What is a Systems & Network Administrator?

The systems administrator is an essential role in any company that owns a fleet of computers or networked machines. This role can therefore be found in any type of sector or company.

That said, since the rise of Cloud Computing and outsourced "As a Service" offerings (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), most companies delegate the management of this infrastructure to specialized providers, which lets them reduce their operating costs (hardware, maintenance, usage), reduce their internal skill requirements, and save valuable time.

Which companies hire Systems and Network Administrators?

Companies that have chosen to keep their infrastructure in-house. This is mainly large groups (industry, banks, etc.), server hosting providers and Cloud Computing companies (AWS, OVH, Azure, etc.), but also smaller companies that need — for security or operational reasons — to keep their hands on their infrastructure so they can intervene at any time.

Why do companies need this role?

Companies that make this choice are often more dependent than others on managing their technical infrastructure, where their service and their precious data live. The slightest outage, network issue, or security breach can significantly impact the company's activity and business.

Understanding, mastering, and evolving a company's IT systems isn't easy and requires solid knowledge across several areas: storage, networks, security, and systems.

A technical profile capable of managing the overall organization of networks and IT systems is therefore essential to ensure consistency across all IT resources (hardware, applications, databases, middleware, networks, and operating systems).

Who does the Systems Administrator work with inside the company?

The systems and network administrator works with several profiles depending on the type and size of the company. They can be found working with:

• CIO (IT Director)
• CTO / Technical Director
• Database administrator: often a spin-off from the systems and network admin role; they work hand in hand and depend on each other.

The role can also be split into two specializations depending on need:

• Systems Administrator
• Network Administrator

What is their role on the team?

Often very versatile, the systems and network administrator can wear several hats within the company.

• Define the company's needs in terms of hardware and software based on use cases
• Configure computer hardware and software to fit the need (speed, volume, security) and integrate/connect them to the company's internal network
• Manage usage of servers, the network, and employees' computing work environments
• Maintain computer hardware (networks, servers, hardware, storage)
• Security: manage access rights to company data (users, services, externals, etc.)

Which technologies do they use? Are there several environments?

• Mastery of databases (SQL Server, Oracle, etc.),
• Knowledge of various operating systems and mastery of at least one: Linux, Mac OS, Windows, etc.
• Knowledge of networks (communication and connection protocols, network cabling, routers…)