History
The first System Administrator Appreciation Day was celebrated on July 28, 2000. Kekatos was inspired to create the special day by a
Hewlett-Packard magazine advertisement in which a system administrator is presented with flowers and fruit-baskets by grateful co-workers as thanks for installing new printers. Kekatos had just installed several of the same model printer at his workplace
The official SysAdmin Day website includes many suggestions for the proper observation of the holiday. Most common is cake and ice cream. There are many international websites which celebrate the holiday.
Many
geek and
Internet culture businesses, such as
O'Reilly Media, also honor the holiday with special product offerings and contests. Various
filk songs have been written to commemorate the day. The songs have reached a level of popularity where they are also covered by other performers.
Attempts to have
Hallmark Cards recognize the holiday as a
Hallmark Holiday have yet to be realized. Many e-card websites already have special SysAdminDay cards available.
The holiday has been recognized and promoted by many IT professional organizations, the
League of Professional System Administrators,
SAGE/
USENIX and SNIPhub.
