System Admin: The In-house Doctor

By Author: Vijay K Shetty
Total Articles: 2542
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Have you ever imagined what people do and whom they approach when they come across their health problems? Yeah, your guess was right; it'll be your family doctor. However, when there exists a problem in the network of your company, software or hardware of the system, can these doctors heal it? No way. But, how about a doctor in disguise? Right ‘m talking about the System Administrator. System Administrator or Sysadmin is a person responsible to maintain and operate a computer system and/or computer network.

So lets us now see what exactly Systems Admins are supposed to do? There's no such, hard and fast rule describing the roles and duties of a system administrator. The duties of a Sysadmin vary widely from one organisation to another. Some are usually given the responsibility of installing supporting and maintaining the computer systems and the main server. Some may be given the task of maintaining the networking tasks within the area or campus specified.

Skills required by a System Administrator:-

A thorough knowledge on the latest Operating Systems and Applications

Hardware and Software ...
... troubleshooting skills.

Knowledge about the networks.

And the most important skill being Problem-Solving. This would mean understand the purpose for which people in the organization use the computers.

Keep an eye over the network security by deploying software patches soon after its release.

Keep performing regular back-ups of the firm's data.

Adding, deleting, modifying or resetting the user account information.

So do you think you have it in you? To be a system Administrator you need not be a Software Engineer or Programmers, but all you need is to have a desire to learn attitude about the latest software and hardware configuration and the ways to troubleshoot them. The job profile just requires you to have a basic diploma degree in Computer Science or Information Science. There are also private institutions which offer related degrees in various fields like networks, hardware etc. There are immense opportunities available for Indian technocrats in large corporations for becoming a system administrator.

The job also requires for a system admin to be very patient. Chances are, he will be the one targeted by all employees of an organisation when their systems hit down with a bang. He is also required to exhibit training and tutor skills. That is, he is expected to teach the new employees and trainees on usage of the software and the hardware. He also should be very creative in knowing, analysing and choosing which software solves a particular problem. So in whole, a system admin will be working with multi-roles of trainer, problem-solver and also a repairman.

Well in this era of computer-dependent people and computer-enabled offices, the job of a system administrator is an essential one. Any small or large business having systems, servers and computer networks involved for its day-to-day working will need one. So why wait? If you really have all these skills without even studying your curriculum based text books, system administration is the job for you. Go for it!!

Vijay K Shetty, Platinum Level Author.
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