Github Vs. Amazon: 2025’s Gifts For Programmers And Sysadmins

For this year’s vacation celebrations, Hallmark made a typical Christmas character ornament, a mini show displaying screens from nan classical video crippled “Oregon Trail.” (“Recall nan nosy of starring a squad of oxen and a wagon loaded pinch provisions from Missouri to nan West.”)

That’s what’s different astir 2025: Top sites and awesome brands are now targeting nan “tech” demographic — including programmers, sysadmins and moreover vintage crippled enthusiasts!

And erstwhile Hallmark and Amazon are chasing nan aforesaid customers arsenic GitHub and Copilot, you cognize there’s been a unusual yet meaningful displacement successful nan culture.

So, pinch only a fewer shopping days left, The New Stack offers up its annual gift guide for geeks, pinch nan hopes it’ll thief you benignant nan gifting for moreover nan grouchiest greybeard successful your life.

GitHub’s Copilot Christmas

While AI was conquering nan world, GitHub published its “Ultimate gift guideline for nan developer successful your life” conscionable arsenic soon arsenic doors opened connected Black Friday. So if you’re wondering, “Should I push to accumulation connected New Year’s Eve?” GitHub recommends their caller “GitHub Copilot Amazeball,” which it describes arsenic “GitHub’s magical collectible fresh to measurement successful connected your toughest calls … !”

Copilot isn’t progressive — questions are randomly matched to nan answers printed connected nan broadside of a triangle-shaped dice floating successful water. “[Y]ou’ll get answers consecutive from nan repo of destiny pinch a elemental shake,” GitHub promises — conscionable for illustration nan Magic 8 Ball of yore. “Get your hands connected this must-have collectible and bask nan cosmic guidance — nary existent discourse switching required!”

And GitHub’s “Gift Guide for Developers” besides suggests GitHub-branded ugly vacation socks and keyboard keycaps pinch GitHub’s mascots.

But GitHub isn’t nan only awesome tech tract pinch a shopping page targeting nan geek demographic. Firefox is selling merchandise pinch its caller mascot. Even nan Free Software Foundation has its own shop, pinch Emacs T-shirts, GNU beanies and a stuffed babe gnu (“One of our astir sought-after items … “). Plus an FSF-branded antisurveillance webcam guard.

Maybe Dr. Seuss tin constitute a caller book: “How nan Geeks Stole Christmas.”

Because this newfound liking successful nan geek demographic seems to person dispersed to nan largest sites of all:

Christmas for Coders

Google searches connected “Gifts for Programmers” now constituent to a typical page connected Amazon pinch suggestions for illustration Linux crossword puzzles.

But what coder could defy a book called “Cooking for Programmers?”

“Each look is written arsenic root codification successful a different programming language,” explains nan book’s description, “making it not only delicious but acquisition arsenic well.” From pizza toast to herb coconut crockery — and from Rust to Ruby — writer Richard Wurzer urges you to “grab your apron and bid line.”

Transform daunting room chores pinch nan acquainted comfortableness of codification — for illustration nan JSON successful this look for oven-roasted vegetables.

name: "peppers",
quantity: 100,
unit: "g"

The book is filled pinch colorful recipes — acknowledgment to syntax highlighting, which turns nan letters red, bluish and green. There are besides existent cooking instructions, but presented arsenic an array of strings, pinch some ingredients and instructions yet logged arsenic messages to nan console.

There’s Java, JavaScript, Python, Perl, PHP, TypeScript and more. “Let’s get cooking and person fun,” suggests writer Wurzer.

And there’s moreover a look for espresso.

Although if that’s not capable for nan programmer successful your life, bargain them a candle pinch their favourite scent.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

But Amazon isn’t nan only tract selling programmer-themed gifts.

Yes, Etsy has a full class dedicated conscionable to creation prints for programmers — including 1 showing what “Programmer” would look for illustration as a paper successful a Tarot deck.

For your Christmas tree, four different sellers connected Etsy claimed to beryllium offering a homemade “software developer ornament”:

The ornaments look astir identical — and 3 of nan accounts were suspiciously opened wrong nan past 3 months — suggesting “gifts for programmers” has go its ain charismatic demographic for sellers.

But nan coder carnivore minifig is adorable.

One Etsy artisan is moreover trading hand-blown solid Christmas character ornaments that are shaped for illustration ancient VHS tapes.

And different sites are besides trading coder-themed decorations for your favourite programmer’s Christmas tree. Hallmark besides sells an ornament shaped for illustration an Xbox 360 — and different shaped for illustration a tiny vintage Nintendo Entertainment System.

Although for thing much challenging, Adafruit is trading its ain DIY kits for colorful, high-tech ornaments.

When ‘Techno Claus’ Visited CBS

Everyone’s getting successful connected nan action — moreover nan CBS News site. One of its recent articles explains really “Techno Claus (who looks suspiciously for illustration tech analogous David Pogue), emerges from nan fireplace” to stock his amazingly bully database of tech gifts.

For an added dose of vacation cheer, Pogue decided to constitute each of his reviews successful rhyme.

And frankincense we study that for nan shockingly debased value of $15, you tin get a Bluetooth-enabled beanie cap pinch a built-in headlamp. (” … This keeps you warm, and it lights up nan way. It’s moreover sewage speakers — conscionable brace and deed ‘Play!'”)

Though nan eventual stocking stuffer would beryllium this miniature TV group pinch a one-inch screen. (“You load your ain movies; location is simply a remote. For excessively overmuch TV, it’s a saccharine antidote.”)

And for $140, you put your iPhone successful a lawsuit that gives it a beingness keyboard for illustration nan BlackBerry. (“Like, cipher ever loves typing connected glass, A problem this iPhone lawsuit tackles pinch class.”)

T-Shirts for Sysadmins

Marketing to nan geek demographic is unusual enough. But what’s moreover alien is really circumstantial it’s gotten.

Amazon now sells T-shirts for sysadmins.

There are moreover T-shirts for hobbyists moving connected homebrew projects.

But immoderate programmers mightiness for illustration their shirts from FreeWear.org, which donates portion of nan proceeds from each waste to its corresponding FOSS task aliases organization. (There are T-shirts for Linux, Gnome and nan C programming language — and moreover 1 making a joke astir how difficult it is to exit Vim.)

But possibly it each proves that there’s thing for everybody. That’s nan existent heartwarming connection down these extra-geeky Christmas gifts — that successful nan end, tech is, aft all, still a community, pinch its ain hallowed traditions and shared celebrations.

It’s conscionable that alternatively of singing Christmas carols, we make jokes astir Vim.

So there’s different connection to nan abundance of gifts for nan method community: that nan group who want you to grin are each astir you. Everyone’s put a batch of thought into this — and it looks for illustration they’re each having a batch of fun.

And location successful location is immoderate genuine appreciation for their favourite chap geeks.

So platform nan halls, and portion an eggnog toast to your ain favourite sysadmin.

In nan past, we’ve published our ain gift guides for programmers and other tech folk. But successful 2025, nan remainder of nan world joined successful nan fun!

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