Is it useful for a Unix sysadmin to know how to use ed(1) and do basic things with it? Sure. Sometimes ed(1) is all you have or is your best choice. Is it a priority for a sysadmin to learn ed(1), given that there are so many other things to learn in this field? I don't know, but I feel much less certain. There's a ton of things in system administration that are 'useful' to know, too many for any one person to actually know.