We're Celebrating Sysadmin Day

What’s that, you’ve never heard of ‘Sysadmin Day’? And you’re not even sure what exactly what a ‘Sysadmin’ is either? Never fear! This week we’re paying tribute to those heroes of the IT Department, and we’ll explain a little about them along the way. Just by being here at WeCompress you're probably making their lives a little easier already. Smaller files don’t bounce and use less storage, which as you’ll see, are two headaches that tend to afflict your Sysadmin.

Firstly, there’s the stereotype to deal with. Sysadmins aren’t all neck-bearded board game enthusiasts who look like Bill Gates circa 1980. The IT Department is home to people of all different shapes, sizes, colors and genders. Take me for example, I ‘work in IT’ and I’m a 30 something white guy with a keen interest in Amiga games from the mid 90’s and look nothing like Bill Gates (especially with my neck-beard). However, I’m the only one who fits this mould so well in my office, we’re all very different really. If you work in a large company, chances are your IT department is full of vastly different and differently skilled people too. Telling a Sysadmin from a Developer is easy though, they do very different thing day to day. Here’s how to spot your Sysadmin by what they do, which also doubles as a list or reasons they need their own day of celebration:

1. They make it all work - Seems like a big call, but it’s not really an overstatement. IT systems underpin just about everything in a modern office. Whether it’s your email, messaging system, computer terminal, printer or internet connection; if you use it and it plugs in, it’s probably thanks to a Sysadmin it that works.

2. They keep you up to date - There’s a whole load of unseen things they’re busy doing to keep you going. Updating your software, operating system, antivirus, backups, hardware and spam filters are just a few from items the almost endless list a Sysadmin keeps on top of.

3. Fix mistakes - We all make them, but it’s often down to the ‘IT wizards’ to wave their wands and make those deleted files reappear, reset that forgotten password or remove that virus. And it’s not magic, it’s preparation, experience and skill that makes it look easy. Einstein defined Genius as ‘taking the complex and making it look simple’. I’m not saying they’re all Einstein, but you get the picture…

4. Complex ‘IT Stuff’ - Ever overheard two IT folks talking and thought; ‘it sounds like English, but they are definitely speaking another language’. They might have been, but chances are they were just talking shop. Most Sysadmins will have read the list so far and thought; ‘that’s just the basics’. Because there's a tonne of other stuff that’s way too complex to fit into a four point list. So to simplify the list - they do a load of ‘IT Stuff’ us mere mortals may never understand.

So this Sysadmin day, why not take some advice from sysadminday.com and give your IT team something to celebrate! Go out and grab some doughnuts, pizza, beers or other unhealthy treat of your choice to sit back and enjoy with your favorite Sysadmin. Or, your least favorite one, either way you get treats. You can talk about the ridiculous hours most of them work (because things don’t break on a schedule), or ask them to explain some of that complex ‘IT Stuff’ and improve your understanding about the IT glue that holds your office together. Or you could tell them about our 50% Off Sysadmin Day Sale on NXPowerLite for File Servers to help give them a bit of breathing room by shrinking everyone’s data footprint. But whatever you do, always turn it off and on again before you pick up the phone to ask for help.