Wide area network administrator vs systems administrator

The differences between wide area network administrators and systems 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 wide area network administrator and a systems administrator. Additionally, a systems administrator has an average salary of $77,156, which is higher than the $61,805 average annual salary of a wide area network administrator.

The top three skills for a wide area network administrator include switches, PC and tcp ip. The most important skills for a systems administrator are linux, troubleshoot, and windows server.

Wide area network administrator vs systems administrator overview

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Systems Administrator
Yearly salary	$61,805	$77,156
Hourly rate	$29.71	$37.09
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	83,700	134,500
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Wide area network administrator vs systems administrator salary

Wide area network administrators and systems administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Systems Administrator
Average salary	$61,805	$77,156
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $90,000	Between $59,000 And $100,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Meta
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between wide area network administrator and systems administrator education

There are a few differences between a wide area network administrator and a systems administrator in terms of educational background:

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Systems Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Wide area network administrator vs systems administrator demographics

Here are the differences between wide area network administrators' and systems administrators' demographics:

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Systems Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 89.5% Female, 10.5%	Male, 83.9% Female, 16.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 9.6% White, 70.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 11.5% White, 62.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between wide area network administrator and systems administrator duties and responsibilities

Wide area network administrator example responsibilities.

Manage and support corporate Linux Production/Development servers.
Coordinate marketing brainstorming meetings, prepare minutes, manage project follow-up, and create summary PowerPoint presentations.
Maintain and update Novell, Microsoft, and Linux servers.
Create a macro driven pc base budget preparation system.
Administer and install Cisco switches, routers, firewalls and VPNs.
Participate in projects requiring installation, configuration and support for network routers and switches, firewalls and effective application load balancing.

Systems administrator example responsibilities.

Used Jenkins to automate most of the build relate tasks.
Manage windows file servers, messaging, and SQL databases.
Lead the project which integrate internal DNS into the corporate LDAP infrastructure for end user host management prior to deployment.
Lead business-critical information security initiatives involving encryption of customer data.
Authore and maintain shell and Perl scripts to automate administration tasks for infrastructure management.
Configure & manage all switches and servers responsible for providing WLAN connectivity and authentication services.

Wide area network administrator vs systems administrator skills

Common wide area network administrator skills

Switches, 42%
PC, 31%
Tcp Ip, 28%

Common systems administrator skills

Linux, 7%
Troubleshoot, 7%
Windows Server, 6%
Database, 5%
Technical Support, 4%
PowerShell, 3%

Wide Area Network Administrator vs. similar jobs

Wide Area Network Administrator related careers

Wide Area Network Administrator related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Computer and Mathematical Industry
Wide Area Network Administrator
Wide Area Network Administrator vs Systems Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse computer and mathematical jobs