From: Adam Compton <compt...@gmail.com<mailto:compt...@gmail.com>> Subject: Re: [lopsa-discuss] What is a System Administrator
In light of a number of very inclusive responses like this one, I think it might be fruitful to also ask the negative case: what is a System Administrator not? I think for me, sysadmin is a constellation of affiliated tasks that is most distinctly characterized by: 1) Managing technology on behalf of a user (or set of users) so that the user can focus on the "day job." We make tech work, and specifically we make it work for people who are trying to get things done and for whom managing tech would be a distraction from their primary work, rather than the focus of their primary work. 2) Taking on aspects of other technical specialities, but generally not developing deep specialization in those tasks. We may well write programs to accomplish sysadmin, but programming is not the primary focus of our job. We may engineer networks, or write business cases, or manage projects, or do reporting, or user support, or any number of other things, but it tends to me more of a jack-of-all-trades role than deep specialization in one topic. So by that token, I'd say that in general a sysadmin isn't building technology for technology's sake (although we've all had our moments of doing some clever hacking for fun, I'd suspect), but rather building/supporting technology for a purpose. And I'd also a sysadmin doesn't go as deep into any one field as someone who's role is to specialize in that field. -- Christopher Manly Coordinator, Library Systems Cornell University Library Information Technologies c...@cornell.edu 607-255-3344
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