It is important to be explicit in discussing what you want to your bosses, and important for them to be explicit about what they want from you. Treat it as you

It is important to be explicit in discussing what you want to your bosses, and important for them to be explicit about what they want from you. Treat it as you would any negotiation. Put the details on the table and talk about them, and do so calmly, respectfully, but firmly. A good manager should appreciate that kind of upfront and direct conversation. Obviously if you have dishonest or manipulating mangers, then that is a different story. If the company has an official policy saying that on call is not mandatory, that is good. That said, there is all kinds of corporate doublespeak and unspoken assumptions with these kinds of things, like with unlimited vacation. Even if they are sincere, know that the consequences may be more than a lack of raises. You may lose opportunities for advancement, be put on less interesting projects, or given more mundane roles. I personally am like you, and don't want to either work on-call or be promoted into management anyway. Many people are like that, especially as they get older and have kids. Most non-startup companies have a healthy need for some SWEs to be on-call, but certainly not all or even most of them. However, there are certainly some workplace cultures with that startup mentality that equate working at all hours and being on-call with being a good employee. Those are the kinds of places that celebrate when everyone needs to work ridiculous hours nights and weekends to ship before a deadline, rather than seeing that kind of crunch time as an unfortunate failure of management that should not happen again. If you're in one of those companies, my only advice is to start looking elsewhere. If you want to continue to get raises and especially advance, you'll have to prove yourself in other ways, especially if it sounds like you're also opting out of other "non-mandatory" social activities. Be exceptionally competent, reliable, and responsive during your work hours. Work well with others, both on the surface and deep in the work itself. Smile, laugh, and make smalltalk with the people who like smalltalk but not with the people who don't. Don't call unnecessary meetings. Also, write excellent and well-organized documentation about your products and workflows, so that if something goes wrong during the nights or weekends, you're not going to be a blocker.