the term seems to have become a modern synonym for system admin/engineer.

True, but the distinction still holds value. If a company has a DevOps role defined, you can derive from that what kind of a company you are joining. For example, they hire based on marketing and not based on merits, which tells you something about the colleagues you can expect to be working with. It also tells you about how they structure work and that hierarchy and bureaucracy may play a bigger part in getting your work done than you might like.