July 25th is System Administrator Appreciation Day

System Administrator Appreciation Day, also known as Sysadmin Day, SysAdminDay, SAD or SAAD, is an annual event created by system administrator Ted Kekatos. The event exists to show appreciation for the work of sysadmins and other IT workers. It is celebrated on the last Friday in July.

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.[1]

The official SysAdmin Day website includes many suggestions for the proper observation of the holiday. Most common is cake and ice cream.

Many geek and Internet culture businesses, such as ThinkGeek and CafePress, also honor the holiday with special product offerings and contests. Various filk songs have been written to commemorate the day.[2][3][4] 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 and SAGE/USENIX.