Difference between "operator" and "system administrator"?

[Don Libes]

In article <4143 at anomaly.sbs.com> mpd at anomaly.sbs.com (Michael P. Deignan) writes:
>The difference between a system administrator and an operator? 

>About $25k a year in salary.

>In actuality though, all operators do is monitor ... the machine.
>A Systems Administrator is more responsible for the overall administration
>of the machine, including new software/hardware installation, disaster
>recovery plans, etc. More management oriented tasks.

I was employed as an operator for a public-access service that
required real-time action upon system failure.  It was my job to sit
in front of a console and wait for the system to misbehave, and when
it did, to fix it.  There weren't many instructions, this being UNIX.
(I.e., we were expected to be understand cryptic kernel blithering, as
well as the application error messages.)  Diagnosing never-before-seen
problems, coming up with the right fix - all at 5AM under public
scrutiny and intense pressure from management (who phoned us
frequently from home) was challenging.

The operators were paid more than the system administrators (our bosses)
or the system programmers.  Most of the operators were all extremely
knowledgable UNIX hackers.  Admittedly, we were bored out of our minds
95% of the time and 12 hour shifts sucked too, but I guess it was fun for
the money we raked in.  (When it was slow, I programmed for a different
job at the same time, another now-famous guy edited a UNIX magazine).

Don Libes          libes at cme.nist.gov      ...!uunet!cme-durer!libes