It's kind of the same rule. AUTOMATE EVERETHING == Let something or someone todo your work == Use work of another people == use library == DON'T PROGRAM
Usually the process of automating is writing high-level glue code. So it is a kind of combination; it's using third-party code, but it's also very much programming.
Yup it is. You know the main idea of all this advices is Try to save your time and power. For administrators: Write code thatwill do your job.
For programmers: find someone who have done this work with needed quolity
I started out in programming, but became a de facto system administrator when I found the best way to accomplish a job was to assemble other people's components. Now my title is system administrator, and I'm solidly in the "automate everything" school of sysadmin.