I joined my current company as a web developer after completing a bootcamp. A few months later, the help desk employee left, and I was asked to take over IT because I had some troubleshooting experience. I accepted after negotiating higher pay.
About a year later, I was promoted to IT Manager, although I am still the only internal IT support employee for our roughly 100-person company. We also use an outside provider for servers and networking. My responsibilities include handling support tickets, budgeting, phishing-awareness training, computer upgrades, onboarding and offboarding, mobile-device management, VoIP phones, and general Microsoft-based support in a hybrid environment.
I earned the CompTIA A+ certification and have started studying networking, Microsoft endpoint management, Azure, and PowerShell. Since the company is small, I know there are areas of infrastructure and administration that I have not had much exposure to. Most of my troubleshooting has involved quick fixes, documentation, and researching unfamiliar problems as they arise.
Would this background be enough to apply for systems administrator roles, or would I be considered closer to a junior administrator? Should I continue pursuing management positions instead, while building my technical skills?
5 Answers
Another option is to target IT manager or IT lead roles at larger organizations where you still have technical responsibility but can learn from dedicated administrators and engineers. Be honest on your résumé about what you personally managed versus what the outside provider handled. If you specifically want a systems administrator role, apply for junior positions while continuing your studies, but expect competition from candidates with several years of direct infrastructure experience.
You effectively skipped the traditional help desk and junior administrator progression, so your experience may translate to a junior systems administrator role rather than a mid-level one. Your current title could make a systems administrator position look like a step backward, but titles matter less than your long-term goals. If you prefer hands-on technical work and dislike people management, moving laterally or even taking a lower title can still be the right career choice.
Do not worry about knowing every system. Good administrators are comfortable investigating unfamiliar problems, reading documentation, testing safely, and knowing when to escalate. Start thinking beyond individual tickets: inventory, licensing, security controls, backups, recovery plans, device lifecycle, and operational risk. That broader perspective will help you qualify for senior technical roles or stronger IT management positions.
Before deciding, figure out whether you want to manage people or build systems. IT management involves budgeting, planning, vendors, risk, and organizational politics; it is not automatically a more desirable path. Systems administration involves deeper technical ownership. Neither is inherently better, and a manager title does not prove that you have the infrastructure experience employers expect.
For a traditional systems administrator job, your current background would probably be viewed as entry-level to junior unless you can demonstrate stronger hands-on experience. Build practical projects around identity management, Microsoft 365, endpoint deployment, backups, networking, security, PowerShell automation, and disaster recovery. Document what you built and the results, ideally in a home lab or through projects at work. Certifications such as MD-102, MS-102, or an IT service-management foundation can help, but they will not replace practical evidence.
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