It was kind of a thing at the time. In the Afterword of Æleen Frisch's Essential System Administration (also 1991) subtitled "Don't Forget to Have Fun", there are listed _seven_ virtues of a system administrator:
* Flexibility: being able to wriggle out of tight spots and escape when irate users seem to have you cornered
* Ingenuity: realizing that you can use syslog to send messages to your friend on another system
* Patience: remaining capable of waiting until the final sendmail bug is fixed
* Persistence: the compulsion to try just-one-more-thing to fix a problem before going home
* Adherence to Routine: insisting on real milk and sugar-in-the-raw in your coffee (which is Kona or nothing)
* Attention to Detail: noticing that the clock on one of your systems is using Aleutian time, and changing all the others to match
* Laziness: writing a 250-line Perl script to avoid typing 15 characters
I took the last one to heart and have admired those who could utilize the first one, because I never could.
* Flexibility: being able to wriggle out of tight spots and escape when irate users seem to have you cornered
* Ingenuity: realizing that you can use syslog to send messages to your friend on another system
* Patience: remaining capable of waiting until the final sendmail bug is fixed
* Persistence: the compulsion to try just-one-more-thing to fix a problem before going home
* Adherence to Routine: insisting on real milk and sugar-in-the-raw in your coffee (which is Kona or nothing)
* Attention to Detail: noticing that the clock on one of your systems is using Aleutian time, and changing all the others to match
* Laziness: writing a 250-line Perl script to avoid typing 15 characters
I took the last one to heart and have admired those who could utilize the first one, because I never could.