Senior information technology administrator vs information technology manager

The differences between senior information technology administrators and information technology managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a senior information technology administrator, becoming an information technology manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, an information technology manager has an average salary of $119,589, which is higher than the $105,357 average annual salary of a senior information technology administrator.

The top three skills for a senior information technology administrator include linux, SAN and unity. The most important skills for an information technology manager are customer service, project management, and database.

Senior information technology administrator vs information technology manager overview

	Senior Information Technology Administrator	Information Technology Manager
Yearly salary	$105,357	$119,589
Hourly rate	$50.65	$57.49
Growth rate	5%	16%
Number of jobs	156,682	108,179
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age	43	47
Years of experience	2	8

What does a senior information technology administrator do?

A senior information technology administrator leads and oversees the efforts in maintaining computer systems and infrastructures, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities include setting goals and objectives, managing budgets and schedules, supervising the installation and upgrades of systems, and developing strategies to optimize a company's information technology operations. They may also perform regular maintenance checks on systems, performing corrective measures as needed. Furthermore, as a senior administrator, it is essential to serve as a role model to junior administrators and staff, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

What does an information technology manager do?

An information technology manager is responsible for supervising tasks for the company's network and information systems operations. Information technology managers require excellent knowledge of the information systems industry, a strong command of programming languages, and software and hardware application processes. An information technology manager reviews the performance of the IT department staff, ensuring that networks and systems maintain the highest quality and efficiency, and adjusting the specific system updates as needed. Information technology managers monitor the security of the system's database and identify business opportunities to utilize all business systems to improve the company's services.

Senior information technology administrator vs information technology manager salary

Senior information technology administrators and information technology managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Information Technology Administrator	Information Technology Manager
Average salary	$105,357	$119,589
Salary range	Between $82,000 And $135,000	Between $84,000 And $169,000
Highest paying City	Milpitas, CA	Richmond, CA
Highest paying state	California	New Hampshire
Best paying company	Cohesity	Meta
Best paying industry	Hospitality	-

Differences between senior information technology administrator and information technology manager education

There are a few differences between a senior information technology administrator and an information technology manager in terms of educational background:

	Senior Information Technology Administrator	Information Technology Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common major	Computer Science	Computer Science
Most common college	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Carnegie Mellon University

Senior information technology administrator vs information technology manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior information technology administrators' and information technology managers' demographics:

	Senior Information Technology Administrator	Information Technology Manager
Average age	43	47
Gender ratio	Male, 86.2% Female, 13.8%	Male, 84.5% Female, 15.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 12.0% White, 62.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 12.7% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	9%	11%

Differences between senior information technology administrator and information technology manager duties and responsibilities

Senior information technology administrator example responsibilities.

Maintain accurate VOIP phone inventory to manage costs.
Manage installation of SharePoint farm OS security patches and SharePoint & SQL CUs and SP updates.
Network administration utilizing Dell/ Force10 manage switches, as well as Aruba and FortiNet wireless devices.
Manage SharePoint permissions and configuration of SharePoint accounts and sites.
Design and install the SAN environment to support the VMWare infrastructure.
Audit and enforce systems security standards for the UNIX and Linux operations environment.

Information technology manager example responsibilities.

Manage all systems onboarding & offboarding of all employees, manage all account access on all company systems & equipment setup.
Manage NFS mounts from NAS devices and setup auto-mounts for the server farm.
Manage applications support for Lawson, Meditech, ChartMaxx and McKesson PACs system.
Negotiate and manage the company through several Telecom agreements for voice, data and wireless.
Manage production turnovers by conducting performance tests, and reviewing SQL coding standards and methods.
Manage 3rd party vendors supporting legacy 3Com, Avaya, Nortel, and Cisco platforms.

Senior information technology administrator vs information technology manager skills

Common senior information technology administrator skills

Linux, 7%
SAN, 6%
Unity, 4%
Windows Server, 4%
Troubleshoot, 4%
Unix, 3%

Common information technology manager skills

Customer Service, 12%
Project Management, 9%
Database, 4%
Network Infrastructure, 4%
SAN, 3%
SQL Server, 3%

Senior Information Technology Administrator vs. similar jobs

Senior Information Technology Administrator related careers

Senior Information Technology Administrator related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Computer and Mathematical Industry
Senior Information Technology Administrator
Senior Information Technology Administrator vs Information Technology Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse computer and mathematical jobs