I found this great resource that I tweeted about earlier this week–20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know–over at nixCraft. But as I read the comments–full of more great ideas for diagnostic and monitroing tools, I came across one rather snarky one:

“I would not trust a sysadmin that knows so few.”

Give me a break. The role of a sysadmin these days is far more broadly-defined than to expect that any one person would become expert in every tool that is out there. Environments change, staff are turned over, and the most important skill is to be able to find help when you need it. A company may not be able to afford to hire a Linux guru–just as they may not be able to afford a database expert who can check off a list of every imaginable technology he or she has mastered. Even when such people are found, they may not fit the culture of a company or, they may have an attitude of entitlement and superiority that makes them difficult to manage.

I think the key for all of us is to focus on continuing to learn. I was not really a sysadmin; when I look at a real sysadmin’s list of resources like Hal Pomeranz’s Index of Presentations and Articles, it puts my scrappy but resourceful IT career in perspective. There are many people we can learn from, and it is always about how you use the tools, skills, technology and your own creativity to achieve results that matter in a given context. It’s not about collecting awards or being able to prove you know more than the next person.