More Sys Admin jobs than Network Admin?

Does that sound right?

And for those lacking in experience, would the Sys Admin role be more attainable in a decent time frame?

IYHO, does a typical help desk role lead to Sys Admin or Network Admin?

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Comments

higherho

To be honest, I see more and more jobs containing both roles than having them separate, unless if its with a big corporation. Also, I think a job is attainable as long as you have the passion for that position and have the correct contacts or credentials to obtain it.

As for the help desk comment, you typically see Help Desk personal obtain System Administrator roles or Desktop Support roles. It really depends on the company you are working for and their needs.

YuckTheFankees

In my opinion, help desk leads to a system admin position..but it really depends on what you do day-to-day.

If you want to become a network admin/network engineer, I would look for NOC positions. Even with no or minimal I.T. experience, you still have a chance to get hired. NOC experience + certifications (Juniper/Cisco) = Network admin/engineer.

N2IT

Yuck great formula

spicy ahi

Yuck has answered your question exactly how I would have.

Forsaken_GA

As far as I'm concerned, they're the same things. Network admin is usually just code for exchange admin.

network engineering, otoh, whole different ballgame

Everyone

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Network admin is usually just code for exchange admin.

Since when? Systems Admin could be... but no one has ever mistaken me for a Network Admin.

networker050184

Try searching for a 'network' job and see how many of them are actually systems admins with zero to do with any networking. Trust me I have! Names are pretty meaningless in the IT field unfortunately.

wellnowwhat

I would look for NOC positions

Sorry to thread hijack, but could someone please explain to me what "NOC" means? I keep seeing it around the forums so I'm curious what it stands for. I'm new here.

networker050184

Network Operations Center. The details will change between NOC to NOC, but the gist of it is monitoring and first line troubleshooting of network events. Basically the helpdesk of the network world, but its more on the network itself rather than end users. Vague I know, but responsibilities can vary greatly from place to place.

lilmansdad

I was curious about that as well.

As a follow up, where are these types of facilities found that would be large enough to need a jr admin(s)? I would think mainly corp HQ's, or any campus with maybe a few thousand workers? Local ISP's?

networker050184

NOCs don't usually have 'admins' in the usual sense of the title. The administration of devices is usually handled within another group. The NOC is strictly break/fix/escalate.

NOC is a pretty wide term though unfortunately. I've seen NOCs that do nothing with the network whatsoever. Not sure why it's even called a NOC.

kurosaki00

higherho wrote: »

To be honest, I see more and more jobs containing both roles than having them separate

^ This
I do see more sys admin jobs too
But I sometimes see some sys admin jobs that are more into the network side, but they are not named network admin.
I dont know, just the company and their naming of the position.

BigMevy

lilmansdad wrote: »

I was curious about that as well.

As a follow up, where are these types of facilities found that would be large enough to need a jr admin(s)? I would think mainly corp HQ's, or any campus with maybe a few thousand workers? Local ISP's?

It doesn't take that big of an outfit really, though the position would more likely be in that size of an operation. If you're big enough to have a helpdesk, and 3 or 4 network/sysadmin types you could potentially have a jr level position.

jmritenour

My company does have dedicated sysadmin/network admin roles, but that's mostly due to separation of duty policies, not wanting someone with admin access to servers being able to also open up access through the firewall, or get switchport configs, and vice versa.

But...

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

As far as I'm concerned, they're the same things. Network admin is usually just code for exchange admin.

I'd say this is fairly accurate based on job descriptions I've seen the past few years, though you can can substitute "exchange" with pretty much any other server side, but network heavy application.

Brain_Power

I was hired as to perform the job duties of both Systems and Network Administrator.

Forsaken_GA

jmritenour wrote: »

I'd say this is fairly accurate based on job descriptions I've seen the past few years, though you can can substitute "exchange" with pretty much any other server side, but network heavy application.

Yeah, I'm being a little flippant and picking on Exchange because I don't like it, but in general, the understanding I've taken of the Network Admin title is that you get Admin servers which happen to be on the network, ie, very little difference from a sysadmin.

Though networker is correct, these days, titles have little meaning or consistency across organizations, and you need to examine the job duties closely to determine what the work really is