A systems administrator should be able to read a manual,
    write a manual, fend off a user, manage technicians and
    operators, program and burn a prom, both install and use a
    trouble ticket system, program proficiently in C, assembler,
    and lisp, debug a program in a language he doesn't know, use
    a soldering iron, pull cables and then trace them to see
    where they actually went, write tools that don't break when
    handled by others, know when to use hammers on disk drives,
    be able to tap a hole, understand a policy statement, take an
    integral, cost-justify a purchase, tell the difference
    between capital and labor expenditures, determine when a
    vendor is lying *and about what*, tell lies and truths for
    the proper purpose, know when to do which, and know who to
    ask about the ones he doesn't know.

-- Steve Simmons on SAGE-members