Systems managers are charged with overseeing the information technology departments in an organization. Their duties depend on the size of the organization. They assess the IT needs of the organization and act accordingly. They install and maintain software and hardware. Also, they compile reports on technological improvements and changes. Similarly, they inform management about upgrades, information security, and related issues. Besides that, they work with technology professionals like systems analysts, support specialists, and software developers. Additionally, they manage the organization's networks. This includes wireless networks, cloud storage, and other systems of data storage and communication.
Applicants must hold a minimum of a bachelor's degree in systems management or a related field. You must have at least five years of relevant work experience. Having relevant certifications is a plus. You must possess organization, communication, computer, multitasking, leadership, and analytical skills. Systems managers make around $99,379 annually. This falls between $63,000 and $158,000.
How to Become a Systems Manager
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a systems manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $51.4 an hour? That's $106,914 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 46,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Systems Manager Do
There are certain skills that many systems managers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, business skills and organizational skills.
How To Become a Systems Manager
If you're interested in becoming a systems manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.2% of systems managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 12.5% of systems managers have master's degrees. Even though most systems managers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a systems manager. When we researched the most common majors for a systems manager, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on systems manager resumes include master's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a systems manager. In fact, many systems manager jobs require experience in a role such as programmer analyst. Meanwhile, many systems managers also have previous career experience in roles such as project manager or systems analyst.
Systems Manager Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a systems manager can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as project manager, progress to a title such as senior project manager and then eventually end up with the title senior infrastructure project manager.
Average Salary for a Systems Manager
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Systems Managers
1. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
4. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Private
5. New York University
New York, NY • Private
6. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
7. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
8. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
9. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
10. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
Top Skills For a Systems Manager
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.0% of systems managers listed procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and business skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Systems Manager Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Systems Manager templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Systems Manager resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Systems Manager Demographics
Systems Manager Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among systems managers, 23.2% of them are women, while 76.8% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among systems managers is White, which makes up 70.0% of all systems managers.
- The most common foreign language among systems managers is Spanish at 40.8%.
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Best States For a Systems Manager
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a systems manager. The best states for people in this position are California, Washington, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Systems managers make the most in California with an average salary of $130,633. Whereas in Washington and New Hampshire, they would average $119,271 and $115,966, respectively. While systems managers would only make an average of $111,114 in Oregon, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$130,633
Avg. Salary
2. Washington
$119,271
Avg. Salary
3. New Hampshire
$115,966
Avg. Salary
How Do Systems Manager Rate Their Jobs?
Top Systems Manager Employers
Most Common Employers For Systems Manager
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NVIDIA | $166,341 | $79.97 | 32 |
| 2 | Lockheed Martin | $137,145 | $65.94 | 23 |
| 3 | Walmart | $134,033 | $64.44 | 25 |
| 4 | Amazon | $129,824 | $62.42 | 22 |
| 5 | Accenture | $129,114 | $62.07 | 24 |
| 6 | General Electric | $127,838 | $61.46 | 18 |
| 7 | P&G | $124,228 | $59.73 | 35 |
| 8 | Amgen | $121,236 | $58.29 | 54 |
| 9 | Intel | $120,625 | $57.99 | 20 |
| 10 | Texas Instruments | $119,682 | $57.54 | 44 |