Re: [SAGE] Programmers as.. sysadmins..

On Jan 30, 2008, at 7:30 PM, Shaun T. Erickson wrote:

I always thought being able to solve the problem was of paramount import. If I don't have the personal skill to solve it, but know how to find the solution, isn't that what counts most? And if I am presented with a job task that can't be done with the skills I have, and requires me to add a skill, and I am willing to develop it (like learning perl because I was handed or inherited some perl scripts that I'm now to be responsible for), isn't that what matters most? We can't all know everything and there isn't time to learn everything, but we can add to our skills as the need arises, no? Isn't that the kind of person you want to work for you?

Who I really want to work for me is someone who loves to solve problems so that someone with less training and expertise can solve it the next time it comes up. I personally tend to equate this with someone who does system level programming, but that isn't necessarily always the case. Being able to develop a clear and well documented process that the next guy can follow is of similar value to programming skill. A negative trait of some system administrators is believing that their own personal ability to solve a given problem is more important than the organizations ability to ensure that the problem can always be fixed regardless of whether or not that admin happens to be around.

This is a tangent to the programming discussion, but I'm enjoying the discourse on the traits of great system administrators and wanted to add some more thoughts on the matter. (Full disclosure - My interest isn't entirely academic, I'm in the process of trying to hire a new System Administrator and this discussion about what folks consider good qualities is helpful)

Neil Neely

Senior System Engineer

FRII