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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.
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.
Once everyone figures out your can fix things pretty much regardless of where you are, they start to form the expectation that you’re going to do that every single time.
Well they dont know how long it takes to fix stuff, so I shall do it whenever I feel like it eventually.
“Yeah sorry someone upstream broke the interconnect compiler to our computation fabric, I send a patch and have to wait for the developer to merge it”
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…
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.
I’m a software engineer, I bring my backpack everywhere. I thought it was about lovin’ the backpack.
The main difference, mine is green. It doesn’t always have my laptop in it though, I use it for groceries etc too.
If they are not paying me I will not be sober.
Oh you called me out of my work hours and without paying me to be on call, then I drunkenly deleted 7 customer databases because you insisted I have to log in right now? Sounds like your problem to explain that one.
This just looks like the average Norwegian
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
I, too, have baggage that is always there wherever I go.
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).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.Oh god. We had to be within one hour of the data center so that we could sit next to the broken hardware that we were not able to fix at 3 am anyway because fuck you.
After 3 decades in IT let me share some wisdom.
What you describe is not ok, and it’s just letting the company walk all over you because it sounds like nobody had the experience to push back. There should be a senior guy somewhere in that team going “yo this is bullshit, we’re not doing this” and making the company define the criteria so you can say yes or no. Otherwise you just don’t comply, and everyone on the team has to be onboard with that. Gotta have boundaries in this career or they will literally own you and all your free time, and if shit hits the fan, they will scapegoat you in a heartbeat.
They need you more than you need them. Never forget that. There are lots, and lots, and lots of unfilled IT jobs out there.
Wait other people carry their laptop with them when they’re on call? I just make sure to never be an hour away from my laptop lol (ideally only 15 minutes away but I won’t reschedule anything)
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I generally do the same. It doesn’t have to be my work laptop, mind you, just a laptop. Usually my personal laptop.
As long as it’s in a reasonable walking distance from me, I’m good. Eg. If I go out for dinner, I’ll toss my bag in the car and I’ll leave it in the car unless I get a page.
I’d rather hook into Wi-Fi/hotspot and work without making my whole family leave or be stranded somewhere just because I got a call.
My god I don’t miss that life.
I’m a stay at home dad now and sometimes they drive me crazy (right now actually. If I could kick the dogs out it would probably make my life easier. FUCK YOU MR. PISS ON THE FLOOR!).
Even when they drive me so crazy I feel like I’m about to have an aneurysm, life is easy mode compared to IT.
My Computer, Computer, and This PC ain’t my goddamn problem anymore. Woooooohooooooo!
Backpack EDC like, changes you man
Exactly. And it’s rarely about electronic gadgets - I carry a first aid kit, a pen knife and more.
Hoodie, scarf, and a 3D printed gun.
I feel seen, except it’s a threesome with my wife.
Wait, you’re married to two wives and have a threesome with them? I’m not following…
It’s me, my wife, and the support laptop
I assume wife, bag and our fellow it guy.
Wow what a dick taking up two spots on the train
What do you suggest, huh? Letting his love sit on top of his crotch when he’s on a bus?
It’s empty
An empty bag? That’s even worse!
