The life of an IT Guy

Everyone talking about the pain of being on call, I thought the comic was about how much IT guys love their backpacks...

I don't work in IT.

To be fair my bag is rad. Also it felt kinda futuristic hot spotting my work laptop to my phone to connect to some servers halfway across the country while in my car in a parking lot, but that wears off pretty quickly after a couple times.
- Once everyone figures out your can fix things pretty much regardless of where you are, they start to form the expectation that you're going to do that every single time.
- I remember hooking my HTC Dream up to my MacBook in like 2009 so I could have my friend as a floating head via Skype, so she could join me for a video game preorder party. It was the coolest thing ever. I wish I remembered what game!
I’m a software engineer, I bring my backpack everywhere. I thought it was about lovin’ the backpack.
The main difference, mine is green. It doesn’t always have my laptop in it though, I use it for groceries etc too.
- Same here. Mine is black, but it's pretty old and I'm thinking of replacing it.
How the hell is this related to a backpack? I have worked in IT and have had "on call" duty and this comic makes no fucking sense to me...
- I'm on call right now. I can do whatever I want as long as I'm sober and able to log in within 15 minutes or be on site within an hour.
  So I live my life, but I always need to have my laptop, charger and headset with me. A padded backpack is a lot more practical for that than a traditional laptop bag.
- I'm assuming it's their work bag...?
i thought it was just making fun of people who put their bags on public transit and has nothing to do with IT outside of a loose association with introverts
- The title says "Life of an IT Guy", so that's the association OP wants us to make

Gods, I hated being on call. It was never part of our job description, but one day about a year after we were all hired, we were suddenly "on call" without any training for it.

No extra pay or benefits. Work a 12 hour day from being on call? Better show up tomorrow, same time.

What's are the duties? Never explained. You must have a phone, and snooze the alarm within 1 minute, that's all we knew. Can you drink? Can you go to the grocery store? Can you be 45 minutes away from an Internet connection? We were never told.

I got in trouble multiple times for not having reception inside the building. I asked for a company phone, and was denied.

How do you fix an issue? We had no idea how the IBM cloud infrastructure worked, so just struggle and hammer the snooze. I only ever fixed issues through my existing Linux knowledge, but all my coworkers only had Windows experience. Towards the end of that job, you could fix most calls by typing killall minerd (the cloud was super hacked).

If that’s in the US, that’s illegal. There are strict laws around on call availability. That company hopefully now has an on call policy, including availability, on-call standby pay, and on-call pay.
I make my company pay for a work phone and when I’m off the clock, I shut it off and put it in a drawer. I never check on work outside my agreed hours. A younger, naive me would. But an informed older me isn’t a sucker and advocates for work reform while drawing clear boundaries between work and personal.
Fuck your company for taking advantage of you. Glad you’re out, but hope the others there fought for fixing those policies or else they’ll just have major attrition.
- on-call standby pay, and on-call pay.
  I've only had one place that gave me any kind of stipend to be on call, everywhere else just expects it as part of the job description with no added benefit.
After 3 decades in IT let me share some wisdom.
What you describe is not ok, and it's just letting the company walk all over you because it sounds like nobody had the experience to push back. There should be a senior guy somewhere in that team going "yo this is bullshit, we're not doing this" and making the company define the criteria so you can say yes or no. Otherwise you just don't comply, and everyone on the team has to be onboard with that. Gotta have boundaries in this career or they will literally own you and all your free time, and if shit hits the fan, they will scapegoat you in a heartbeat.
They need you more than you need them. Never forget that. There are lots, and lots, and lots of unfilled IT jobs out there.
That sounds miserable :(
In a previous position I was asked if I was willing to be on call, but it was optional. I accepted because the terms were good.
If I was on call the requirements were clear - No alchol, and a 10 minute response time 24/7.
In return, I got a bump in my paycheck for weeks I was on call, no matter whether I was actually called or not. And any time that I did end up spending on support incidents I was eligible to take back out of normal hours at time and a half. So if I spent two hours on support in the middle of the night, I could take three hours off the next day.
It was a good arrangement.
I love being on call. I get 2-3 calls per week on average, totalling about 30 minutes of work.
I also get +1 day of paid vacation time and around 500€ additional pay for each week I'm on call.
And I get the company car for unlimited private use, as long as I stay within 1h driving distance to the workplace.
Oh god. We had to be within one hour of the data center so that we could sit next to the broken hardware that we were not able to fix at 3 am anyway because fuck you.

A big reason why I’m glad that I’m no longer in IT is that I don’t have to be in an on-call rotation any longer.

If the job offers to pay for your cell phone, it’s because they will expect you to answer at 2am.

I, too, have baggage that is always there wherever I go.

If they are not paying me I will not be sober.

Oh you called me out of my work hours and without paying me to be on call, then I drunkenly deleted 7 customer databases because you insisted I have to log in right now? Sounds like your problem to explain that one.

I feel seen, except it's a threesome with my wife.

Wait, you're married to two wives and have a threesome with them? I'm not following...
- I assume wife, bag and our fellow it guy.
- It's me, my wife, and the support laptop

Wow what a dick taking up two spots on the train

It's empty
- An empty bag? That's even worse!
What do you suggest, huh? Letting his love sit on top of his crotch when he's on a bus?

Wow this is so me (except I keep my bag between my legs when sitting).

Everyone knew me for having my "bag full of tricks" and a laptop all the time.

Bag hooks and outlets at bars were a great subtle QoL add in the last 20 years.

Backpack EDC like, changes you man

Exactly. And it's rarely about electronic gadgets - I carry a first aid kit, a pen knife and more.
- Hoodie, scarf, and a 3D printed gun.

Wait other people carry their laptop with them when they're on call? I just make sure to never be an hour away from my laptop lol (ideally only 15 minutes away but I won't reschedule anything)

I'd rather hook into Wi-Fi/hotspot and work without making my whole family leave or be stranded somewhere just because I got a call.
- My god I don’t miss that life.
  I’m a stay at home dad now and sometimes they drive me crazy (right now actually. If I could kick the dogs out it would probably make my life easier. FUCK YOU MR. PISS ON THE FLOOR!).
  Even when they drive me so crazy I feel like I’m about to have an aneurysm, life is easy mode compared to IT.
  My Computer, Computer, and This PC ain’t my goddamn problem anymore. Woooooohooooooo!
- I generally do the same. It doesn't have to be my work laptop, mind you, just a laptop. Usually my personal laptop.
  As long as it's in a reasonable walking distance from me, I'm good. Eg. If I go out for dinner, I'll toss my bag in the car and I'll leave it in the car unless I get a page.
- I spent a decade on call.
  The last few years, they would call and call and call...
  I wouldn't answer though

This just looks like the average Norwegian

I didn't realize this was about being on-call at first, but it worked anyway, because I also don't like people sitting next to me