Ask YC: How do you evaluate a good sys admin?

I'd say that sysadmining is 99% about experience -- if you've encountered a problem before, you'll be much better at fixing it than if you haven't, no matter how good your knowledge of the underlying codebase is.

In that vein, I'd say that the best way to evaluate a sysadmin is to ask (a) what sysadmin experience he has, and (b) what sort of problems he has encountered which he has needed to resolve.

You're looking for a problem solver with an unflappable, even temperament. Ask them to bring their notebook, or show you their personal wiki - without exception the best sys admins I've ever met have meticulous notes detailing solutions to fringe problems, running sheets for curly recoveries, and other assorted arcana.

if he/she edits all config files by hand instead of using some tool AND he can write shell scripts AND he knows how to do builds AND has experince with setup of any app server...