The Tale of Night Shift
itguy7
Member Posts: 23 ■□□□□□□□□□
I just wanted to update everyone who read my last thread titled "Night Shift" a while back. I had said I was being considered a great opportunity at an excellent company breaking into the Cyber Security field but the one downer was working night shift. Me being young and coming from a help desk role it seemed daunting due to never working night shift before plus I was scared of the ripple effects I've heard it can cause.
Well about 3 months ago I got that job. For about a month I was being trained on the day shift and was fairly comfortable. I was learning a TON about IT security (the fun stuff, Computer Network & Defence for the DoD, Yum). Anyways, after the training ended they wanted me to start the night shift position I had been hired for. I was resistant at first being spoiled by the many luxuries of day shift (people being around, social time, picking the 'pros' brains basically learning a crap ton as this was a NOSC- a mix of networking guys, security guys, managers, help desk guys, and other randoms) but eventually gave way and started night shift!
So here I am now about 2 months in and I wouldn't say dreading but strongly disliking nightshift life. I don't have time to see my family as much as I'de like to. I don't get to hang with my friends on nights and weekends are basically wasted - I work through them all. The only benefit was the career starter, the experience, the pay and the fact that I would get 3 to 4 days off at a time. In addition to all that, I don't feel like I ever get enough rest. I have JUST enough time during my work week to eat, sleep and shower! Most days that I sleep I get disturbed by phone calls from a wide array of people, sounds, the light, or just randomly waking up 4 hours early where my body says FU to my work schedule and doesn't care that I have to stay awake for the next ~14 hours and not be a zombie. There was this one time I woke up late and skipped the shower...that was the deciding point where I would never choose a night shift position ever again. I've never (in my 3 years in IT LOL) had that little time where I couldn't even shower - kind of humiliating. I felt like a rat.
OK I'm exaggerating...It's really not THAT bad, maybe my standards are just high. But I wanted to give everyone an update as I had a ton of support over the issue of the night shift on the previous thread. The fact is, I'm doing great, I'm still healthy, haven't gained 100 lbs and haven't fallen sick of every cold that blew my way OR living off of Red Bull and Monster energy drinks. I'm being payed a fantastic amount doing what I do, learning a lot, paying for WGU which I'll be starting this Dec 1st and most of all still have my relationship with my girlfriend (knocks on wood - you never know). Also, to my surprise, my tech lead has said to plan on switching to the mid shift (4-12am) starting Nov 5th!! I've payed my dues and it's payed off! It's a little surprising how I even got the job having no degree but everything else. I even got through the hiring process the hard way. Once I was in, I found out basically everyone got here from knowing someone - literally...everyone I asked in the room said they knew someone. I was like...So I'm 21, have no degree, didn't know someone AND found the job on indeed in these hard economic times? Either I'm extremely lucky or I know my stuff. Obviously it's probably a mix of the two with the tables leaning more on the latter - I really do know my CyberSec.
It really shows that if you have the passion, drive and knowledge for what you want to do, you can get it. Let this be semi-inspiration (it's not that inspirational) to anyone who feels they can't break into the field they want. I knew CyberSec is where a ton of money is and will be relatively safe for a while. Also, I love it! I think the most important thing I did was qualified myself in almost every possible way other than having a degree. I had a few years of IT experience doing helpdesk, had A+, N+, S+ certs plus payed out of pocket (~$1,700) for my C|EH which I had no idea would be worth it or not. I also crafted my resume and had multiple copies for different positions applied. I dealt with a ton of reqruiters which in the end, was chosen after just one phone interview with the hiring manager. Aparently he only does phone interviews because he has some sort of 'intuition' about candidates. Well, looking at his team, he hasn't picked a lemon yet. I also sold myself in every way I could.
So there you have it. It's a small story of a young starter's career explosion I would say. I'm forseeing here on out being a smooth ride (hopefully) as the CyberSec field is booming and expected to continue to do so. I'll be paying for and attending WGU which after I get my degree should make me feel more safe about my future career prospects. I should be a hot cake for every company out there as it seems they're all getting hacked left and right - no thanks to those rebellious script kiddies and the selective FEW groups who do know they're stuff.....or...thanks?
Well about 3 months ago I got that job. For about a month I was being trained on the day shift and was fairly comfortable. I was learning a TON about IT security (the fun stuff, Computer Network & Defence for the DoD, Yum). Anyways, after the training ended they wanted me to start the night shift position I had been hired for. I was resistant at first being spoiled by the many luxuries of day shift (people being around, social time, picking the 'pros' brains basically learning a crap ton as this was a NOSC- a mix of networking guys, security guys, managers, help desk guys, and other randoms) but eventually gave way and started night shift!
So here I am now about 2 months in and I wouldn't say dreading but strongly disliking nightshift life. I don't have time to see my family as much as I'de like to. I don't get to hang with my friends on nights and weekends are basically wasted - I work through them all. The only benefit was the career starter, the experience, the pay and the fact that I would get 3 to 4 days off at a time. In addition to all that, I don't feel like I ever get enough rest. I have JUST enough time during my work week to eat, sleep and shower! Most days that I sleep I get disturbed by phone calls from a wide array of people, sounds, the light, or just randomly waking up 4 hours early where my body says FU to my work schedule and doesn't care that I have to stay awake for the next ~14 hours and not be a zombie. There was this one time I woke up late and skipped the shower...that was the deciding point where I would never choose a night shift position ever again. I've never (in my 3 years in IT LOL) had that little time where I couldn't even shower - kind of humiliating. I felt like a rat.
OK I'm exaggerating...It's really not THAT bad, maybe my standards are just high. But I wanted to give everyone an update as I had a ton of support over the issue of the night shift on the previous thread. The fact is, I'm doing great, I'm still healthy, haven't gained 100 lbs and haven't fallen sick of every cold that blew my way OR living off of Red Bull and Monster energy drinks. I'm being payed a fantastic amount doing what I do, learning a lot, paying for WGU which I'll be starting this Dec 1st and most of all still have my relationship with my girlfriend (knocks on wood - you never know). Also, to my surprise, my tech lead has said to plan on switching to the mid shift (4-12am) starting Nov 5th!! I've payed my dues and it's payed off! It's a little surprising how I even got the job having no degree but everything else. I even got through the hiring process the hard way. Once I was in, I found out basically everyone got here from knowing someone - literally...everyone I asked in the room said they knew someone. I was like...So I'm 21, have no degree, didn't know someone AND found the job on indeed in these hard economic times? Either I'm extremely lucky or I know my stuff. Obviously it's probably a mix of the two with the tables leaning more on the latter - I really do know my CyberSec.
It really shows that if you have the passion, drive and knowledge for what you want to do, you can get it. Let this be semi-inspiration (it's not that inspirational) to anyone who feels they can't break into the field they want. I knew CyberSec is where a ton of money is and will be relatively safe for a while. Also, I love it! I think the most important thing I did was qualified myself in almost every possible way other than having a degree. I had a few years of IT experience doing helpdesk, had A+, N+, S+ certs plus payed out of pocket (~$1,700) for my C|EH which I had no idea would be worth it or not. I also crafted my resume and had multiple copies for different positions applied. I dealt with a ton of reqruiters which in the end, was chosen after just one phone interview with the hiring manager. Aparently he only does phone interviews because he has some sort of 'intuition' about candidates. Well, looking at his team, he hasn't picked a lemon yet. I also sold myself in every way I could.
So there you have it. It's a small story of a young starter's career explosion I would say. I'm forseeing here on out being a smooth ride (hopefully) as the CyberSec field is booming and expected to continue to do so. I'll be paying for and attending WGU which after I get my degree should make me feel more safe about my future career prospects. I should be a hot cake for every company out there as it seems they're all getting hacked left and right - no thanks to those rebellious script kiddies and the selective FEW groups who do know they're stuff.....or...thanks?
