10-hour shifts in SOC

Folks, I am about to start my new role in a SOC soon and am just wondering if you could share with me some experience dealing with rotating shifts. I will be doing 40h a week and there will be one week out of a 6-week schedule doing gravedigger shift (10PM - 8AM). Any tips on how to stay alert and be healthy when sleep schedule is pretty much messed up? Thank you.

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dmoore44

Drink coffee, or some other caffeinated beverage.
Keep yourself intellectually engaged - pay attention and dig deep in to the events.
Get up and walk around for a break every few hours - allow your mind to take a break from the grind.
Talk to the other analysts and share notes.

No_Nerd

It will not be so bad . Just tell yourself how lucky you are to have a good job. 10HRs is not so bad . Down range on deployments it was 18hrs min ( just to put things in perspective). But as dmoore pointed out just talking with other analyst helps a lot combined with walking around. Space out the red bulls and coffee don't drink to much too soon and you will be just fine... think sip rather than chug.

fmitawaps

That's the hard part of doing any job -- the actual WORK.

I'll b starting a night shift NOC job in the next week or two, and although it is a great learning opportunity, the hours are gonna suck. 11 to 730.

Remedymp

I used C4. I also have an experience posted here.

Kopite_21

I've been working these kind of shifts for the past 2 years and you will get use to it. My shifts consist of 4 days of 6am till 6pm then 3 days off, same again following week but for 3 days on then 4 days off. I then swap to night shifts 6pm till 6am same days off.

On night shifts there tends to be nothing to do so I get my head down and study for my CompTia A+ and N+ taking regular breaks also engaging with my work colleagues.

Kai123

I do 12 hour shifts, two days (8am - 8pm) then two nights (8pm - 8am, 24 hours in between the day and night shift).

I stay awake as long as possible on my second night, and sleep in as much as possible. I normally wake up at around 5pm with a decent amount of sleep. This lets me stay awake during the night no problem. I find getting back into a normal rhythm is easy as well, I'd go to sleep at around 10am, wake up at 4pm, then go on as normal.

My colleagues will sometimes take naps but I cant do it, and I think its bad habit forming. I work like I do during the day while some others will just monitor the network, waking up every 30 or so minutes to make sure nothing has died.

One colleague would have a 20 minute nap at around 1am and have a coffee beforehand. After the short nap, the caffeine kicked in and he would carry on.

Hopefully you will fit into it quickly. For me its almost a career killer, I'd happily do this for a long time rather than trying to process to a better paying and interesting position. I'm normally working and studying while watching a SC2 tournament.

markulous

Some of these shifts are crazy. 10 hour shifts are fine but rotating from days to nights is too stressful.

Kopite_21

Plus a new baby boy who is nearly 5 months old. It does rally mess you up.

alias454

Ya 10-12 hours isn't that big of a deal but I would have problems with the switching form nights to days. Since I don't know, why do companies rotate the shifts like that? Is it to keep everyone practiced? Like more different stuff goes on during the day so if a person works nights all the time they can lose knowledge?

gorebrush

I work 12 hour shifts, 2 days, 2 nights, 4 days off.

Eating lots of junk food at night is too tempting but sometimes some nice comfortable food does help.
Drink plenty of water. Some coffee is fine but not too much!

Switching from days to nights is a doddle for me, I sleep really well. The problem is coming out the other side. I'll get to bed at 7am this morning and I'll have to get up at 1pm to at least be rested enough for the day, and not have too much sleep so I don't struggle to sleep the next night. It can be a bit of a balance but I've been doing it over 3 years now so I'm used to it.

thomas_

alias454 wrote: »

Since I don't know, why do companies rotate the shifts like that? Is it to keep everyone practiced? Like more different stuff goes on during the day so if a person works nights all the time they can lose knowledge?

I don't know, but I bet it has domething to do with needing 24 hour coverage and not wanting to pay a higher wage for people to be on permanent night shift or not being able to find people to do permanent grave yard. In order to get 24 hour coverage, they probably rotate shifts to make it "fair" or perhaps more aptly put "spread the pain equally" or "screw everyone over equally".

Kai123

alias454 wrote: »

Ya 10-12 hours isn't that big of a deal but I would have problems with the switching form nights to days. Since I don't know, why do companies rotate the shifts like that? Is it to keep everyone practiced? Like more different stuff goes on during the day so if a person works nights all the time they can lose knowledge?

The shifts overlap each-other nicely on the rota. If the NOC has to be manned 24/7, then that kind of split is fair. The 24 hours off in between is very nice, since 4 days in a row of day or night can be exhausting. Also it has the benefit that your not cut off from the day-to-day goings on.

There is the knowledge aspect of it as well. We do a lot of troubleshooting in our NOC, so most of times we will be trying to figure out complex issues and chatting with the senior staff, rather than just escalating the ticket and having it disappear after the few days off.

Kinet1c

gorebrush wrote: »

I work 12 hour shifts, 2 days, 2 nights, 4 days off.

Eating lots of junk food at night is too tempting but sometimes some nice comfortable food does help.
Drink plenty of water. Some coffee is fine but not too much!

Switching from days to nights is a doddle for me, I sleep really well. The problem is coming out the other side. I'll get to bed at 7am this morning and I'll have to get up at 1pm to at least be rested enough for the day, and not have too much sleep so I don't struggle to sleep the next night. It can be a bit of a balance but I've been doing it over 3 years now so I'm used to it.

I did the above for a year, that was enough. Even my day time shift rota is too much, looking forward to getting back to Mon-Fri 9-5.

dhay13

i worked shifts for 10 years and found that earplugs were my best sleep aid when i got home

TC.

Ear plugs if noise is an issue when you have to go to bed and blackout conditions when you are laying down. When you enter the time you need to sleep, sleep in these conditions. There are several things you can do to mitigate your levels of tiredness while changing shifts. Working out when you need to be more tired, going outside in the day time/being in a well lit environment when you need to wake up. Caffeine will help but don't make it a crutch

dhay13

in addition to the earplugs i always had a fan running, even in winter. i would point it the other direction. i found the steady hum was more relaxing and drowned out the occasional car door slamming or horn blowing

renacido

- take melatonin after your shift to help reset your circadian rhythm and fall asleep faster after work, especially when you rotate to another shift.
- sleep with a sleep mask, you sleep better when your body "believes" it is night time.
- protect and defend your sleep hours like a mama bear protects her cubs. don't tolerate others robbing your sleep or you'll be sleep-deprived and miserable. this means getting your family and friends on board with the program. if you have roomies same deal. this is one of the few occasions when it is completely justifiable to be an a**hole if people don't get it. you MUST sleep or you'll be wrecked.
- caffeine, yerba mate, and exercise help a lot.
- if all this isn't enough to get you through the shift changes, talk to your doctor about it, he/she can prescribe Modafinil or Nuvigil to help you.

bpenn

These are all good tips. After you get your work done and have some downtime in your graveyard shifts, take the time to study new technology or prepare for certs. Having an hour or two of downtime everyday has allowed me to get SO much accomplished and with little studying at home. Take advantage of the late shifts!

superstarmd

Thank you very much for all the advice and input. I like the idea of studying something during downtime as I am also prepping for CISSP so I think I will definitely take full advantage of night shifts (hopefully it won't tire me out midway through)