Systems administrator: certifications, study paths and pay
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You run the servers, accounts and platforms a business depends on. That includes Microsoft 365, servers, backups, access and keeping systems patched and secure.
See practice tests for this roleWhat does it pay?
What you do
- Manage users, groups, licences and permissions
- Patch, monitor and back up servers and services
- Automate repeat tasks and plan upgrades
Skills that matter
- Windows Server, Linux and directory services
- Microsoft 365 administration
- Scripting for automation
- Backup, recovery and security hygiene
What does this role pay?
United States, May 2025, annual wages for the closest official occupation: Network and computer systems administrators, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pay grows with experience, scope and certifications. Pay in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries is different, so check local job boards and salary guides. These figures are a guide, not an offer or a promise of pay.
Practice tests that fit this role
Certifications that appear most often alongside this role. Start with the first one if you are new to it.
Study paths that lead here
IT support to networking path
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STUDY PATHAI infrastructure and MLOps
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STUDY PATHMicrosoft AI track
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STUDY PATHStart in tech: your first certification
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Job titles this page covers
- AI infrastructure administrator
- Container platform operator
- Copilot rollout coordinator
- Data centre engineer
- Data centre or GPU operations engineer
- Data centre technician
- Digital workplace coordinator
- GPU cluster administrator
- HPC or cluster administrator
- IT operations assistant
- Infrastructure analyst
- Infrastructure engineer
- Junior systems administrator
- Microsoft 365 administrator
- Microsoft 365 power user
- Modern workplace specialist
- Systems administrator
- Systems administrator (junior)
Employers use many names for similar work. Requirements vary by employer and country, and a certificate supports your application but does not guarantee a job.
Related roles
- IT support specialist
- Site reliability engineer (SRE)
- DevOps and platform engineer
- Low-code and automation developer
- Cloud engineer
- Machine learning and AI engineer
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