Re:Easy. I liked money. (Score 1)

I think you misunderstand -- or simply misstate -- the situation.

You are simply describing what being good at the job means. You are by no means describing what the worst case of having that job means. You describe a generic formula for knowing that you do a job well.

• Do I understand my coworkers and communicate well with them? check
• Do I have the skills necessary to function in my particluar role, and do I apply those skills properly? check
• Do I understand our business and how my responsibilities affect it? check

The simple fact is that an admin has the opportunity to learn and apply a range of useful skills. So does a developer. So do the folks in marketing. And all of those people are responsible for some variation of your formula.

This does not mean that the sysadmin helps drive the company. If he wears many hats, maybe, but he's still the guy that gets called when there's a fire. Some of the advice given to the poor, benighted soul that asked slashdot for this advice was "get a job at a small company." Smaller companies have often failed to grasp the necessity of good IT practices. In such a situation, the senior man on staff for the job is often the only man on staff for the job. He gets to be his own piss boy even if he chooses your second choice.

And, effectively, the former english teacher doesn't get that last third of skill without going through hell first. There is no other way. Those who think otherwise just haven't had the shoe drop on them yet.