System administrator vs. cloud administrator

Introduction

For many first entering the IT field, the whole endeavor may come off as overwhelming at first. There are many good directions you can take your career in, and most are determined by your interests, passion and natural talent. Among these positions, many find that they want to become an administrator but are not quite sure which flavor of administrator is right for them.

This article will detail two of the most common flavors of administrator — system administrator and cloud administrator. These two different positions are often the entry point into the subfield of administration. You will learn about each role, what they do, what the prerequisites are and more.

For those too short on time to read the whole article, I will include a key takeaway section that will serve as a shorthand reference for the differences between the two roles.

System administrator

What exactly does a system administrator do? Questions like this are probably on your mind if you are considering this role for the first time. We will explore many of these questions in the overview of the system administrator role below.

Prerequisites

System administrator does not have any prerequisites per se. However, there are some common skills that those holding this role generally have. I would go so far to say that the more of these you have under your belt, the more successful you will likely be in scoring this job.

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• Bachelor’s degree: Many organizations prefer candidates with bachelor’s degrees, preferably in computer science or related disciplines
• Certifications: CompTIA A+ and Network+ are a good starting point
• Professional experience: There is no minimum amount of experience, but many have at least 3–5 years of related professional IT experience

Job responsibilities

System administrators generally are tasked with installing, configuring, maintaining and supporting computer systems (Read more...)