IT Administrator vs System Administrator

kavo87 · January 2017

Hey Guys,

Just a little background about myself. I'm from Dublin, Ireland and a final year computer science student that I do in the evening as I work full time.

Last year I went looking for some work experience, something in the evenings when I finished work as I done the early shifts in a supermarket. I managed to get an interview in a place my cousin worked. It was more a chat than and interview to be honest but out of it I was offered a fully paid internship for 6 months the first time the company had ever offered that.

After the 6 months I was offered a permanent role as an IT Administrator which I accepted. This is where my question comes in we are currently advertising for a new System Administrator for the company. I've been told that basically we're the same, doing the same job so am I better off asking for my job title in my contract to be changed to System Administrator?

kiki162 · January 2017

All depends on what you are doing in your job duties. If you are truly doing the same exact thing, then I wouldn't worry about it. What really matters is what skills you gain at the job, and what you do on the side to continue learning (certifications, etc.). The idea with that is that you want to set yourself up for the next job.

AndersonSmith · January 2017

Is the pay any different between your current job as an IT Administrator and the System Administrator job they're advertising? I've found that a lot of IT job titles tend to be somewhat ambiguous. If I were to see those two job titles advertised without knowing anything about them ahead of time I would think that the IT Administrator position was more of a "jack of all trades/catch all" IT position where you were responsible for a lot of different IT duties, whereas the Systems Administrator position was concerned more with working with servers and PC deployment. Like I said though, a lot of IT job titles are ambiguous so the title itself may not mean the same thing from company to company.

poolmanjim · January 2017

Both Kiki and AndersonSmith are dead on. In IT job titles are kind of "meh?". I've seen two people with the same job and same responsibilities with two completely different titles. Heck, I work in a company where literally 80% of the company has System Engineer in their job title and they perform roles ranging from Help Desk to Architecture to Network Administration to Client Relations and get paid anywhere from 45k to 75k.

The title isn't what matters. Its the work. If you are doing a job that fluffs your CV and you enjoy doing it, then keep doing it. Fresh out of college that is what you want to be looking at.

tmtex · January 2017

Others have said doesn't matter. Look at the JD. Sys admin could be the sole IT guy who does desktop support, while everything else is outsourced. In the 2001- 2011 I was "Micro Computer specialist" and did everything except Cisco switches

kavo87 · January 2017

Thanks for the replies everyone.

They haven't advertised pay. The job description is the same as mine they are though looking for more experience and certs which I don't have so they could be well paid more than me. To be honest they're looking for a "jack of all trades" which is great for my learning as I get to interact with everything.

I suppose my main worry was recently getting a new manager who's looking to bring a friend into this role from his previous job making us a team of 3 I don't want to be told I'm only an IT administrator etc so I'm looking to sort of protect myself from that sort of thing.

IT Administrator vs System Administrator

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