I used to sleep with one of these on my chest to respond to issues.

I have been on call in all sorts of situations, but over the years the demands lessened at a few companies. Perhaps that was due to maturity on the part of the staff, or maybe the quality of basic software has improved over the years. I know that hardware has improved and it seems that less and less alarms from failed hardware interrupted my evening hours.

However the amount of after hours calls varied widely, often related to the size of the company. In larger companies, it seemed as though there were more calls per week, but more people to handle them. Smaller companies often had me responding to anything, but there were few calls. This Friday I’m wondering what it’s like for you.

What is your on-call schedule and the frequency of calls after hours at your current job?

I’m wondering this week what type of demands are placed on you to respond to issues outside of normal work hours. I assume that a major issue might result in a late night call, whether or not you are formally “on-call” or not, but what is the official on-call schedule like for you. How often are you on call, and how often do you get called. Let us know this week.

Steve Jones

The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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