Today we celebrate Sysadmin Appreciation Day

by Jason "Hiner MCSE, CCNA" | Jul 27, 2001 7:00:00 AM

Takeaway: Did you know that today was Sysadmin Appreciation Day? We would like to express our regards to you on this techie holiday. We'll offer some suggestions for celebrating it and some tips for informing your coworkers about this day.

Has anyone come up to you to wish you a Happy Sysadmin Day today? If not, let me be the first. You deserve it! If you’re like most administrators, you spend your days (and sometimes your nights and weekends) rummaging all over the place to pull patch cables and other computer cords, dealing with angry employees and managers when equipment fails, troubleshooting difficult problems under intense pressure, and setting up the systems that keep your organization running.

However, most administrators hear from their non-IT employees only when something is broken and tempers are simmering. Rarely do fellow employees or managers walk up to their systems administrator and say, “Thanks for keeping everything running so smoothly the past couple months” or, “Thanks for staying until 6:30 last night to move the phone and data connections to my new office.”

Thus, we, your peers, wanted to let you know that you do a heckuva good job keeping the packets flowing and the systems running. You should be proud of the valuable work you do to keep your fellow employees working at optimal capacity.

Ways to celebrate Sysadmin Day
So how, exactly, do you observe this holiday?

First, you need to let management know that today is Sysadmin Appreciation Day. They may be able to offer only a handshake or a pat on the back this year, but maybe they can mark the last Friday in July on their calendar for next year and let the rest of the staff know that this is the day to show their appreciation for the efforts of their systems administrator(s).
Go out on a limb. Do something crazy—like actually taking an hour lunch break and not using it to study for your next certification exam.
If you do have managers who have complimented your efforts and/or other employees who have shown patience and gratitude recently, take a few minutes to thank them for their support. Explain that today is Sysadmin Appreciation Day and you want to return the favor to those who have been helpful and supportive recently. This can go a long way toward building stronger ties with your coworkers, and those ties can be very valuable the next time a surprise momentarily cripples part of your network.

The origins of Sysadmin Day
In the same spirit as Bosses’ Day and Secretary’s Day, Ted Kekatos, a 20-year systems administrator, spearheaded the movement for Sysadmin Appreciation Day. He has created a Web site, sysadminday.com, which explains more about Sysadmin Day, provides gift suggestions, and offers a little sysadmin humor.

How will you celebrate Sysadmin Day?
We look forward to getting your input and hearing about your experiences regarding this topic. Join the discussion below or send the editor an e-mail.

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