Have you ever had a job that required you to be on "standby"?

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by wwillson
Yes, when I was the , "chief fixer of everything that could go wrong" in IT 20+ years ago. I learned a lot that has served me well since then, but it was majorly intrusive in everything I did. I was the guy who would get there at 4:00 in the morning and stay until midnight if needed. Pretty soon it was mostly on me, as the other people I worked with didn't care to work that hard and didn't care to learn deep and wide. I don't miss wondering how many times my pager or cell phone would ring and at what time any day.



Boy, that rings true! Working in IT, being always available is pretty much a requirement. Being able to work remotely and transitioning what was safe to do so to the cloud has helped significantly though.



Agreed. It also depends on your company, some are much better about it than others. The one I work for now we are never on call. Sometimes we stay later or come in on weekends if there is a critical project, but we always have some notice. A few years ago I went on an interview for a newer IT company, they were maybe a few years old. The guy wanted me to work 8-4, then be on call every night. The pay was entry level (I had 4-5 years experience at that point), so I politely said "no thanks". There wasn't an incentive to be on call either, it was just part of the job.
 
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
...A few years ago I went on an interview for a newer IT company, they were maybe a few years old. The guy wanted me to work 8-4, then be on call every night. The pay was entry level (I had 4-5 years experience at that point), so I politely said "no thanks". There wasn't an incentive to be on call either, it was just part of the job.


Boy did that bring back memories. One of the DBA jobs I interviewed for was for a large bank and the interviewer crowed about their "follow the sun support" since a lot of their I/T was offshored. I asked her to elaborate and she said that when I'd be on call, I was primary from 8AM-6PM and then support followed the sun to the offshore center.

BUT, they were only level 1 support so there was a good chance I'd be paged overnight if it was something beyond their expertise. Then she mentioned that the offshore sites don't cover weekends so I'd be on call as primary for weekends.

I think my asking how this was different than just telling me I was on-call 24x7x52 may have quashed any chance of an offer...
 
Yes, we called that on call. You are given a "pager" and need to respond to problem showing up during that week within 15 mins. Not having to solve it but acknoledge that you see it and you will take care of it first thing in the morning, or escalate it to an expert.
 
I was on call 24/7 365 days/year(except when on vacation) from August 1986-June 2008. Most things could be handled over the phone but sometimes I had to travel to sign a search warrant, criminal warrant, etc. Then there were the Mental Inquest Warrants, Domestic Violence Petitions, and Emergency Child Custody Petitions- which were almost always filed late on Fridays in order to screw with an ex-spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend or family member.
 
Lol, yep. I'm the principal of a large (1300 kids) public middle school. I'm on call 24-7, as kids can come up missing, families have tragedies, etc. It is probably similar to being a pastor at times. But I LOVE the job and the kids and families treat me much better than I would ever deserve. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
 
Got paid $200/hr on Dec 31s, 1999 overnight to watch a group of computer servers and check that flipping to 2000 would not crash them in Dallas TX.
 
Oh yes. I'm on standby 24/7 unless I'm on vacation. Must be prepared to hop on a plane within the hour. Sudden overseas assignments have happened. It's not for everyone. I'm not sure how much longer I want to do this. I can retire at age 50. I think I can hang in there for another 7 years
 
Originally Posted by opus1
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
...A few years ago I went on an interview for a newer IT company, they were maybe a few years old. The guy wanted me to work 8-4, then be on call every night. The pay was entry level (I had 4-5 years experience at that point), so I politely said "no thanks". There wasn't an incentive to be on call either, it was just part of the job.


Boy did that bring back memories. One of the DBA jobs I interviewed for was for a large bank and the interviewer crowed about their "follow the sun support" since a lot of their I/T was offshored. I asked her to elaborate and she said that when I'd be on call, I was primary from 8AM-6PM and then support followed the sun to the offshore center.

BUT, they were only level 1 support so there was a good chance I'd be paged overnight if it was something beyond their expertise. Then she mentioned that the offshore sites don't cover weekends so I'd be on call as primary for weekends.

I think my asking how this was different than just telling me I was on-call 24x7x52 may have quashed any chance of an offer...


That's active listening though and good on you for clarifying even if it may have landed as calling her out.
Nobody wants to take a job and have that swim up as surprise later on. Lord knows, most of us have very big responsibilities or cover a lot of ground that isn't written in and goes well outside the "job" description already.

I'm not on call in my current career but I think of my cell phone as the on call device. My kids or wife can call at any time if an urgent situation, emergency or ? That actually gives me piece of mind. My work hours are 3rd shift.
 
Originally Posted by opus1
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
...A few years ago I went on an interview for a newer IT company, they were maybe a few years old. The guy wanted me to work 8-4, then be on call every night. The pay was entry level (I had 4-5 years experience at that point), so I politely said "no thanks". There wasn't an incentive to be on call either, it was just part of the job.


Boy did that bring back memories. One of the DBA jobs I interviewed for was for a large bank and the interviewer crowed about their "follow the sun support" since a lot of their I/T was offshored. I asked her to elaborate and she said that when I'd be on call, I was primary from 8AM-6PM and then support followed the sun to the offshore center.

BUT, they were only level 1 support so there was a good chance I'd be paged overnight if it was something beyond their expertise. Then she mentioned that the offshore sites don't cover weekends so I'd be on call as primary for weekends.

I think my asking how this was different than just telling me I was on-call 24x7x52 may have quashed any chance of an offer...



Yeah all kinds of red flags were popping up during the interview. The guy was nice, but it was obvious he didn't know how to run a business and was overwhelmed. He didn't want to hire the appropriate amount of employees, so just wanted to hire people for entry level pay that would put in as much work as he did, which was basically 24/7. I understand the necessary evil of needing people on call in this business, but in short it was basically if someone called you outside of work, you were to drive your personal vehicle to their house no matter what time they needed help if it couldn't be resolved remotely. For the pay they were offering, no thanks haha. I asked a few important questions about processes, documentation, and liability that I didn't like the answers to either.
 
That's been my life for the past 20 years. I get a 7x24 rotation every 3 weeks. It's been as infrequent as every 6 weeks, but now it's ever third week.

I get paid about an hour for each weekday I'm on standby and about 2 overtime hours for every weekend or holiday day I'm on standby.

After hours are like any job with overtime. Once I hit 40 hours for a week, any hour worked, standby or otherwise is at time and half or double time.

Same deal, have to be available anywhere from calling a customer in 10 or 15 minutes to a four hour response time.

This means two cars to restaurants, watch movies at home, not in a theater, and so on because after 20 years, I'm a firm believer in Murphy and that he was an optimist.

If I have to go out to a customer site, it's usually at least two hours given I have to get or wait for parts, not to mention spend time looking at the service request to see what's going on.

Heck, it doesn't even have to be a week of standby. I rolled out at 6a today and got home at about 8:30pm. Customer site 130 miles away and installed 13 servers and three switches.

And I'll be returning as we have another 5 trays of ZFS storage to install, plus one of the servers needs a replacement MB as it wouldn't complete POST with all the memory installed. (Would run fine on 1/2 of the installed memory, no matter which DIMMs were in the slots, so not a DIMM issue.)

Like I said, Murphy. The one I did 10 days ago 17 miles from home went without drama. The installation, for the same customer, 130 miles away, problems.

Comes with the territory in my field.

Even if I move to a regional job where I don't roll out, I'd still pull on-call rotations answering FSE questions in the region. Ditto for being a manager, I'd end up with on-call rotations for escalations.

I think I like it where I am as at least I'm the one at the keyboard or turning the screwdrivers. Satisfies my control enthusiast nature.
 
I was on call when I wasn't at work...24/7/365 for 15 years. Now that I'm retired I sometimes forget to take my phone with me. It's nice not being on a tether...
 
Back in college, on call for first calls/removals for the local funeral home. If the pager rang, you threw on a suit and tie, drove to the FH, grabbed either the oldest hearse or the body van, depending on where you were going, and picked up the deceased individual. Fun moving a 400 lb person down a narrow flight of stairs on a bedsheet while the family is hovering around, because of course the cot wouldn't fit anyway. Paid a flat rate of "$30 a head" for the driver, $15 for the helper. I asked once if we would get paid if there was no head...the boss was not amused.
 
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I am nearly always on call,
depending on the state you might get paid to be on standby.

In CA, my peers get paid 3 hr min for a 10 min call plus differential. If you don't mind disruption, extra work could pay very well.
 
Yep. For the past ~24yrs.

I work a 12hr regular rotating shift. Certain off days, my shift mate and myself are "on call" to cover vacation days or sick days. I know which days I'm on call a year in advance. It's a 4hr call-in even it it takes 10min, but I'm always there the full shift.

We work it out if you plan to be out of town that day, etc, but you always have to remember, if they need you, they need you.

I've gotten yanked out of a lot of family parties, etc, over the years. It's overtime and the bride knows this, so... yeah. Not so bad.

Your average millennial hates it because even 40hrs cramps their style wayyyy too much. I'm KIDDING!!!

mostly..
 
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I was on standby and confined to a USAF base alert area for 7 days as a Strategic Air Command or SAC trained killer... our cold war motto was "Kill a Commie for Mommy"...

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Originally Posted by Mr Nice
Hopefully everyone that's still paid hourly is getting compensation to be On Call when they need you.


I had a civil service job (salary) that paid nothing for being on standby...Technically, I could have refused it, but that would've created a lot of animosity at work which I didn't want...
 
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