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Quoting JBlom -at- ricoh-europe -dot- com:
>
> what in > your experience, is the
> level of experience of the "average" system administrator? Do they quake with
> fear at a new software
> to learn, or are they all computer gods that point and click and it is
> perfect, with not a hair out
> of place? I hardly think so, but then again, I do not know enough of them to
> poll and ask. Do they
> bother to read the manual? Is a layout of general information to advanced
> appropriate for this
> group, or would they be insulted by the thought?
To genralize wildly:
The reality behind the job title varies widely. At the bottom level are those
who have learned a few routines, and are helpless if someone customizes their
desktop (believe it or not). Often, they have little experience beyond the GUI.
They tend to have experience with Windows only, and are looked down upon by more
expert system administrators. They tend not to be very interested in learning
more about what they do for a living, but might benefit from some general
information, if they could be persuaded to read it.
At the top end are people who live, eat, and breathe networking, security,
anti-virus and anti-spam techniques and hardware. They are comfortable with the
command line - in fact, they tend to prefer it - and have in-depth knowledge of
both Windows and UNIX-like systems such as Linux, Solaris, and AIX. They don't
know everything, and the best of them don't pretend to, but they do know how to
troubleshoot a problem systematically. They are constantly reading something
about their profession, often on the Internet, and are the ones who keep
O'Reilly and Associates in business. They tend to be very methodical people, so
even if they don't need introductory information, they are unlikely to be
insulted by it. In fact, they are apt to nod approval that you are being so
thorough.
Of course, where your audience lies between these two extremes is something you
have to figure out for yourself.
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