SysAdmin Appreciation Day: For the People Who Hold the Keys

Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day, and I have a soft spot for it that goes back to where my career started.

I built my first company around identity and access. So I know, from the inside, that the people running your systems are the quiet reason your business is still standing. When identity is done right, nobody notices. Logins work, access is correct, breaches do not happen, and the sysadmin gets zero credit for the disaster that never occurred. That is the strange economics of the job: you are measured by the absence of problems.

These are the people who hold the literal keys to the organization. Every permission, every account, every access control that keeps attackers out and keeps the business moving. In an AI era where the attack surface is expanding fast and identity is the new perimeter, their work is more critical, not less.

So today, real appreciation for the sysadmins and IT and security teams who keep the lights on while everyone else takes it for granted. You are the infrastructure under the infrastructure.

Thank you. And maybe reset a password in their honor.