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

What is a systems service engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Ariful Azad Ph.D.

Systems service engineers are professionals who develop new technologies, including procedure development. Sometimes, they may maintain internal systems that have already been installed. Generally, they perform hardware configuration management duties. They troubleshoot and resolve all technical issues. Likewise, they conduct DNS testing. They configure and install operating systems and application software. Furthermore, they oversee the development and installation of new networking and computing infrastructures. Additionally, they monitor systems in the existing network to prevent productivity setbacks. Besides that, they implement best practices for system security and data backups.

Most systems service engineers have a bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field. As a candidate for this role, you must possess communication, analytical, multitasking, and leadership skills. You must have prior experience in a similar role. You must be familiar with numerous programming languages. These experts earn an average salary of $91,176 yearly, which is $43.83 per hour. It varies from $68,000 to $121,000.

What general advice would you give to a systems service 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.

ScoreSystems Service EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.9

Avg. Salary $88,847

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 13.71%

Black or African American 7.88%

Hispanic or Latino 11.60%

Unknown 5.00%

White 61.50%

Gender

female 16.84%

male 83.16%

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

7.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a systems service engineer

Explore systems service engineer education requirements

Most common systems service engineer degrees

Bachelor's

60.7 %

Associate

20.6 %

Master's

11.0 %

Start to develop specific systems service engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Cloud	11.44%
Infrastructure	7.02%
Linux	5.12%
Java	4.78%
Technical Support	3.99%

Complete relevant systems service engineer training and internships

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

Research systems service engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage system back-up, data storage, and OS images for all hardware.
Develop and maintain server backup system, manage 3Par SAN partitioning, and configuration and content management.
Manage development, manufacturing, test and delivery of custom broadband RF electronic test systems for military and aerospace customers.
Deploy and configure virtual servers using VMware.

Prepare your systems service engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your systems service engineer 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 systems service engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable systems service engineer resume templates

Build a professional systems service engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your systems service engineer resume.