Top 12 Network Systems Administrator Skills to Put on Your Resume

The digital backbone hums because someone keeps it steady. That someone, often, is the Network Systems Administrator—tuning switches, policing traffic, stitching on-prem with cloud, and quietly keeping the lights green. A resume that shows real range—hands-on grit, automation mindset, security-first thinking—signals you can run the shop without drama.

Network Systems Administrator Skills

1. Cisco Networking
2. VMware ESXi
3. Active Directory
4. PowerShell Scripting
5. Linux Administration
6. AWS Cloud
7. Microsoft Exchange
8. Network Security
9. Docker Containers
10. Ansible Automation
11. Wireshark Analysis
12. IPv6 Implementation

1. Cisco Networking

Cisco networking covers the planning, deployment, and day-to-day care of networks built on Cisco gear and software. Routers and switches, routing protocols, segmentation, policy, visibility—the whole orchestra. Reliability and security ride on it.

Why It's Important

Most enterprise networks run some flavor of Cisco. Knowing the ecosystem means you can design clean topologies, harden the edges, troubleshoot the weirdness, and keep throughput sharp without blowing the budget.

How to Improve Cisco Networking Skills

Level up both your knowledge and the network itself.

1. Keep pace with releases and features; lab them before rollout. Packet Tracer and small testbeds pay off.

2. Stack certifications deliberately (CCNA to start, then CCNP; go deeper where you live: enterprise, security, data center).

3. Automate the dull stuff. Learn Python, RESTCONF/NETCONF, model-driven telemetry, and treat configs as code.

4. Harden everywhere: secure management planes, enable AAA, lock down SNMP, segment with VRFs, and use ACLs ruthlessly.

5. Observe what’s happening. Use flow data, telemetry, and a manager like Cisco Catalyst Center (or similar) for monitoring and assurance.

6. Join practitioner communities and internalize field-tested designs, not just glossy diagrams.

7. Lean on vendor docs and validated designs; they save hours when things go sideways.

How to Display Cisco Networking Skills on Your Resume

2. VMware ESXi

VMware ESXi is a bare-metal hypervisor that consolidates workloads and lets you run swarms of virtual machines on fewer boxes, precisely carved by policy.

Why It's Important

Virtualization is the core of most server rooms. ESXi (with vCenter) brings consistency, flexible scaling, and the resilience knobs that keep services up during hardware hiccups.

How to Improve VMware ESXi Skills

Tune for resilience, performance, and sanity.

1. Stay current with lifecycle management; stage and roll patches with maintenance windows and host remediation.

2. Build smart networks: use vSphere Distributed Switches, separate management and vMotion, and enable NIC teaming with consistent hashing.

3. Right-size storage: align queue depths, use Storage I/O Control, and consider vSAN where it fits. Keep datastores lean and tidy.

4. Let the cluster work: enable HA and DRS, set meaningful reservations/limits, and avoid noisy neighbors with shares.

5. Harden hosts: Lockdown Mode, separate management networks, certificates in order, and disable unneeded services.

6. Test your recovery: back up configs and VMs; perform restore drills, not just backups. Document the path back.

7. Watch the signals: capacity, contention, and anomalies via operations tooling (e.g., Aria Operations) or equivalents.

8. Automate with PowerCLI so repetitive clicks vanish.

How to Display VMware ESXi Skills on Your Resume

3. Active Directory

Active Directory centralizes identities, policies, and access across Windows domains. Authentication, authorization, Group Policy—wrapped into one nervous system, often synced to cloud identity.

Why It's Important

AD defines who can touch what. Do it right and users glide through their day; do it wrong and you’ve paved a highway for attackers.

How to Improve Active Directory Skills

Harden, organize, and audit—constantly.

1. Patch domain controllers religiously; protect the DCs like crown jewels.

2. Strong password and lockout policies, plus fine‑grained policies where needed. Deploy LAPS for local admin passwords.

3. Use groups for role-based access. Humans get group membership; resources get permissions.

4. Enable MFA, especially for admins and remote access. In cloud-hybrid setups, use Microsoft Entra ID features to enforce it.

5. Tiered admin model and Privileged Access Workstations. No browsing, no email on admin accounts. Ever.

6. Audit aggressively: advanced security auditing, forward logs, alert on risky changes. Replace legacy ATA with Microsoft Defender for Identity or similar behavior analytics.

7. Cull stale objects. Disable, then delete after validation. Keep the directory lean.

8. Back up system state and test forest/domain recovery procedures, not just theoretical runbooks.

9. Reduce legacy baggage: restrict or eliminate NTLM, require Kerberos pre-auth, and sign/seal where possible.

How to Display Active Directory Skills on Your Resume

4. PowerShell Scripting

PowerShell is the Swiss army knife of Windows administration—shell, language, remoting, and modules rolled up to automate the grind and standardize change.

Why It's Important

You can manage one server by hand. Hundreds? Only with scripts. PowerShell brings speed, repeatability, and fewer fat‑fingered mistakes.

How to Improve PowerShell Scripting Skills

Write more code, but write it well.

1. Master the pipeline, objects, and common cmdlets; the mental model is everything.

2. Dive into networking and directory modules; understand remoting (WinRM), Just Enough Administration, and constrained endpoints.

3. Organize modules, not loose scripts. Sign code, version it, and document parameters and examples.

4. Test with Pester. Add CI to lint, test, and publish artifacts automatically.

5. Handle errors on purpose: try/catch, $ErrorActionPreference, and robust logging.

6. Read others’ code, refactor your own, and keep a private script gallery for the team.

How to Display PowerShell Scripting Skills on Your Resume

5. Linux Administration

Linux runs quietly in closets and clouds alike. Admin work means services, storage, networking, security, and steady updates without breaking the house.

Why It's Important

So much of today’s infrastructure sits on Linux—containers, web tiers, databases. If you can tune it, secure it, and recover it, you’re indispensable.

How to Improve Linux Administration Skills

Build muscle memory and guardrails.

1. Practice in a lab: multiple distros, package managers, kernels, and filesystems. Break things, then fix them.

2. Systemd, journald, and logging pipelines: tame them and you’ll troubleshoot faster.

3. Network tooling: tcpdump, ss, iproute2, nftables/iptables, and WireGuard for secure tunnels.

4. Security posture: SELinux/AppArmor profiles, fail2ban, ssh hardening, key-based auth, and patch cadence.

5. Automate with Bash and Python. Keep playbooks or scripts for repeatable server builds.

6. Configuration management at scale: Ansible, Puppet, or Chef—pick one and get fluent.

7. Observability: node_exporter, logs to a central place, and alerts that humans can actually use.

How to Display Linux Administration Skills on Your Resume

6. AWS Cloud

AWS is a sprawling platform of compute, storage, networking, and managed services, stitched together with identity, automation, and monitoring.

Why It's Important

It shrinks lead time. You can deploy resilient networks and services in minutes, scale elastically, and pay for what you actually use.

How to Improve AWS Cloud Skills

Architect with intention; measure everything.

1. Performance: instrument with CloudWatch, scale with Auto Scaling and load balancers, and pick the right storage tiers for workloads.

2. Security: enforce least privilege in IAM, use Organizations and SCPs, enable GuardDuty, Config, and centralized logging. Encrypt at rest and in transit, always.

3. Cost control: rightsize instances, adopt Savings Plans or Reserved Instances, turn off idle, and set budgets with alerts.

4. Automation: define infra in CloudFormation or CDK; patch and orchestrate with Systems Manager.

5. Networking: build sane VPCs, route via Transit Gateway where scale demands it, prefer PrivateLink/VPC endpoints over public paths, and leverage Route 53 and CloudFront wisely.

6. Keep learning—features shift fast. Review release notes and run small proofs before production moves.

How to Display AWS Cloud Skills on Your Resume

7. Microsoft Exchange

Exchange powers enterprise mail, calendars, and address books—on‑prem, online, or hybrid—where uptime and security expectations are unforgiving.

Why It's Important

Email is still the business heartbeat. A stable Exchange environment keeps conversations flowing and blocks the noise.

How to Improve Microsoft Exchange Skills

Protect, monitor, and design for failure.

1. Patch frequently and review release notes; many incidents trace back to delayed updates.

2. Enable Modern Authentication and disable legacy protocols wherever possible (POP, IMAP, SMTP AUTH) to reduce abuse paths.

3. Tune databases and storage: healthy IOPS, mailbox quotas that reflect reality, and regular maintenance.

4. Security baselines: strict receive/send connector rules, authenticated relays only, ATP/anti‑malware layers, and solid transport rules for DLP needs.

5. High availability: design and test Database Availability Groups; document failover and reseed procedures.

6. Visibility: health checks, queue monitoring, mail flow tracing, and alerting that catches backlogs early.

7. Backups that restore quickly—practice partial and full recoveries.

How to Display Microsoft Exchange Skills on Your Resume

8. Network Security

Network security is the mesh of controls that preserves integrity, confidentiality, and availability—from physical racks to cloud edges.

Why It's Important

Threats move fast and sideways. Strong controls stall attackers, limit blast radius, and keep operations steady when something breaks.

How to Improve Network Security Skills

Assume breach; plan containment.

1. Patch cadence for everything—network OS, firmware, endpoints, servers.

2. Segment networks: VLANs, VRFs, and ACLs. Minimize trust zones and deny by default.

3. Harden borders: next‑gen firewalls, IDS/IPS, DNS security, and strict egress policies.

4. MFA everywhere it makes sense, especially admin and remote access.

5. Wi‑Fi done right: WPA3, separate guest networks, and strong device onboarding.

6. Continuous monitoring: flow data, packet captures when needed, and a SIEM that correlates signals into action.

7. Backups and recovery: follow 3‑2‑1 principles (add an offline/immutable copy), and test restores routinely.

8. Endpoint defenses: EDR with containment, strong device hygiene, and policy enforcement.

9. Physical controls: locked closets, camera coverage, and inventory discipline.

10. Incident response: roles known, playbooks rehearsed, tabletop exercises scheduled, lessons learned captured.

How to Display Network Security Skills on Your Resume

9. Docker Containers

Docker packages apps and their dependencies into portable units. Build once, run (nearly) anywhere, with predictable behavior.

Why It's Important

Containers add consistency and speed. Less “works on my machine,” more “ship it safely and scale it later.”

How to Improve Docker Containers Skills

Shrink, secure, and orchestrate.

1. Security first: favor rootless where possible, enable user namespaces, scan images (e.g., Trivy), and sign them (cosign/Notary v2). Minimal base images reduce attack surface.

2. Performance: multistage builds, small layers, smart caching, and resource limits so one container can’t starve the node.

3. Observability: centralize logs, export metrics, and trace requests across services.

4. Networking with intent: dedicated bridge networks, strict ingress/egress, and firewall rules that match the data flows.

5. Compose for small stacks; choose Kubernetes (or Swarm for simple needs) when you need scaling, rolling updates, and self‑healing.

6. CI/CD integration: build, scan, test, then push. Automate promotions between environments.

7. Policy: image provenance, tag hygiene, and retirement of stale images. Keep registries clean.

How to Display Docker Containers Skills on Your Resume

10. Ansible Automation

Ansible turns intent into state across fleets—idempotent, readable, and agentless. Perfect for network and server changes that shouldn’t drift.

Why It's Important

Manual changes don’t scale and they don’t repeat. Ansible makes consistency the default and rollback a comfort instead of a scramble.

How to Improve Ansible Automation Skills

Structure pays dividends.

1. Break playbooks into roles and collections; keep inventories clean and descriptive.

2. Use dynamic inventory for cloud and device discovery; let tags and metadata do the heavy lifting.

3. Secrets belong in Vault or a dedicated secret manager—never in git.

4. Test locally with Molecule; lint with ansible‑lint; enforce checks in CI before anything touches production.

5. Embrace check mode and diff for safe previews; handle errors gracefully with blocks and retries.

6. Create custom modules or filters when built‑ins fall short, but prefer existing, maintained modules first.

7. Document variables, defaults, and expected outcomes. Future you (and your teammates) will thank you.

How to Display Ansible Automation Skills on Your Resume

11. Wireshark Analysis

Wireshark lets you capture and dissect traffic down to individual packets. Protocol behavior, handshake quirks, timing—laid bare.

Why It's Important

When logs handwave, packets tell the truth. You can pinpoint latency, spot retransmissions, or unmask misconfigurations fast.

How to Improve Wireshark Analysis Skills

Filter ruthlessly and know your protocols.

1. Get fluent with display and capture filters; save profiles for repeated tasks.

2. Follow TCP streams, measure round‑trip times, and read retransmit/Window updates like road signs.

3. Coloring rules for visual cues—errors pop out when the palette helps.

4. Decrypt where feasible (known keys or sessions) to see higher‑layer problems clearly.

5. Use ring buffers and capture limits on busy links to avoid drowning in data.

6. Study RFCs and protocol specs; it’s easier to spot “off” when you know “normal.”

7. Practice on real pcaps and your own lab traffic; annotate findings and build a library of patterns.

How to Display Wireshark Analysis Skills on Your Resume

12. IPv6 Implementation

IPv6 brings a vast address space, cleaner autoconfiguration, and modernized networking behavior. It’s the answer to IPv4 exhaustion—and then some.

Why It's Important

Devices keep multiplying. IPv6 ensures you won’t run out of addresses or cling to brittle NAT workarounds as networks grow.

How to Improve IPv6 Implementation Skills

Plan like an architect, deploy like a skeptic.

1. Craft a hierarchical addressing plan (think /48 or /56 per site), with room to breathe and summarize.

2. Roll out dual‑stack first. Validate routing, ACLs, and monitoring work equally well for IPv6.

3. Decide where SLAAC, DHCPv6, or a mix fits. Control RAs; enable RA Guard on switches.

4. Harden the perimeter and inside: IPv6 firewalls, bogon filters, and parity with IPv4 security controls.

5. Update DNS thoroughly: AAAA records, reverse zones, and consistent search paths.

6. Verify device and app support—no surprises from “IPv4 only” corners.

7. Monitor and log IPv6 paths just like IPv4. Traces, flow data, and alerts need dual vision.

8. Train teams on new pitfalls (extension headers, neighbor discovery mischief) and the new troubleshooting playbook.

9. Test. Then test again: pilots, canaries, and staged rollouts reduce risk.

How to Display IPv6 Implementation Skills on Your Resume