The Education Expected of a System Admin
A system administrator is a very important job since they are responsible for a company's computer network. The job comes with a lot of responsibility and it pays very well which makes it a very desirable job. However in order to get a job as a system admin you have to have the right qualifications and that means the right education.
One of the odd things about being a systems administrator is that there is really no standard education that is required. This is starting to change as the career field becomes more clearly defined. However it is still possible to get a job as a self taught systems administrator. On the other hand there are many companies that will require a master's degree on the part of an applicant. That being the case it is beneficial to get as much education as you can. The question then becomes what kind of education do you need?
As a rule you will have the best chances of becoming a systems administrator if you have at least a bachelor's degree. It is certainly still possible to get a job without but it is getting harder and harder. The best options are degrees in computer science or information systems. There are lots of schools that offer these programs so you should have no trouble finding one. A degree in information systems is intended primarily for people who want to work as system administrators but a computer science degree will give you more career options.
Like most fields there is a trend towards higher education for systems administrators. As a result there are now companies that require a master's degree in order to get a job. In many cases this will be required if you want to work at a company that has a large and complex network. Since these jobs generally also require a great deal of experience most people will enter the workforce after they get their bachelors degree to get this experience. There are lots of masters programs that can be taken by distance learning so that is how many people chose to get their masters degree.
One of the other interesting things about the education required of a systems administrator is that a lot of the training is done outside of the formal schooling system. In particular there are certifications that are offered by the various software and hardware vendors. The Cisco or Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator are the most common of these but there are dozens of others. Getting one of these certifications can really help your career but it can also limit your options. If you get the Cisco certification for example you are basically ineligible for any job with a company that uses a Microsoft based system. Therefore it is important to make sure that you make a good choice when you are choosing a certification.