Hacker News Reader

Between AMIs, Configuration Engines, and things like http://susestudio.com/ make it simpler to create auto-scaling infrastructure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open_source_confi...

Granted that process is still under refinement, but with dedication you can achieve those goals.

Conversely, again with cost analysis, which is cheaper, a developer who can manage all that, or a sysadmin? I am sure there is a curve, small end a sysadmin, large end automation.

Do your "traditional" programmers want to deal with all the practices listed at http://everythingsysadmin.com/the-test.html ?

Do your "traditional" programmers want to develop the sort of skill listed at http://www.sage.org/field/jobs-descriptions.html ?

That is what good sysadmins do, and rack monkeys are training to do.

Sure. But often they don't have the programming background to do it cleanly.