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  3. Life as developer (on-call)

Life as developer (on-call)

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  • K Kevin Marois

    Maybe hike my skirt up a bit?

    If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

    J Offline
    J Offline
    Jeremy Falcon
    wrote on last edited by
    #31

    Do it. You got kids to feed after all.

    Jeremy Falcon

    K 1 Reply Last reply
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    • L Leng Vang

      Things have changed recently. Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon are really compete for the scarce resource of skilled developers. I, like you, have over 30+ years of development under our belt and with that we also have a lot of architecture experience too, that's why they are really looking for. Here is the recruiter's info: Julian Sanchez | Senior Client Lead, Consumer Recruiting | Amazon E: sanchju@amazon.com P: 206-508-9679

      K Offline
      K Offline
      Kevin Marois
      wrote on last edited by
      #32

      I just started a new development position 2 months ago. Great pay, great benefits, stock options, etc.. Lot's of developers and other professionals here, including PhD's .. and no one makes even close to 250-300. Again, bull$hit.

      If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

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      • J Jeremy Falcon

        Do it. You got kids to feed after all.

        Jeremy Falcon

        K Offline
        K Offline
        Kevin Marois
        wrote on last edited by
        #33

        .... and zero scruples ;P

        If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

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        • K Kevin Marois

          I just started a new development position 2 months ago. Great pay, great benefits, stock options, etc.. Lot's of developers and other professionals here, including PhD's .. and no one makes even close to 250-300. Again, bull$hit.

          If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

          L Offline
          L Offline
          Leng Vang
          wrote on last edited by
          #34

          Send your resume to: Julian Sanchez | Senior Client Lead, Consumer Recruiting | Amazon E: sanchju@amazon.com P: 206-508-9679

          1 Reply Last reply
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          • L Leng Vang

            I'm curious about us developers whom have the unfortunate (or fortunate depend on your taste) of being on call. I used to do that for 10+ years on my previous job, hated every minute of it. Waking up at 3 am just to solve some silly issue. Recently I just turned down a position with Amazon, the pay is among the best ($250-300K) but I just can't cope with the On-call. What are your opinions on on-call, especially work/life balance goes?

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            B Offline
            Bryian Tan
            wrote on last edited by
            #35

            Outsource it :)

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • L Leng Vang

              I'm curious about us developers whom have the unfortunate (or fortunate depend on your taste) of being on call. I used to do that for 10+ years on my previous job, hated every minute of it. Waking up at 3 am just to solve some silly issue. Recently I just turned down a position with Amazon, the pay is among the best ($250-300K) but I just can't cope with the On-call. What are your opinions on on-call, especially work/life balance goes?

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              T Offline
              Tony Foo
              wrote on last edited by
              #36

              On-call perfectly balances my life because it has kept me single.

              Quote:

              ($250-300K)

              That's some really good money, though you might not ever get a chance to spend it. That is the kind of pay that leads to an early retirement; voluntary or not.

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              • K Kevin Marois

                I just started a new development position 2 months ago. Great pay, great benefits, stock options, etc.. Lot's of developers and other professionals here, including PhD's .. and no one makes even close to 250-300. Again, bull$hit.

                If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.

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                M Offline
                Mycroft Holmes
                wrote on last edited by
                #37

                Kevin I hate to tell you this but there are positions out there that pay that sort of money and more, I am of similar experience and have a niche position that is more than comparable. The conditions may be crap but the raw income is excellent.

                Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

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                • D devenv exe

                  Work/life balance is a myth

                  "Coming soon"

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                  S Offline
                  Super Lloyd
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #38

                  Well there are American developers.. And there is the rest of the world! ;P We are pretty good here in Australia!

                  A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

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                  • L Lost User

                    Leng Vang wrote:

                    What are your opinions on on-call, especially work/life balance goes?

                    It was a requirement at my first job, which quickly no longer applied to me. Slept through some calls, and whenever I didn't I would still have to wake up some coworker to get anything done. You'd get paid extra for it, ofcourse. There's no such thing as work without pay. That simple sentence is a kind of auto-balance system in itself :thumbsup:

                    Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

                    S Offline
                    S Offline
                    Super Lloyd
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #39

                    You are my hero! :)

                    A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • L Leng Vang

                      I'm curious about us developers whom have the unfortunate (or fortunate depend on your taste) of being on call. I used to do that for 10+ years on my previous job, hated every minute of it. Waking up at 3 am just to solve some silly issue. Recently I just turned down a position with Amazon, the pay is among the best ($250-300K) but I just can't cope with the On-call. What are your opinions on on-call, especially work/life balance goes?

                      J Offline
                      J Offline
                      Jacquers
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #40

                      I was on call for about two weeks on a project when the usual support person wasn't available. The thing is that they can call you any time, so it limits you - you might have to not go out with friends or at the least take a laptop with you in case you need to handle a call. Being called (waken up) in the middle of the night to resolve an issue isn't fun. It depends on what kind of person you are, but it can influence you in that you don't sleep well because you are expecting to be called. I did get paid for the overtime though, so that was nice, but I wouldn't want do it again and definitely not for an extended period.

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                      • D devenv exe

                        Work/life balance is a myth

                        "Coming soon"

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                        M Offline
                        Mark_Wallace
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #41

                        It can be hit and myth, thyure, but you've got to take the rough with the shmooth.

                        I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

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                        • L Lost User

                          Work so that you might live, do not live to work.

                          Speed of sound - 1100 ft/sec Speed of light - 186,000 mi/sec Speed of stupid - instantaneous.

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                          Mark_Wallace
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #42

                          NotPolitcallyCorrect wrote:

                          Work so that you might live, do not live to work.

                          I believe the absolute reverse of that. If you don't love your work, your life's not worth living.

                          I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

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                          • M Mark_Wallace

                            NotPolitcallyCorrect wrote:

                            Work so that you might live, do not live to work.

                            I believe the absolute reverse of that. If you don't love your work, your life's not worth living.

                            I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                            L Offline
                            L Offline
                            Lost User
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #43

                            Mark_Wallace wrote:

                            your life's not worth living

                            Ah, so, if you spend your whole life working, when do you have time to live?

                            Speed of sound - 1100 ft/sec Speed of light - 186,000 mi/sec Speed of stupid - instantaneous.

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                            • L Lost User

                              Mark_Wallace wrote:

                              your life's not worth living

                              Ah, so, if you spend your whole life working, when do you have time to live?

                              Speed of sound - 1100 ft/sec Speed of light - 186,000 mi/sec Speed of stupid - instantaneous.

                              M Offline
                              M Offline
                              Mark_Wallace
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #44

                              Everyone* spends the majority of their waking hours working. If you hate your work, you're pretty much screwed. * Everyone with a full-time job, that is.

                              I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                              M L L 3 Replies Last reply
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                              • L Leng Vang

                                I'm curious about us developers whom have the unfortunate (or fortunate depend on your taste) of being on call. I used to do that for 10+ years on my previous job, hated every minute of it. Waking up at 3 am just to solve some silly issue. Recently I just turned down a position with Amazon, the pay is among the best ($250-300K) but I just can't cope with the On-call. What are your opinions on on-call, especially work/life balance goes?

                                D Offline
                                D Offline
                                DerekT P
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #45

                                As a freelancer, I'm usually the only contact my clients have with any technical knowledge at all (certainly regarding applications, sometimes regarding hosted websites etc too). Therefore, if there's a problem - I'm the only one who can fix it. That means effectively being permanently on-call not only for my "current" (active) clients but all my clients still running my software. That means you might not have dealt with someone for 2 or 3 years, but if their hard-disk suddenly gets full, or a d/b gets corrupted, you either choose to deal with it, or you effectively write off any chance they might come back to you for future work. (as well as having to live with the knowledge you may have just caused their business to fail). In fact problems are often a trigger for them to re-contact you, remember how f***ing awesome you are, and decide that they can't put off that enhancement project any longer. I make sure all my clients fully understand I'm a one-man band, and simply can't be available 24x7x52, but that I will always do my best to get them out of whatever tight spot they get into, support-wise. Knowing that you're the go-to person for any problem really helps to focus the mind during development, too, as you need to account for those "once-in-a-year" edge cases; if you don't, you can bet they occur at the most inopportune time for you to fix. You have to factor in "lifetime support" when billing for development; with a client who doesn't know you, that can seem expensive so you need good referrals and reputation. Most importantly, you simply need to love doing what you do; then when you get called away from your favourite film, or some other thing you were really happy to be doing, it's not that big a sacrifice. The hard bit is being as equally "on-call" to family and friends. If a system goes down, get it back up and running a.s.a.p. and fix the root cause at a more convenient time.

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                                • M Mark_Wallace

                                  Everyone* spends the majority of their waking hours working. If you hate your work, you're pretty much screwed. * Everyone with a full-time job, that is.

                                  I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                  M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  MKJCP
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #46

                                  I don't hate my work, it has plenty of fun moments and is fulfilling, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't get paid. There are dozens of other things I would be doing if I didn't need the money; family, friends, enthusiasms. It's an amazing world out there beyond my programs. That's how I see it. That reminds me of a great quote about the "world" though not specifically relevant to the discussion. " You can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q, Star Trek Next Gen

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                                  • M MKJCP

                                    I don't hate my work, it has plenty of fun moments and is fulfilling, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't get paid. There are dozens of other things I would be doing if I didn't need the money; family, friends, enthusiasms. It's an amazing world out there beyond my programs. That's how I see it. That reminds me of a great quote about the "world" though not specifically relevant to the discussion. " You can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q, Star Trek Next Gen

                                    M Offline
                                    M Offline
                                    Mark_Wallace
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #47

                                    Sorry, but all Sci-Fi quotes directed at me have to be either from Firefly or The Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy (but NOT the godawful disney atrocity!)

                                    I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                    M 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • M Mark_Wallace

                                      Everyone* spends the majority of their waking hours working. If you hate your work, you're pretty much screwed. * Everyone with a full-time job, that is.

                                      I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                      L Offline
                                      L Offline
                                      Lost User
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #48

                                      Mark_Wallace wrote:

                                      If you hate your work

                                      If has nothing at all to do with loving or hating your work.

                                      Speed of sound - 1100 ft/sec Speed of light - 186,000 mi/sec Speed of stupid - instantaneous.

                                      M 1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • L Lost User

                                        Mark_Wallace wrote:

                                        If you hate your work

                                        If has nothing at all to do with loving or hating your work.

                                        Speed of sound - 1100 ft/sec Speed of light - 186,000 mi/sec Speed of stupid - instantaneous.

                                        M Offline
                                        M Offline
                                        Mark_Wallace
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #49

                                        Ah, that explains it.

                                        I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • M Mark_Wallace

                                          Sorry, but all Sci-Fi quotes directed at me have to be either from Firefly or The Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy (but NOT the godawful disney atrocity!)

                                          I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                          M Offline
                                          M Offline
                                          MKJCP
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #50

                                          You must forgive me, as a young mind I suckled upon the breasts of Kirk and Spock.

                                          M 1 Reply Last reply
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