The life of an IT Guy

[efreetsk@lemmy.world]

Author: Anton Gudim

Source: https://www.instagram.com/gudim_public/p/CD63Y-mpKHz/

[superduperpirate@lemmy.world]

A big reason why I’m glad that I’m no longer in IT is that I don’t have to be in an on-call rotation any longer.

If the job offers to pay for your cell phone, it’s because they will expect you to answer at 2am.

[ahismamiasma@lemm.ee]

Lol they can pay me the hours I'm on call or leave a voicemail.

[distantsounds@lemmy.world]

Bag hooks and outlets at bars were a great subtle QoL add in the last 20 years.

[limonene@lemmy.world]

Gods, I hated being on call. It was never part of our job description, but one day about a year after we were all hired, we were suddenly "on call" without any training for it.

No extra pay or benefits. Work a 12 hour day from being on call? Better show up tomorrow, same time.

What's are the duties? Never explained. You must have a phone, and snooze the alarm within 1 minute, that's all we knew. Can you drink? Can you go to the grocery store? Can you be 45 minutes away from an Internet connection? We were never told.

I got in trouble multiple times for not having reception inside the building. I asked for a company phone, and was denied.

How do you fix an issue? We had no idea how the IBM cloud infrastructure worked, so just struggle and hammer the snooze. I only ever fixed issues through my existing Linux knowledge, but all my coworkers only had Windows experience. Towards the end of that job, you could fix most calls by typing killall minerd (the cloud was super hacked).

[catzoomies@lemmy.world]

If that’s in the US, that’s illegal. There are strict laws around on call availability. That company hopefully now has an on call policy, including availability, on-call standby pay, and on-call pay.

I make my company pay for a work phone and when I’m off the clock, I shut it off and put it in a drawer. I never check on work outside my agreed hours. A younger, naive me would. But an informed older me isn’t a sucker and advocates for work reform while drawing clear boundaries between work and personal.

Fuck your company for taking advantage of you. Glad you’re out, but hope the others there fought for fixing those policies or else they’ll just have major attrition.

[sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz]

Everyone talking about the pain of being on call, I thought the comic was about how much IT guys love their backpacks...

I don't work in IT.

[tiramichu@lemm.ee]

That sounds miserable

In a previous position I was asked if I was willing to be on call, but it was optional. I accepted because the terms were good.

If I was on call the requirements were clear - No alchol, and a 10 minute response time 24/7.

In return, I got a bump in my paycheck for weeks I was on call, no matter whether I was actually called or not. And any time that I did end up spending on support incidents I was eligible to take back out of normal hours at time and a half. So if I spent two hours on support in the middle of the night, I could take three hours off the next day.

It was a good arrangement.

[excessshiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

How the hell is this related to a backpack? I have worked in IT and have had "on call" duty and this comic makes no fucking sense to me...

[whotookkarl@lemmy.world]

To be fair my bag is rad. Also it felt kinda futuristic hot spotting my work laptop to my phone to connect to some servers halfway across the country while in my car in a parking lot, but that wears off pretty quickly after a couple times.

[sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz]

I'm assuming it's their work bag...?

[gbu_28@lemm.ee]

Mobile workstation while being on call

[infynis@midwest.social]

I didn't realize this was about being on-call at first, but it worked anyway, because I also don't like people sitting next to me

[superkret@feddit.org]

I'm on call right now. I can do whatever I want as long as I'm sober and able to log in within 15 minutes or be on site within an hour.
So I live my life, but I always need to have my laptop, charger and headset with me. A padded backpack is a lot more practical for that than a traditional laptop bag.

[superkret@feddit.org]

I love being on call. I get 2-3 calls per week on average, totalling about 30 minutes of work.
I also get +1 day of paid vacation time and around 500€ additional pay for each week I'm on call.
And I get the company car for unlimited private use, as long as I stay within 1h driving distance to the workplace.

[whotookkarl@lemmy.world]

I've been using a crumpler dreadful embarrassment for over a decade, padded messenger style that I use for work or trips for a few days/weekend, it was a bit expensive but it's been very durable if you prefer a single strap style.

[superkret@feddit.org]

I hate single strap, that's why I use a backpack.

[texmexbazooka@lemm.ee]

Shoutout to the startech technicians bag

[cpmsp@midwest.social]

Sales people too.

Don't need a soul, but can't go anywhere without a pitch book and work box.

[shardikprime@lemmy.world]

But I like to have my laptop at hand