Are you never off-grid for a bit, or drunk in a bar, or just on a real no-work vacation? There seem to be situations where being on call just isn’t feasible.
I barely noticed the pandemic. I never strayed far from my computer. Also, yes, I tried not to drink much.
I certainly learned what my limits are. People think I am a pretty good engineer (not amazing) but what I am known for is being able to keep that level of performance up for a long time.
For my part, despite my reputation, I tried to quit a few times. Not the job, the company entirely. I have never cried at work, but came close once or twice after being up for days and unwinding from a big escalation.
Depends heavily on how stable app/system is.
I'm from PeopleSoft / ERP world. The same PeopleSoft HCM base application would generate one off-hours pager alert a month at one client; and half a dozen a night at another client; due to different customization/implementation/complexity of business logic and data.
Any on-call/on-shift rotation system must be viewed through the lens of actual demand and need.
At first client, we had 3-4 developers total who shared pagers on weekly basis, as per the OP, with no undue stress or impact on their day job.
At second client, we now have multi-tier support starting with on-shift (junior but specialized ops team members who stare at computer overnight and provide immediate response), Tier 1 and Tier 2 on-call support, and multi-level escalation rotation.
And yes, there are still people who get woken up all the time always, because buck eventually stops there :-/ . Being on call sucks, as per the title. I've been in 24x7 escalation roles; I don't drink to begin with so that's not an issue, but it absolutely had significant negative impact on my social & family life, sleep and stress levels. I've spent significant effort to a) Make the system better, both in terms of more reliable application, and deeper and more self-sufficient support team tree, and b) Move myself out of the role, though that relies on success in a).
I do find it fascinating to occasionally meet very senior people, with family and social life, who are positively EAGER to be on-call and engaged for every little thing all the time always - and then, unfortunately, have same expectations of literally everybody else ("Let's all come on bridge, always, for everything, anytime")
If I’m going to be out of cell coverage (e.g. a plane ride, or in the countryside with spotty Internet) or simply want to be left alone, I usually plan for that in advance and do a combination of: 1) scaling back our risk exposure by rescheduling work (which requires you to have a good understanding of the business, its needs, and its timelines) and 2) shoring up the bits I feel most weary about through code, documentation, tooling, and/or contractors.
The same goes for the team SMEs: reschedule where I can, crosstrain where I can’t, get headcount where none of the prior work.
I’ve been on call since 1999. I had to figure out a pattern that worked for me (and my family) but wouldn’t result in a life that was boring or worse, one that I resented.
Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes the answer is no. If it’s down already it can’t get worse.
To be fair, I was the first (and only) point of escalation.
Oh yes it can.
But what it’s there for is if the team is experiencing something that is new/novel (where I can provide some targeted guidance) or the situation is spiraling and will get worse before it gets better (where I can provide air cover).