Thoughts on Night Shift

TomkoTech

Anyone work night shift in a scenario where it was 3 12 hour days on 4 days off 4 12 hour days on 3 days off? Trials and tribulations with it?


**Apparently I left a letter out lol. It's supposed to be titled Night Shift***

stryder144

When I was in the military we called that the Panama schedule. It was absolutely painful, especially since we would switch to 12 hour day shifts every other month. If you can do it for at least three months, it becomes tolerable.

Plantwiz

Always fun to have the experience!

If you are young and/or are not married, than you'll likely be able to roll with it. If you have a family, there are some benefits because you'll have some full-days with them to 'do stuff'.

The older you grow, this becomes exceedingly tough on the body long-term. I expect you have more to consider than the mere shift of 3/4 than 4/3, such as the type of work, people you'll be working with reporting to, types of leisure activities you look forward to, etc.. Odd shifts tend to pay at a premium, so if you do it short-term to reach goals (both professionally and financially) than there is likely more to gain from the experience.

jeremywatts2005

I did it for 6 months in a SOC and I can say I would never do it again. That was a brutal schedule. Other things to consider if you do take the mission is what happens when someone calls in. I found myself doing 7 - 12's a few times at night because I was the night watch floor lead and the other guy called in for the other 3 days several times. They finally replaced him. I also had to work shorthanded on staff quite a few times because people fall out pretty quick when they are used to 8-5 mon to fri. I do not know how many guys I had to keep pressing to stay up and pay attention we are running a SOC. Plus side is that you can probably get some good study time in. Keep your schedule the same when you are off shift and do not fall in to a daytime routine when off from the nights.

EnderWiggin

If you stay on that sleep schedule the whole time, it's not that bad. But if you're working nights, then on your off days, you stay up during the day, you're going to do some serious damage to your body. Your circadian rhythms will be shot to hell. Keeping that sleep schedule consistently though, your body will adjust, and it won't have lasting effects.

GirlyGirl

I Loved it! I would do it again in a heart beat! Those extended weekends came in handy. I have actually traveled out of country before on one of those weekends, at least once. I got off on Thursday got on a flight came back Sunday

Bokeh

My last job was all overnights, Sun - Thurs midnight to 8. Sucked trying to get sleep, especially in the summertime since I live in an apt and all the neighborhood kids were making noise during the day. I had to resort to sleep aids, ear plugs, and sleep mask.

Remedymp

My advice as someone recently did it is to NOT drink coffee, but go with more organic like ginger in your drink. Needless to say, I did NOT last long, but could probably get used to it if I had to. However, I'm a first shift person. If you need to sleep, make your house completely dark. If you plan on taking an exam, that would be a good time to get a chapter in. I use cybrary videos to pass the time.

markulous

I couldn't do it again, especially with a family. It's even worse when you have to rotate from days to nights every other week or every other month.

the_Grinch

I had steady 10's Monday thru Thursday and really enjoyed it. I was at an MSP and was the only guy on at night. Main duty was checking back-ups for failures and calling out circuits if they went down. I really like nights because I hate waking up in the morning and no kids so it was easy.

Queue

I'm doing nights. I enjoy it, but its terrible for a social life. I have plenty of downtime to study for exams.

Node Man

When I was new to IT i did the night shift in order to get in the door. Outside of work it was a huge drag, but working the shift was a great way to get in and learn. For enough money, I would do it again.

$bvb379

Had a friend work a NOC for broadcast equipment/support pretty much the hours that you stated for 2.5 years. He said he didn't do anything but watch Netflix and YouTube all the time. Got a raise from 47,000 to 55,000 then left a year later for 72,500.....I guess literally having a job for a certain amount of time without doing much counts as "experience." I have seen a lot of other people say they did not do much either.

fmitawaps

I've had night shift jobs in the past, and I was ok with it. I'd be happy to do it again, if one of these damn data centers I have applied to repeatedly would CALL ME!!!!!

TomkoTech

I'm seriously considering it. I don't think there will be much active work. It will be more of a monitoring systems position and in the event something catastrophic occurs handling it. Which in my current position I do that anyhow plus my normal 7-4 hours.

I don't have a "family" in that I am single with no kids. It will all depend on the pay of course, but if it's even commensurate to what I'm making now I think I'm going to do it. Specifically for all the study time. I'm starting back at WGU in June for IT Security. It would afford me ample time I think to get a lot of course work done in the first 6 months, and hopefully finish the degree well within the 2nd 6 months. I could begrudgingly deal with this for a year even if I hated it if the outcome was finishing my degree.

Thanks all for the input.

cknapp78

I had the exact same shift working 3 on, 4 off and then 4 on, 3 off overnights about 10 years ago. Worked in a NOC doing the 6 PM to 6 AM shift. Personally I loved it. I have always been a night owl. Even to this day, I am up till at least 1 AM even when I have to be up at 430 AM.

Nice thing was the shift allowed for a lot of learning time. Out of the 12 hour shift, I used to take about 3 to 4 hours a night catching up on reading, learning, and would even watch the occasional movie during my lunch break (90 mins per shift). If you like nights, I recommend it. It was even better for me since I had a newborn at the time and it allowed me to take care of my daughter at the time and let my wife rest on my days off.

If you like mornings....I highly recommend against it.

I did find out that after I left the position, the company went to a rotating shift where you worked the night shift for 6 months and then worked the 6 AM-6 PM shift for six months. There was no way I would have ever wanted to rotate that schedule.

But as I said, if you like nights...go for it. The positives definitely outweighed the negatives for me. I still miss it.

ITSpectre

Ive worked nights. I enjoyed it because I did not have to deal with any traffic at all... neither coming to work, or going home. Because when I was going to work people would be winding down, and when I was coming home people were getting up for work....
A lot of downtime to get study in
Not a lot of chatter and distractions
You have the days all to yourself to get things done... like if you have a Dr appointment or a class you can handle that during the day....
No lines at food places and wal-mart is usually empty so you can be in and out in a jiffy.

Overall night work is awesome.

kohr-ah

If you are young and have no kids it is a good way to get the experience on your resume you want and time to study for certifications as the night time usually is a bit quieter at most places.

Downside is social life it can be hard to keep up with or the days you are off getting your sleeping schedule balanced out.

wolfinsheepsclothing

I agree with 'kohr-ah.' No kids/family then this would not be a bad gig. I worked nights in a datacenter many years ago; a ton of time to read/study/tinker

BlackBeret

I had this shift. Single and no kids, greatest shift ever. Trying to do it with a family, miserable. The main thing is to keep the same sleep pattern. Don't think of it as "days off" it's now "nights off". Sleep days, stay up nights. Depending on where you are you'll either become very familiar with the local night scene, or IRC/Forums when you're off.

Kinet1c

I agree with the above sentiments in relation to it being good if you were single and it being hell with family/commitments. I did a day/night shifts combo for a year in a NOC and then my follow on NOC job I did long day shifts for the next year. Never again and I'd probably feel the same if I was single with no wife/kid. This may be something you need to do to progress as it was a gateway for me in to a more linux based role where I am now. So while you might suffer for a year or so, your career should prosper with the experience.

xengoreth

I hated night shifts when I worked them when I was single back at the beginning of my career. The isolation really sucks.

Now that I have a family, I couldn't bring myself to do it unless there were no other alternatives and I needed to do it (temporarily I hope) to put food on the table. On the other hand, 3/4 day shift 12s sounds doable.

BookFella

Did the night shift, 3/12's for about 8 years working in a NOC, great schedule to take advantage of for study purposes. Would study/read/watch training videos during downtime. As some have said it if you're not careful it can take a toll on you physically & socially.

Anonymouse

I worked graveyard in a data center for a little over 1.5 years.

Pro's:
- traffic wasn't too bad over my commute times
- office was quiet because only the datacenter and NOC were around at that time of night
- lot's of downtime (should have been studying but I wasted most of it, I regret nothing because I had fun goofing off with co-workers and manager LOL)
- it was 4x10 so I had 3 day weekends or could come in an extra day for OT

Cons:
- sleep schedule was messed up, I kept trying to reset it on weekends to spend time with gf, family, and friends so sometimes I'd come into my first shift of the week with no sleep at all until I get home the next day (it was common for me to go without sleep for close to 36 hours those nights)
- I didn't prepare my lunches at the time so I always ate out for lunch and all that was available at midnight was either fast food or convenience store food
- I gained a lot of weight and my health deteriorated in general

madidea63

I may be a newbie to IT and this forum, but I'm no newbie to shift work. Don't do what anonymouse did! Get your sleep-including a nap before starting your workweek. Bring some healthy but appetizing "lunch" with you. It can work to your advantage- I was able to work while the kids slept then see them off to school and be there to help with homework. However, long term it does take a toll on your body and has been shown to shorten your life.

Gamesta400

If you do work this shift it is very easy to let your skill stagnate since not much is going on. I would urge people who work 2nd and 3rd shifts to take their education into their own hands. These shift have a lot of downtime, make use of it. I got a job at an after-hours help desk at a hospital. I am alone in a room and the phone rings maybe twice per a shift. I use my down time to study. First I got 3 Microsoft MCSA certifications in Win 7,8 and server 2012r2. Then I decided to go back to college. Thanks to this forum, I found out about a dirt cheap, fully accredited college called Western Governors University out of Utah . Turns out, as part of their Bachelors in IT, they have you earn several MCSA certifications. Since I already had the certifications I was able to transfer them in, along with my associates degree in business. WGU bills in 6 month terms at $3,000 a term, but you can go as fast as you want. Thanks to all my study time at work, I was able to complete the remaining 48 credits in a single term and graduate. Plus, there is a tax credit if you use your own money to pay for college, so I got all but $800 of it back as tax refund. I am now going for my Master’s degree in IT Management from WGU and expect to have it this summer.

Meanwhile, all my coworker spend their shifts playing video games and watching Netflix.