What is a unix engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted Expert
Maryam Farahani
The average unix engineer salary is $102,160. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an computer science major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a unix engineer. Unix engineers with a Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 18,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Unix Engineer?

M

Maryam FarahaniMaryam Farahani LinkedIn Profile

Engineering Instructor, Bakersfield College

Thinking about the fields they want to experience or try. And to be intentional about their job search. The best advice is learning as much as they can about what company offers. Visualizing themselves in the next 5 years as a starting point. Do they want to travel a lot, or be in management positions? Do they want to be subject matter expert, or a hands-on engineer or technologist? Their goal may change as they progress in their career but having one makes a big difference in their career choices and keeping them on track.
ScoreUnix EngineerUS Average
Salary
7.7

Avg. Salary $102,160

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level
5.7

Growth Rate 5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity
3.6
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 13.72%

Black or African American 7.88%

Hispanic or Latino 11.60%

Unknown 5.00%

White 61.48%

Gender

female 9.75%

male 90.25%

Age - 42
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42
Stress Level
5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level
6.7

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance
7.1

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Unix Engineer career paths

Key steps to become a unix engineer

  1. Explore unix engineer education requirements

    Most common unix engineer degrees

    Bachelor's

    66.8 %

    Master's

    14.0 %

    Associate

    14.0 %
  2. Start to develop specific unix engineer skills

    Skills
    ascdesc
    Percentages
    ascdesc
    Infrastructure8.11%
    Python5.99%
    Solaris4.71%
    Linux Servers4.63%
    AWS4.37%
  3. Complete relevant unix engineer training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New unix engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a unix engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real unix engineer resumes.
  4. Research unix engineer duties and responsibilities

    • Implement and manage EMC XtremIO flash SAN environment.
    • Manage NAS mounts for NAS filers configure by storage team.
    • Configure and manage storage volumes such as LVM and VERITAS on RHEL/centos systems.
    • Experience managing NFS shares and file systems from NetApp filers and EMC NAS devices.
  5. Prepare your unix engineer resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your unix engineer resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a unix engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose From 10+ Customizable Unix Engineer Resume templates

    Build a professional Unix Engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Unix Engineer resume.
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  6. Apply for unix engineer jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a unix engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How Did You Land Your First Unix Engineer Job

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Average unix engineer salary

The average Unix Engineer salary in the United States is $102,160 per year or $49 per hour. Unix engineer salaries range between $79,000 and $132,000 per year.

Average Unix Engineer Salary
$102,160 Yearly
$49.12 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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How do unix engineers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

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Unix Engineer reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2024
Pros

Understanding of various networks


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019
Pros

Configuring web server and cron teb and run linux command

Cons

I love every thing in linux


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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