3rd shift... night shift...

AmpdChaos

Anyone done it before?? and whats your opinion??

snadam

AmpdChaos wrote:

Anyone done it before?? and whats your opinion??

if youre single and have no kids, then it might be worth it. I worked 2nd shifts for a long time (2-Midnight), and I loved it. I hate waking up early and I stay up until 2 most nights anyway.

Slowhand

I did it for about a year and a half. For the first nine months or so, you're okay. You adjust to the schedule and you're essentially sleeping when everyone else is working, and vice-versa. After a while, though, you start to turn into a ghoul, and it's both difficult to sleep and stay awake. You find yourself sleeping longer and longer, or not at all some days, and you try to swing your schedule on weekends in order to spend time with friends and family, which ends up screwing up your internal clock even more.

I'd recommend doing it for a while, if the money's good. Plan on spending no more than a year before going back to daytime work, though.

AmpdChaos

the money isnt that good (13-16). its an entry level position for a NOC.. i was thinking just for the experience...

Anonymouse

I wouldn't mind working evenings. I would actually prefer it because no matter what I can never get used to sleeping before midnight. This is kinda off-topic but where do I find these graveyard shift IT jobs?

TechJunky

I did it for 6 months back in 2001. I worked on the network side of things right next to the NOC. So pretty much the same thing, but instead of maintaining the telco side I maintained all the data traffic.

I actually really liked it. It was usually slow and allowed me to study my arse off.

AmpdChaos

TechJunky wrote:

It was usually slow and allowed me to study my arse off.

thats a good point.. i think i will contact the guy back...

networker050184

I work swing shift right now (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and I like it a lot better than going in first thing in the morning. You get a chance to wake up at home and catch the news rather than getting up and going straight to work. The swing shift is the most action packed though, so not much down time for study...

oo_snoopy

Slowhand wrote:

I did it for about a year and a half. For the first nine months or so, you're okay. You adjust to the schedule and you're essentially sleeping when everyone else is working, and vice-versa. After a while, though, you start to turn into a ghoul, and it's both difficult to sleep and stay awake. You find yourself sleeping longer and longer, or not at all some days, and you try to swing your schedule on weekends in order to spend time with friends and family, which ends up screwing up your internal clock even more.

I'd recommend doing it for a while, if the money's good. Plan on spending no more than a year before going back to daytime work, though.

2 years here working on the data backbone of a tier 1 ISP. Enjoyed the job, but you're so right on about the sleep deal. You sleep 10 hours a day and get tired at night.

Also it's best to work in a place that is super dark I've found.

whistler

23+ years on 2nd and counting.

One thing to remember is. Your social life will take a hit. It is a good starting point. My problem is I liked the variety of the work.

Where I currently work most of the production, mainframe, work is done at night. Also this is the time that major PC and equipment maintance is done. So I keep busy trying to make sure that when the user arrives in the AM they can work.

So
A- It is a job.
B - It is experience.

goforthbmerry

I like it. It does take getting used to. If it is a matter of getting your first IT job, I say take it and don't hesitate. The first job is hard to get. I have worked third or second for a while and it has advantages. You do need to work out the sleep issues. Is your room able to get dark enough to sleep? Is your neighborhood noisy during the day? Once again, if it is a first IT job do it for a year. Get something on a resume and you can move on later or a spot on the first shift will eventually open.

eMeS

The first 2-3 years of my IT career were mostly spent working night shifts.

I was young (started at 17, almost 18 ) and in college. Working at night back then allowed me to attend school during the day. As a result I wrapped up that first degree pretty quickly. By the time I was 20 I was way ahead of my peers in terms of education, experience, and money.

I also got paid extra for working nights. The amount varied, but the most was 12.5% added onto my salary.

I found that the types of problems encountered at night were much different as well, and tended to develop my experience. Dayshift always had menial customer tasks to perform, whereas at night we were very focused on large amounts of specific work that had to occur. Also, any software or hardware installs typically happened at night or on the weekends, and that experience was invaluable.

Someone said that your social life will take a hit. I agree, but you tend to adjust and make up for it. At one point I worked Thursday-Friday-Saturday 6pm to 6am nights....your social life really takes a hit on shift like that.

The warning that I have is that working nights permanently affected my sleep patterns. I still have an odd sleep/wake cycle to this day. Sometimes being up all night the night before can make getting through a long day difficult.

MS

scheistermeister

So where do you guys find these 3rd shift jobs? I have always had an odd sleep schedule and would love to have a 3rd shift job.

AmpdChaos

no idea... just searching i guess...

GT-Rob

I suggest you bring a book. Some movies if you have a laptop. Maybe some video games. Late nights in a NOC can get very boring....

Inc

Good for experience - bad for the health. Pick one which is more important and go ahead.

Anonymouse

I posted my resume on craigslist specifically stating I want to work third shifts in a NOC haha. I was offered one a long time ago when I knew nothing about the IT world. They just thought I had a great personality and thought I'd still fit the role despite lack of knowledge. But my stupid self I decided not to since it was too far away (20 to 45 mins away) and I felt like I'd make a fool of myself on the job.

dave0212

I used to work 7am-7pm Days and 7pm-7am Nights 4 on 4 off. I did this for about a year and during the winter it can get to you as it feels like you never see daylight (I recommend lots of Vitamin D - Keeps you happy)

The great thing about it was experience and study time, I had access to a lot of kit to play with Cisco kit/servers etc. I completed my CCNA and MCSE while I worked there. I'm with the same company but have moved into the 9-5 3rd line support team.

They are great if you are starting out and have the motivation to study

mrhaun03

DON'T DO IT! It sucks. Seriously. I'm not a morning person at all. I'm always up late, so I thought I'd enjoy it. It the worse thing I've ever done. You never get used to sleeping during the day. You never feel refreshed after sleeping. I was always tired. Personally, I would never take that shift again.

SRTMCSE

I work 3rd shift (11:30PM-8AM) for a financial firm in Manhattan. It gets pretty boring some nights, especially the fact that's just me. I don't get a lot of face time w/ my boss or anything like that. I had the opportunity to change to days a few weeks ago but turned it down, mostly b/c I would've constantly been at our disaster recovery site in NJ and doing far more level 3 tickets.

Here I get a lot of free time to study and play around. I do get some decent exposure to technology I would've never gotten at my last job. I'm hoping that I get a chance to move up to the day shift in the next year or so, worse case I'll hold out for 2 years and look for a job elsewhere.

It's just so hard to find a position in Manhattan that paid what I wanted to make, I couldn't argue w/ the $10,000 differential I obtained in exchange for taking the night shift. Sometimes to maintain a nice salary you just need to have made it before hand so it can be listed on the application, otherwise they try and negotiate down.

I'm making the best of it, not bad as far as family goes b/c I don't have a wife, but I do have an ex-fiancee whose taking me to the cleaners for more child support so the extra income helps w/ the lawyer bills, lol.

arwes

I worked 3rd shift at my last job, doing backups for a hospital on a AS/400 and some other systems along with general phone support. My coworker & I worked 7 on 7 off 12 hour shifts, and I think what helped us make it through a night of sheer boredom was that our IT director had no problem with us playing games so long as it didn't interfere with our work.

In my neck of the woods, lunch (at 3:00 AM) meant either eating over at the Waffle House or picking up something at the 24 hour Wal-Mart. I miss the overnight work, but I most definitely appreciate the free time in the evenings that I have now. And that when I eat lunch, there are more places open for business.

TechJunky

Another thing to think of... Most maintanance windows are done at night. I quickly learned to become friends with the Systems Administrators/Engineers. Shortly after I was rolling out cisco configs, and configuring email server settings. I think if you put your mind to how can I use this time frame to my advantage rather than, how can I slack off you can/will get more experience.

I obtained more experience in the 6 months of my graveyard shifts than I did the 2 years on my regular shift. More things tend to break at night and you might actually be lucky enough to get envolved.

Keep your eye on the prize.

Obtain some certifications and talk to the right people if you do get the job.

arwes

TechJunky wrote:

More things tend to break at night and you might actually be lucky enough to get envolved.

Ain't that the truth! Well, in my case it always seemed to happen to my coworker. Like a battery exploding on the monster UPS in the data center. Or the network admin telling him to reboot a failing VMware server that hadn't completed ntbackup in the last week. I missed all the good stuff.

Aldur

snadam wrote:

if youre single and have no kids, then it might be worth it. I worked 2nd shifts for a long time (2-Midnight), and I loved it. I hate waking up early and I stay up until 2 most nights anyway.

I feel the same way, mornings are evil! I currently work the 2-11pm shift and i love it, works out great with my insomnia, and the job that I'll be taking with qwest will also be a 2-11ish shift.

I know one day I will have to deal with the dreaded sunlight, but I'll procrastinate that as log as possible!

Sie

I currently work alternate day and night shifts,

Its kinda like this:

2 days, 2 off, 3 nights, 2 days off, 2 days, 3 days off, 2 nights, 2 days off, 3 days etc etc etc

Works for me, does get some getting used to as you have 2 days to swap your body clock full circle to go from a day to a night or a night to a day.

The job itself and the money make it worth it though.

So I guess my answer is that it depends on the person and your circumstances. If you have nothing to loose give it a try, some people love it!

LifelongLearner

snadam wrote:

AmpdChaos wrote:

Anyone done it before?? and whats your opinion??

if youre single and have no kids, then it might be worth it. I worked 2nd shifts for a long time (2-Midnight), and I loved it. I hate waking up early and I stay up until 2 most nights anyway.

Me too I've worked many night shifts in my career and have to say that I prefered them over the day shift. It was more quiet. I didn't have bosses 'popping in' and the pay was way better too. But I agree that if you have kids, it may be difficult to do.