In just a few short days, it will be SysAdmin Appreciation Day. Are you ready?
Of course you are! But just in case…

Friday, July 25 is the 15th annual day of giving the nod to our system administrators. Those are the people who keep your network alive, your servers backed up, your computers virus-free. The ones who repair your connection to the networked printer and clear the buffer after you’ve pressed the print button 480 times. The unsung heros of the IT world.
A brainchild of Ted Kekatos (@tedkekatos), who is himself a sysadmin . the first SysAdmin Day was celebrated at a company picnic on July 28, 2000. Kekatos was inspired by an HP advertisement showing a sysadmin sitting in his cubicle, while people queued up waiting to give him flowers and fruit baskets. Kekatos bought the domain name http://sysadminday.com/, set up a website, and the annual observance took off. SysAdmin Day is celebrated on the last Friday in July.
So how is SysAdmin Day observed? Appropriate gift giving is a good start. Learning your system administrator’s name is a better start. Nods are good; so are fist bumps. Hugs, maybe not so much. Kekatos favors ice cream and cake, but other gift suggestions include:
- Pizza
- Cards
- Gifts
- Words of gratitude
- Custom t-shirts celebrating the epic greatness of your SysAdmin(s)
- Balloons
- Streamers
- Confetti

Commercial entities such as SpiceWorks, Sophos, and VPS.Net are gearing up for SysAdmin Day with competitions and give-aways. There’s even a SysAdmin Day song. Get into the spirit of things with this playlist of videos and music dedicated to system administrators and their daily trials and tribulations.
Competitions include:
- VPS.Net Seeks Confessions from SysAdmins
- Dell “IT Mess 4 Success” @DellSysMgmt
- SolarWinds’ Celebration of SysAdmin Day 2014 #SYSADMINSELFIE CONTEST
New competitions, freebies and kudos are being announced by the minute on Twitter at @tedkekatos. Follow Ted, and keep an eye on #SysAdminDay. Need some graphics? Try Digium.
Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day! Where would we be without you! Probably not reading this.
~Catherine Buck Morgan
Corporate Media Specialist, DPP
Images from the television series, The IT Crowd
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- The 2014 SysAdmin Day E-card Contest! (community.spiceworks.com)
- ManageEngine Kicks Off Contest to Honor IT Heroes on SysAdmin Day 2013 (virtual-strategy.com)
- DellKACE Celebrates National SysAdmin Day with a contest! (community.spiceworks.com)