Part of me is wondering if many of the more controversial discussions on this site are between people who have sysadmin experience (and considered it valuable) and people who don't.
I've done a fair bit of sysadmin work over the years, mostly in self-defense, because I want fewer crises when a critical development server eats itself.
Lots of people can figure out how to install Ubuntu, or rent a Linode. But if they don't master upgrades, patches and backups, they'll eventually end up paying a real sysadmin a lot of money at the worst possible moment.
I've done a fair bit of sysadmin work over the years, mostly in self-defense, because I want fewer crises when a critical development server eats itself.
Lots of people can figure out how to install Ubuntu, or rent a Linode. But if they don't master upgrades, patches and backups, they'll eventually end up paying a real sysadmin a lot of money at the worst possible moment.