So, next week I start living on the
other half of the clock. Working night shift again, and looking
forward to it.
There's a different feel on a night
shift. You're largely responsible for everything a day shift person
is, but you have a lot less support. The volume of work tends to be
lower, but rushes and surges still happen, and you have to deal with
them. You also have to have a strong sense of judgment as to what is
important and what isn't, because calling up supervisors and
management has to be done only when necessary.
It leads to a certain mentality. I'm
not sure about other types of work, but IS (or IT, or ITS or whatever
you like to call it, the computer squad) tends to attract
non-standard personalities in the first place, and night shift
support tends to attract the most non-standard ones.
Yes, I definitely fall into that
category.
What you get on night shift are the
people who are competent, but either less social or otherwise willing
to give up certain aspects of 'normal' life for some reason. For a
long time at my last job, it was the chance to go to school. Now,
it's the chance to spearhead and prepare for a new level of support
that we will be providing.
Of the geeks, we are the most maverick.
The least susceptible to management and the least needing of
supervision. If you want to find both the best and worst people on
an IS team, look to the night shift. That's where we'll be.
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