Network Admins; all on call, on pagers?

[kturnerga]

Hello
Is there such as job as a network admin that neither carries a pager provided by his employer nor is "on call?"

I will not give up my camping and fishing time for an IT job that pays maybe 50 to 80k just for a lousy fat paycheck. I love work and seeing the icons pop up on the other end of the wire but am not going to give up my life for it!
Thanks
Ken

[craigmodius]

well there is always the On Call pay.

$2 per hour whether they call you or not. 1 week out of the month that I take call works out to $250.

that'll pay for alotta camping and fishing supplies.

[imaeditedbysowulo]

Nah, you can take a vacation or two a year at most places. If you're the only IT guy, provide them with the number of someplace they can call during your absence.

[EvilCabbage]

Does your mother still warm your milk for you, little man?

Holy crap, here is another whinger, complaining about being paid *only* $50k+, to have a job that does not require heavy, hard work, has a nice office, some groovy toys, and god forbid!, they expect you to carry a pager.

Be glad that you might have had a job offer at all, and if you honestly cannot make yourself available to do your freakin' job then maybe this is not the industry for you?

[-Senectus-]

I agree.
I get paid almost half less than your 50 k (assuming your talking yankee money), and I'm on 24/7 call out.
I'm happy that most of my systems are good enough I wont need to go out there (22 km drive).
If your good enough to get paid the excesive sums your talking about, your systems should be VERY well maintained and damned near bullet proof.

I care about my company and systems enough that a little unpaid overtime isn't a problem, Take pride in what you do.

[Cleetus]

Complaining about $50-$80k a year and having to be on call. Whoopdeedoo, I will trade you any day of the year. I have been in the business for over 3 years now, I have always been on call. I make just over half of your low end to. If you keep up the systems, and know what you are doing, you don't get to many calls.

If you don't like it, please leave, cause there are too many people keeping me from getting a better job in this field.

[Thunderwind]

Every time I read your sig Cleetus, I laugh so damn hard!!!

To get $80k and whine about being on call is .. well .. un-called-for!!!!!!!!!

If I lived closer to my work, I would have no problem being on call at all. It is that I live 1 1/2 hour away from work, so I is a bear to come in for a 5 min problem. But then again, I am not getting paid $80K either!

[Poseidon]

[Commander Klarg]

I hardly think that the originator's post was worth hauling out all of the flamethrowers.

If he can contemplate making $50k-$80K then odds are, he's probably got the experience and skills that make him worth that much to a company.

However, giving up his camping and fishing time is, to him, not worth it. I'm afraid that I have to agree with him; do I want to give up my life just so I can pull down a big salary? Or do I want to spend my limited time on this planet doing something I love doing?

Sure, I'd like to get the big bucks; who wouldn't? The problem is that I don't spend enough time with my son the way it is, much less having to go to work at all hours of the day and night.

I'd like to hear more about this situation before I get trigger happy with the napalm.

[Cleetus]

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Must kill,, die,die,die,die,die

Sorry about that.

Honestly though, it comes with the job. If you don't like to be on call then leave. I wouldn't have posted if he hadn't mentioned the pay, which is a sore subject for me. Despite all the Salary survies, I have never been in an interview or hiring process where that money is offered. Couple that with small wages, I stay because I love the work. I like knowing that I might be called to solve something, that is why I am here.

Incompetent IT staffs (and I am not blaming a single person on this board, cause they at least know where to look for information and how to ask) are ruining our image and our livilihood. I have seen way to many "techs" that don't know anything and refuse to ask getting thrown out of these schools at an allarming rate, mix that with users that think they know everything and executives that just want it done. AAAGGGHHHHH

But God do I love the job.

[PuterGeekGirl]

I am on call 224/7 but rarely get called. I make no where NEAR 50-80k....but I like what I do so I deal with it. I got called ALOT more on my days off before I got another tech in here to help. So I can deal with it.....


If you can't handle being on call you are in the wrong job...as a coworker of mine here would say...

SUCK IT UP...Networkings not for wimps!

[Stanley_Kubrick]

excuse me while i recalibrate my care meter to zero here, dude...

[silencio]

If you're the admin it goes with the job. In fact, you have to make yourself so completely available at every moment that you can almost feel the tether.

Every admin I know carries at least two phones. One is for EVERYONE in the organization and one is for the select list (bosses and other admin).

[Outcoded]

Well if you think that's bad, try being paid **** all an hour to run a shop, and being on call all the time, unpaid, for any stupid questions.

/rant

[celeste9519]

I am yet another person that loves what I do so much that I carry MY OWN cell phone so I can be on call 24x7. I feel that I can do my job much better if people feel they can tell me what is going on. I like being able to fix small problems over the weekend so I don't have an office full of angry customers on Monday morning.

As far as pay, has any one gotten the new MCP Magazine with the 2002 salary survey. Nobody is getting paid what they used to.