[antonovka]

In the ideal model, you:

1) Have an automated tool to build OS images.

2) Configure the OS image to automatically fetch and install the software/configuration required for your deployment.

3) Simply reboot instances to upgrade them.

At that point, your need for a sysadmin is very low -- especially if you use software suites that are standalone, rather than requiring extensive OS integration.

Instead of hiring operations staff, you've invested in the software necessary to pull off the above.

[nkassis]

I would consider those task something a good sysadmin would be great at doing. Those scripts will need modification and I think that is what a good sysadmin should be able to handle. Sysadmin are automation engineers and infrastructure engineers. Maybe this person is more the one who integrates the pieces together in your model.

Sysadmins deal with more than just hardware and pressing go on the upgrade script.