Systems support administrator vs information technology administrator

The differences between systems support administrators and information technology administrators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a systems support administrator and an information technology administrator. Additionally, a systems support administrator has an average salary of $86,448, which is higher than the $73,195 average annual salary of an information technology administrator.

The top three skills for a systems support administrator include troubleshoot, linux and SQL. The most important skills for an information technology administrator are customer service, troubleshoot, and linux.

Systems support administrator vs information technology administrator overview

	Systems Support Administrator	Information Technology Administrator
Yearly salary	$86,448	$73,195
Hourly rate	$41.56	$35.19
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	192,994	159,499
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 56%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

What does a systems support administrator do?

A system administrator acquires, installs, or upgrades computer software and components. System administrators perform routine automation of the computer system. They maintain the security policies of organizations or institutions. It is their job to supervise or train their staff or provide support for different projects. They also determine the problems found in the system, analyze the issues, and do repairs whenever necessary. The skills they need include scripting languages, security and monitoring, and account access management.

What does an information technology administrator do?

An Information Technology (IT) administrator is an individual responsible for managing the day-to-day operation of an organization's IT systems and ensuring that the systems are running effectively. IT administrators must conduct consistent analyses of the computer system and install updates when needed. They are required to assess the organization's security programs and run the system for viruses and spyware. IT administrators also extend support to the organization's end-users and train them on desktop applications.

Systems support administrator vs information technology administrator salary

Systems support administrators and information technology administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Systems Support Administrator	Information Technology Administrator
Average salary	$86,448	$73,195
Salary range	Between $67,000 And $110,000	Between $50,000 And $105,000
Highest paying City	San Jose, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Deft	Databricks
Best paying industry	Professional	Finance

Differences between systems support administrator and information technology administrator education

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

	Systems Support Administrator	Information Technology Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 56%
Most common major	Computer Science	Computer Science
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Systems support administrator vs information technology administrator demographics

Here are the differences between systems support administrators' and information technology administrators' demographics:

	Systems Support Administrator	Information Technology Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 79.3% Female, 20.7%	Male, 81.6% Female, 18.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 10.1% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.8% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between systems support administrator and information technology administrator duties and responsibilities

Systems support administrator example responsibilities.

Manage projects such as server migrations and mass client OS migrations.
Authore and maintain shell and Perl scripts to automate administration tasks for infrastructure management.
Maintain Unix mail, news, web, and directory servers and DNS records.
Monitor SharePoint timer jobs, search crawls, and ensure all services are properly running.
Work with OS team in realizing the DR environment and test the periodic working of the DR environment.
Support the implementation of VMware hardware and operating systems solutions to provide hosting services to multiple data centers.

Information technology administrator example responsibilities.

Define, document and project manage the implementation and configuration changes to HRIS applications.
Manage the migration from ADP to Lawson software; adapt HRIS to fit organizational needs.
Manage PC trainers and develop high quality internal instructor-le courses.
Manage host peripheral hardware including disk files and space utilization.
Manage and maintain corporate telecommunications and LAN; recommend repairs as needed.
Manage administration for SharePoint websites including account creation or modifying existing user accounts and site settings.

Systems support administrator vs information technology administrator skills

Common systems support administrator skills

Troubleshoot, 7%
Linux, 6%
SQL, 6%
Customer Service, 6%
Database, 5%
OS, 4%

Common information technology administrator skills

Customer Service, 10%
Troubleshoot, 6%
Linux, 5%
Database, 4%
VMware, 4%
Windows Server, 4%

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Systems Support Administrator vs Information Technology Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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