Anyone else work in a NOC?

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: jtusa
I did that for about a year and a half. It was rotating shifts so some of that time was during the day. I got pretty burned out on it for the same reasons you mentioned, along with it not being challenging at all. The bosses kept saying wait a little bit longer and we'll have a regular position for you. Heard that for 6 months, got tired of waiting, found another job, indirectly let the bosses know that I had another job and I was going to leave. I got a call the day before I was going to give my notice, and was told that they had the job available for me finally, so that was nice.

We didn't have TV or anything and weren't supposed to sleep, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't dose off every once in awhile. Also had the laptop. Watched lots of movies and TV shows and played an ass-ton of Civ2.

In the beginning I brought in alot of movies on DVD. Since then I have caught up on ALOT of TV shows. I had never watched LOST, Grey's, House, Extras, 24, Entourage or Prison Break and I am now caught up on all of them. We were going through 6-7 episodes a night. Torrents FTW!

The thing that blows is that now I have to watch week to week and with (gasp!) commercials!!!

 

[Journer]

how does one land a job such as this? would a night shift not pay more than the day shift? what are your duties? just watch to make sure nothing breaks, what if something breaks? what do u do? elaborate...ive been thinking about doing this when i graduate (seems like a good time, no kids, wife, etc.) what type of companies need these personel? please give the city,state ur living in so i can adjust to my area thanks

 

[Hyperblaze]

Originally posted by: Journer
how does one land a job such as this? would a night shift not pay more than the day shift? what are your duties? just watch to make sure nothing breaks, what if something breaks? what do u do? elaborate...ive been thinking about doing this when i graduate (seems like a good time, no kids, wife, etc.) what type of companies need these personel? please give the city,state ur living in so i can adjust to my area thanks

just like any other job, you apply for it. sadly, when i did, little did i know what it entalled.

Night shift does not pay more then a day shift. You only get paid more during statuary holidays. I had to work Canada day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and I think even new years. I did not appreicate that.

You really need to have the right kind of personality for it. I didn't. I'm a pro-active individual, someone like me won't last long in a job like that. What we did was monitor networks, fix problems which occured with minimum downtime. That was about it.

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: Journer
how does one land a job such as this? would a night shift not pay more than the day shift? what are your duties? just watch to make sure nothing breaks, what if something breaks? what do u do? elaborate...ive been thinking about doing this when i graduate (seems like a good time, no kids, wife, etc.) what type of companies need these personel? please give the city,state ur living in so i can adjust to my area thanks

It pays a 10% differential for working nights. Soem companies pay 15%, some pay nothing extra. Most big companies require this type of personnel, any company that has a data center i would imagine. I live in Central NJ, there are lots of pharma and financial companies around here.

Basically we watch the monitors, make sure all of the servers are up and functioning, make sure apps dont crash, if a HD goes bad we open a call to replace it, etc.

Being night shift, it does require extensive knowledge in UNIX, Windows, Broadvision, Web Servers, etc. We are expected to do basic troubleshooting before waking someone up at home. Although day shift personnel are also expected to do the same, it is easier for them to IM someone for help.

I wouldnt recommend it as a first job out of college. You want something working a normal M-F 9-5 shift so you can get accustomed to working a real job with real people.

You also need to be a night person. I am used to being out late at night and sleeping in until 3 or 4 pm so I didn't have a hard time adjusting. Some people on the other hand, can't sleep when it is light outside.

PM me if you have any other specific questions i would be glad to answer them.

 

[Chaotic42]

I'm the shift lead at a NOC/Datacenter on 3rd shift. Sounds like my night is very different. We get no TV, no music, no internet browsing. I'm either bringing all of the systems up or down, generating database reports, or managing tapes. I get to do paperwork too!

Of course, our systems are a bit... defunct, so I often have my hands full paging System Administrators and DBAs all night. I'm on break right now.

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I'm the shift lead at a NOC/Datacenter on 3rd shift. Sounds like my night is very different. We get no TV, no music, no internet browsing. I'm either bringing all of the systems up or down, generating database reports, or managing tapes. I get to do paperwork too!

Of course, our systems are a bit... defunct, so I often have my hands full paging System Administrators and DBAs all night. I'm on break right now.

Apparently, VERY defunct. Most of our stuff is automated here

 

[AAjax]

Yeah, I do. Some TV yes, never sleep. Sleep=fired

Actually its usually quite busy. I work the following schedule

Mon 12am-8am
tue 4pm -12am
wed 4pm-12am
thur 4pm-12am
fri 4-6pm
sat 12am-8am
sun off (sorta, i do go in at 12am mon night)

Like the job and the people, but the hours suck big time. Im a shift lead so it also gets quite stressful at times.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: AAjax
Yeah, I do. Some TV yes, never sleep. Sleep=fired

Actually its usually quite busy. I work the following schedule

Mon 12am-8am
tue 4pm -12am
wed 4pm-12am
thur 4pm-12am
fri 4-6pm
sat 12am-8am
sun off (sorta, i do go in at 12am mon night)

Like the job and the people, but the hours suck big time. Im a shift lead so it also gets quite stressful at times.

what the hell, they make you come in for 2 hours on Fridays??

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: AAjax
Yeah, I do. Some TV yes, never sleep. Sleep=fired

Actually its usually quite busy. I work the following schedule

Mon 12am-8am
tue 4pm -12am
wed 4pm-12am
thur 4pm-12am
fri 4-6pm
sat 12am-8am
sun off (sorta, i do go in at 12am mon night)

Like the job and the people, but the hours suck big time. Im a shift lead so it also gets quite stressful at times.

what the hell, they make you come in for 2 hours on Fridays??

Yea that really sucks... Working different hour shifts on different days really f*cks with your body clock.

 

[KK]

I've been work 10 days on, 4 days off rotation on midnight to 8AM for the past couple years in a noc. It kinda sucks because if you do sleep during your shift it fvcks with your regular sleep. I'm usually good to go til around 4am then if it's slow I'll nod off for an hour or so. Hopefully within the next month I'll be able to go onto evenings(4pm-mid) and lead a semi normal life.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: akshatp

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I'm the shift lead at a NOC/Datacenter on 3rd shift. Sounds like my night is very different. We get no TV, no music, no internet browsing. I'm either bringing all of the systems up or down, generating database reports, or managing tapes. I get to do paperwork too!

Of course, our systems are a bit... defunct, so I often have my hands full paging System Administrators and DBAs all night. I'm on break right now.

Apparently, VERY defunct. Most of our stuff is automated here

Well, my company is very... frugal. We get by, which is enough.

 

[j00fek]

10% of the time i have to work 12a-8a in the cu noc here. it sux but i do the same thing, sleep and watch tv, only have to keep 5 printers going through out the night

 

[AAjax]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: AAjax
Yeah, I do. Some TV yes, never sleep. Sleep=fired

Actually its usually quite busy. I work the following schedule

Mon 12am-8am
tue 4pm -12am
wed 4pm-12am
thur 4pm-12am
fri 4-6pm
sat 12am-8am
sun off (sorta, i do go in at 12am mon night)

Like the job and the people, but the hours suck big time. Im a shift lead so it also gets quite stressful at times.

what the hell, they make you come in for 2 hours on Fridays??

Yup, friday meetings. Fun Fun.

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: AAjax

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: AAjax
Yeah, I do. Some TV yes, never sleep. Sleep=fired

Actually its usually quite busy. I work the following schedule

Mon 12am-8am
tue 4pm -12am
wed 4pm-12am
thur 4pm-12am
fri 4-6pm
sat 12am-8am
sun off (sorta, i do go in at 12am mon night)

Like the job and the people, but the hours suck big time. Im a shift lead so it also gets quite stressful at times.

what the hell, they make you come in for 2 hours on Fridays??

Yup, friday meetings. Fun Fun.

You can't call in for the meetings? Sucks!

 

[EPCrew]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Ask your boss to move you, shouldn't he be rotating shifts anyways to make it fair? Of course, nobody will volunteer for graveyard shifts, but if you feel your shift time is unfair, then ask your boss.

We just had this sort of meeting at my job recently and I suggested the same thing for those who work night shifts. I work during normal hours and volunteered to rotate if it came down to it. My bosses brought up a valid point that they got hired into that shift to begin with. Where does the rotating period ever end if it does? Does it go on forever? Maybe it goes on until someone else gets hired into that shift? If so, one year down the road, they may want to move into a day shift and we'll have to start a rotation all over again.