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Systems Administrator Interviews

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Systems Administrator Interview Questions

When you interview for a systems administrator position, interviewers will likely ask you questions that allow them to learn how you multitask and deal with problems. Expect to give specific examples about how you dealt with certain situations, and highlight your communication, troubleshooting, and technical skills.

Top Systems Administrator Interview Questions & How To Answer

Question 1

Question #1: If your company's website is down, how do you resolve the issue?

How to answer
How to answer: This open-ended question allows you to discuss your technical skills. Discuss how you identify the problem, troubleshoot the situation, and figure out why it happened. Your ability to stay calm and focused while you investigate the issue is also important.
Question 2

Question #2: How do you prioritize your tasks?

How to answer
How to answer: As a systems administrator, you're constantly monitoring the company's computer systems' performance and providing technical support to employees. Highlight your organizational skills and ability to multitask. Give specific examples of how different tasks require more attention than others.
Question 3

Question #3: Talk about a time when you initially failed to solve a system issue.

How to answer
How to answer: As a system administrator, it's vital to be able to overcome your inability to fix a problem and troubleshoot it. Focus on how you found a strategy that works instead of trying out different fixes until you solved the issue. Mention if the issue reached your professional limitations and you needed to use your communication skills to consult with others for assistance.

6,700 systems administrator interview questions shared by candidates

Most of the questions were open-ended and were followed up with more technical questions based on the answer. For instance, they would first ask "what would you do if an entire site couldn't access the internet, but their email was coming through just fine?" and based on the answer, they would ask follow up questions. So if for instance you mentioned telnet into an appliance to do some ACL checks, they would follow up with "alright, so what port would you use to telnet into the appliance? What IOS commands would you use to check the ACLs?"
avatar

Systems Administrator

Interviewed at SGS

3.3★
May 29, 2014

Most of the questions were open-ended and were followed up with more technical questions based on the answer. For instance, they would first ask "what would you do if an entire site couldn't access the internet, but their email was coming through just fine?" and based on the answer, they would ask follow up questions. So if for instance you mentioned telnet into an appliance to do some ACL checks, they would follow up with "alright, so what port would you use to telnet into the appliance? What IOS commands would you use to check the ACLs?"

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Glassdoor has 6,700 interview questions and reports from Systems administrator interviews. Prepare for your interview. Get hired. Love your job.