System Administrator Appreciation Day
Next: July 30, 2027
Thank whoever keeps the Wi-Fi running.
The story
Where it comes from
System Administrator Appreciation Day began in 2000 with Ted Kekatos, a system administrator in Chicago. He had just bought a batch of new Hewlett-Packard printers when he saw an HP magazine advert showing a system administrator in his cubicle, with grateful colleagues queuing up to bring him flowers and fruit baskets. He tore it out, showed his boss and asked, as a joke, where his presents were. None came, so he set up a website overnight, emailed his friends, and the idea spread. It falls on the last Friday of July.
How it's celebrated
Offices thank their IT teams with cake, pizza, cards and a few words of gratitude. The official site's request is modest: a small token gift and some public acknowledgement. If someone has ever rescued your laptop, reset your password without a sigh or fixed the office printer, today is the day to tell them.
Did you know
- The printer in the advert was the HP LaserJet 4000, the very model Kekatos had just bought for his company.
- Kekatos's first celebration grew out of a company picnic he had helped organise, for which he brought the grill and the cooler.
- The day counts as one 24-hour Friday in each person's own time zone, so it rolls around the world like New Year.
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