Developers IMO benefit greatly from having the general engineering experience. This helps understand how the part they build fits in a full product, where the narrow spots are, what is likely to break first, where formal documentation is insufficient / contradictory / wrong, etc.

Sysadmins, who often manage crises, acquire this experience way or another (e.g, by researching options to fit a square peg in a round hole without leaks), so developers with sysadmin experience tend to all have it. I think though that the key part is the "engineer" part and it can be acquired and used without sysadmin-imposed hassles (interrupts, crises, being underappreciated).