My point with the "farmer" analogy is that, though the technologies with which they work are very different, the requirements and challenges of the two professions have striking similarities:
1) (Viewing a farm as a "system") Both are responsible for maintaining systems that are an amalgamation of related, but distinct components. 2) Both are multidisciplinary professions, with a variety of ways that the practitioner may perform and/or delegate each of the many roles they must provide in order to maintain the systems. 3) The lifecycle of each system is not time-limited. As consumers requirements and demands evolve, each practitioner must continuously evolve the system to comply with new and changed requirements. 4) Perhaps as a result of the preceding three points, each profession requires a broad base of knowledge with rapid adaptability to new challenges and technologies. If the preceding similarities are accepted, then a "farmer" can be vaguely, but quite accurately described as: "A farmer, farm worker, or farmhand, is a person employed to maintain and operate a farm." That is no more or less accurate than the analogous wikipedia definition for "system administrator". But that is _not_ the way "farmer is defined on Wikipedia. It is defined as: "A farmer is a person, engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops such as produce and grain." Yes, there is still so much more to farming than that. But that doesn't suffer nearly the same vagueness as the prior suggestion. So perhaps the definition of a farmer might be a better "model" for building a more descriptive definition for "system administrator". --Aaron On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 16:05, Michael Ryder <[email protected]> wrote: > I had this long reply typed out, but just tossed it because after reading > and rereading your reply, I'm not sure where you are going with the farm > analogy. > > Mike > > On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 4:23 PM, Aaron McCaleb <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 12:37, Michael Ryder <[email protected]> wrote: >> > For example... one definition might look like this: "A System >> > Administrator >> > is one who manages computers and/or networks on a continuing basis to >> > support the needs of the users of those systems. In addition, the SA >> > may >> > also be responsible for these other roles for their systems: design, >> > implementation, change control, new technology evaluation, >> > decommissioning, >> > etc." >> >> "...on a continuing basis..." caught my eye. In some ways, this might >> parallel the same ideas as farming. >> >> "A farmer is one who maintains and operates a farm." ...might be an >> accurate description. But is that how they would describe their role >> or their profession? >> >> Maybe: (Generalizing "farmer" to include "rancher", "farmhand", etc.) >> "A farmer maintains and operates a system that provides consumable >> products which are naturally born or germinated, grown to a specified >> maturity, harvested at regular intervals and processed in a continuous >> cycle." >> >> In fact, this is the first sentence of the Wikipedia definition of a >> farmer: >> >> -----------snip----------------- >> "A farmer is a person, engaged in agriculture, who raises living >> organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock >> husbandry and growing crops such as produce and grain." >> -----------/snip-------------- >> >> What, are more specific possibilities of tasks and roles a farmer can >> perform? It would depened on the day. One day, a farmer might be >> maintaining and repairing diesel engines. The next day he may be >> evaluation proposals for a product containment/conveyance solution. >> And on still other days, he may be training animals, constructing >> timber frame buildings, or excavating a small water reservoir. >> >> Some farmers may do all of these things, themselves. Some farmers may >> procure other service providers to do some or all of this work. (For >> instance, ranchers often hire other "service providers" to bale, haul >> and stack hay in the ranchers' hay barns.) As long as they are >> directly involved in operational decisions, wouldn't we say that both >> are still farmers? >> >> A final thought: a farm is never "complete". A farmer doesn't create >> and somehow package a farm and then "deliver" it to a customer. The >> farm's infrastructure, and the process by which the products are >> produced, are continuously evolving. >> >> >> >> Similarly, "computer systems" that a system administrator "maintains >> and operates" are also continuously evolving as the demand and >> expected utility of the "products" also evolve. System administrators >> also can wear many hats, though no two system administrators will >> necessarily swap between the same set of hats. >> >> It seems this analogy can easily be further extended, but I don't want >> to risk going too far. > > > > -- > http://www.lostinthedetails.com > _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
