Earlier quoted context omitted.
A sysadmin wouldn’t write payment code. A sysadmin would write the tooling to ensure the payment code could work (failover databases, redundancies) and put safeguards in place so that it does not get traffic that is not intended for it. Sysadmins used to write the code that touched thousands of machines at once, developers used to write the more complex code which were the bread and butter of the company. But where I…
> sysadmin would write the tooling to ensure the payment code could work Uhh if by tooling you mean a bash script to deploy ssh keys to prevent team A from accessing a machine owned by team B. You really have no idea what you're saying.
A junior sysadmin executes checklists, writes simple scripts, reads logs, and solves common problems, all while learning the complex supersystem of their workplace. They learn configuration of systems in use and how infrastructure is arranged and commonly changed.
A sysadmin helps to create checklists, writes more complex code to work in an automation system, and generally solves problems with non-obvious causes and/or remedies. They know all the routine events in their workplace, and add to documentation. They build, configure, test and recommend new tools and solutions to users, devs and the rest of the ops staff.
A senior sysadmin works on policy, debugs automation, solves complex interactions, and has an excellent understanding of complex systems and networks, not just at their workplace but in interactions and hypothetical interactions with the Internet at large.