OP here... I'm actually a "junior" programmer (newest guy on staff), but in smaller organizations, we're often asked to wear many hats. Just last week I was moving office furniture.
The "senior" Network Admin had "delegated" the tasks of email maintenance and backups to me, which in my humble opinion are 2 of the biggest responsibilities of a network admin. ...so I'm actually inheriting methods I don't agree with so I'm looking for better solutions.
I know almost nothing about networking, but to anyone outside of IT (management), anything having to do with computers is interchangeable, even though the training/schooling you go through to be a programmer vs. network admin are entirely different.