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Any advice for handling on-call? I'm a new grad and while I've been on the rotation for multiple cycles now, I still feel quite stressed and on edge when it's m

Any advice for handling on-call? I'm a new grad and while I've been on the rotation for multiple cycles now, I still feel quite stressed and on edge when it's my turn every 4-5 weeks. It even "ruins" weekends where I feel like I can't do a lot outside, and if I do leave my home I feel obligated to carry my work laptop everywhere and be near wifi/internet in the case that I get paged, which honestly isn't even that often for my team's responsibilities.

notacoward 9y ago
Trust me, it's worse when you do get paged a lot. I was on call last week, away from my family, in a different time zone, shackled to my $#@! laptop 24/7 like you say. I'm not going to put varnish on this turd. It bites. You should be doing everything you can to make it better, such as fixing alerts that fire too often or developing tools that make it easier to diagnose and fix problems quickly even when you're half asleep (or the next person is half trained). That said, here's my one SUPER IMPORTANT piece of advice: trust your team. Trust the people on other teams when you're working on a problem. They all know the pain just like you do. They're all trying to get through it just like you are. Ask for help early and often. Even if you are imposing on someone else, trust that they won't hate you forever and you'll get a chance to pay it back. Even for an introvert like me, those are calming thoughts. Even if some it's not really true, believing it while you're in the moment will help remove one huge source of stress and let you focus on the problem at hand. You can always come back later and evaluate whether the teamwork was as good as it should be. Usually it does turn out to be. P.S. Also, a little humor goes a long way.
qachaos 9y ago
I'm not on call anymore but when I was I hated it like nothing else...especially the time I was on call for two weeks during christmas and new years. I don't know if you could use this but I started taking note of when there were calls and noticed there were days where it would be rare for a call. Those days I would relax a little, knowing that at least by statistics it would be rare to get paged.
downrightmike 9y ago
Keep track of all the hours you're working, when you're working them. On average where I work has 10 hours of on call usage on the weekends. To cope we send out an email chain Friday to have people note any upgrades or planned activities which could cause a call. Better to know what may happen and when. It also helps that two people are on call on weekends. One 6am to 6pm and the other from the international team covers nights.
ardit33 9y ago
Work out, not just running, but weight lifting. (I am serious). Working out regularly, and changing your hormonal profile overtime it really helps the body withstand stressful situations much better. Source: I used to be stressed out about things like this as well, and it completely disappeared after a year of serious weight lifting.
- RyanOD 9y ago
  I'll second this recommendation. Also, develop healthy eating habits. Here are a few suggestions... - Eat more fruits and vegetables and less candy. - Eat more beans and less red meat. - Drink more water and less soda or so-called sports drinks. - Snack on more nuts and popcorn and less chips. It has been my experience that healthy eating habits + exercise can have a positive impact on the way a person feels and how they react to stress.

notacoward 9y ago

Trust me, it's worse when you do get paged a lot. I was on call last week, away from my family, in a different time zone, shackled to my $#@! laptop 24/7 like you say. I'm not going to put varnish on this turd. It bites. You should be doing everything you can to make it better, such as fixing alerts that fire too often or developing tools that make it easier to diagnose and fix problems quickly even when you're half asleep (or the next person is half trained). That said, here's my one SUPER IMPORTANT piece of advice: trust your team. Trust the people on other teams when you're working on a problem. They all know the pain just like you do. They're all trying to get through it just like you are. Ask for help early and often. Even if you are imposing on someone else, trust that they won't hate you forever and you'll get a chance to pay it back. Even for an introvert like me, those are calming thoughts. Even if some it's not really true, believing it while you're in the moment will help remove one huge source of stress and let you focus on the problem at hand. You can always come back later and evaluate whether the teamwork was as good as it should be. Usually it does turn out to be. P.S. Also, a little humor goes a long way.

qachaos 9y ago

I'm not on call anymore but when I was I hated it like nothing else...especially the time I was on call for two weeks during christmas and new years. I don't know if you could use this but I started taking note of when there were calls and noticed there were days where it would be rare for a call. Those days I would relax a little, knowing that at least by statistics it would be rare to get paged.

downrightmike 9y ago

Keep track of all the hours you're working, when you're working them. On average where I work has 10 hours of on call usage on the weekends. To cope we send out an email chain Friday to have people note any upgrades or planned activities which could cause a call. Better to know what may happen and when. It also helps that two people are on call on weekends. One 6am to 6pm and the other from the international team covers nights.

ardit33 9y ago

Work out, not just running, but weight lifting. (I am serious). Working out regularly, and changing your hormonal profile overtime it really helps the body withstand stressful situations much better. Source: I used to be stressed out about things like this as well, and it completely disappeared after a year of serious weight lifting.

RyanOD 9y ago
I'll second this recommendation. Also, develop healthy eating habits. Here are a few suggestions... - Eat more fruits and vegetables and less candy. - Eat more beans and less red meat. - Drink more water and less soda or so-called sports drinks. - Snack on more nuts and popcorn and less chips. It has been my experience that healthy eating habits + exercise can have a positive impact on the way a person feels and how they react to stress.