NOC Engineers / Night Shifters

TechxWizard

Hey Techexamers.

Im currently working for a marketing company as Desktop Support / Jr Net Admin. Its 9-6 Monday to Friday. Its a great job, however. I dont see any room for growth. I was hired originally to help this company move from 2 small rooms to an entire floor in another building. In the 2 months I ran/terminated 50,000 ft of cat 6 cable, installed wall jackets. configured their firewall/cisco switches. I really enjoyed that. I did a great job and they offered me full time. fast forward to now, days just drag. I'm just setting up laptops for new hires and putting out fires whenever needed. I'm in my mid 20's and im thinking about getting a 2nd job.

Now to the real question,
I enjoyed running cables, configuring ASA/switches. I think i want to work in a datacenter. My job is pretty solid so i would only be available for the 3rd shift. As for that,

What is the worklife like as an 3rd shifter?
What responsibilities do you have?
How does it affect your quality of life?
are you able to balance work and personal life working overnight>
Is there room for growth where your currently at?
do you have another job?

all input and opinions are appreciated!
Thank you

MeanDrunkR2D2

If you are planning on working 2 jobs fulltime, that's going to kill any freetime/life that you may want. I've done 3rd shift NOC work and while it can be boring, you generally have more free reign to study, watch netflix, etc than you would in a day shift. I did the 3rd shift as my only job, but also was married with a toddler and was promoted to day shift after 1 year. That said, I am happy that I did it just to get the experience I did and ability to move to the day shift. It took a toll on my relationship with my wife because she was pretty much acting as a single mother because I slept most of the day and only got to spend a couple hours with her and the kids on my work days. On my off days, I still had to stay up so I didn't regress from my sleep pattern and deal with the hell of being tired. It sucks the energy out of you so your day job ability would suffer greatly. Also, when will you sleep? When will you do your errands/Dr appt's/etc? Sure, you can go for a bit on 5-6 hours of sleep but it will catch up to you. I got sick more often when I did 3rd shift.

But, room for growth. Absolutely. Increased responsibilities and knowledge over a desktop support role? Definitely. It's a big reason why I'll be moving onto a new job next month with a significant pay raise and role as a System Engineer. Forget the day shift job if you pick up a good NOC role. I'm leaving because it's time for me to move forward from this role and onto something bigger and better.

Node Man

I did 3rd shift NOC. i think you will find many of us have. It got me into a good company, and jump started my career. Its a big sacrifice, but for me, since it was only about 2 years, i think it was worth it. I would do it again if i was still stuck in a dead end job.

Trucido

I'm not NOC, but 3rd shift Help Desk gives me tons of time to study and research. Works for me because I dont have kids and my girlfriend also works 3rd shift.

Queue

I'm working a late second shift. 4PM-12:30AM with occasional overnights. With the amount of downtime in the positions you have to constantly be self improving or you won't be able to walk away from the job (get hired by anyone else). Since you seem like you want a second job. I think part time 2nd or 3rd would be great. Not sure how sustainable working two full time jobs is. Maybe a straight 16 hour day. However, you factor in travel between the two jobs, the chance that the shifts align perfectly, and a bunch of other factors and it seems unlikely.

TechxWizard

Thank you all, I know NOC overnight shifts are usually 3-4 nights a week. The weekends are not the most desirable shift, So my chances of lining 2 jobs full time is possible. At the same time. If it does happen. I would have no time for myself. I have no kids and I'm not tied down at the moment so it could work. My current job is a 2 min drive from my house which is fantastic. I also drive a poor mans tesla (honda insight) so traveling is not too costly. Im going to start applying.. Thank you guys for your point of views!