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.5% White, 63.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 10.2% White, 62.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between operations system administrator and senior administrator duties and responsibilities

Operations system administrator example responsibilities.

Manage VOIP Digium phones for clients.
Manage and update share drive and SharePoint.
Manage DNS, SMTP for Webservers contacting customers.
Manage LDAP accounts on across the enterprise system.
Manage machines and accounts in active directory and dhcp.
Lead a team of 5 engineers providing PC support to 1,000 customers and implement PC disaster recovery efforts for 400 customers.

Senior administrator example responsibilities.

Organize and manage all meeting logistics for various conferences and events across the U.S.
Lead and/or participate in adding departments to the DMS, client/server upgrades, DR testing, and end user testing.
Have configured the SharePoint environment and continuously managing both intranet and internet sites used by end users, consumers and stakeholders.
Manage calendar and arrange travel; coordinate meetings and events; create PowerPoint presentations; prepare correspondence and approve expense reports.
Provide remote user support via Citrix remote desktop and Cisco VPN.
Create, maintain and provide issue resolution of complex Linux and Unix scripts.

Operations system administrator vs senior administrator skills

Common operations system administrator skills

Technical Support, 9%
Linux, 8%
Customer Service, 5%
VMware, 4%
SQL, 4%
Windows Server, 4%

Common senior administrator skills

Customer Service, 10%
SR, 10%
Troubleshoot, 7%
Linux, 5%
Data Entry, 4%
HR, 3%

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Operations System Administrator
Operations System Administrator vs Senior Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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