Have I mentioned lately how much I love teh Google?
Overambitious server tweaking seems to have mangled my php installation. No problem, the interweb’s full of instructions for upgrading. If I run into an error, I just Google the error text, find the package I need, and keep going. Sometimes these pages aren’t even in English. Doesn’t matter. If I’m worried that I’m about to run something malicious, I just need to read a few more pages to generate a consensus.
Sure, there are cases where an incredibly detailed knowledge of one’s infrastructure can be essential. For the rest of those one-off admin jobs that aren’t a core part of what you do, teh Google is awesome.