Question about support

[EvilManagedCare]

Not a specific programming question, rather an industry question. I just completed my CS degree and am in the process of job searching.

I came across an application development position and one of the duties was "...after hours on call support."

So I am curious having not worked in the industry yet, assuming actual development is going on during business hours, what type of support could be needed after hours? Do application developers get relegated to actual tech support?

Thanks

 

[Markbnj]

If a critical online system crashes, or experiences an error, programmers are sometimes called in to work on an all-hands basis until it is fixed. Other than that I haven't heard of programmers being "on call" for support purposes.

 

[Cogman]

Not a specific programming question, rather an industry question. I just completed my CS degree and am in the process of job searching.

I came across an application development position and one of the duties was "...after hours on call support."

So I am curious having not worked in the industry yet, assuming actual development is going on during business hours, what type of support could be needed after hours? Do application developers get relegated to actual tech support?

Thanks

Sounds like "bugs in our software have to be fixed fast.". To me this looks like a red flag. If they have to specifically state that they need you 24/7, I'm guessing they are constantly having fires to put out.

 

[brandonb]

I wouldn't necessarily call it a red flag.

Most jobs require you to support your software. For example, I write bill collection software for the company I work for, and since I'm the sole developer for this particular system, and if the system errors out or crashes at any time, I'm the one who has to fix it.

It can't necessarily wait until the morning when we have 100 agents on the floor during the time they are taking calls, because if the system is down the company is paying those 100 agents to twiddle their thumbs while they wait for me to come in and fix it.

Since going live nearly 4 years ago today, I can count on a single hand how many times I was called in to fix things, but it does happen. The thing that usually sucks about this is that vacation time is usually pretty scare in these environments. I can't plan a 1 week or 2 week vacation in a foreign country where they can't get ahold of me, they will never approve of those vacations. I need to be available at all times.

Edit - As far as tech support goes. We have a help desk line, and a production support team that is supposed to be taking the tech support calls for the system, but typically they just punt (or pass the buck, whatever phrase you want to use) and just forward the crap to me to figure out. So while you aren't taking tech support calls, you are likely to be figuring it all out on your own. For example, this morning one of the client files didn't import into the system, and the tech support came to me "They got this error what does it mean?" "Sephamore timed out" Never heard of that before, I had to google. Oh, the DHCP on the application server was reset due to a firewall being rebooted. But why can't they google the error themselves?... Why wasn't this reboot of the firewall done at a time where the app wasn't processing files? Just bad communication, but that's the things you will run into.

 

[Cogman]

And don't get me wrong. I understand being on call not being a big concern. Rather I see the need to specifically mention it on the offer being the problem.

 

[sourceninja]

At my wife's company, level 3 support will work with developers to get immediate fixes to critical bugs.

Say during end of year when someone's system just goes crazy and there needs to be a tool written to fix the database at 2am on a sunday.

 

[MrChad]

Also, system upgrades and production rollouts are typically done during off hours. I have had to jump on calls between 12 - 2 am to support a production release for some clients. Thankfully these situations are not regular occurrences.

 

[Markbnj]

And don't get me wrong. I understand being on call not being a big concern. Rather I see the need to specifically mention it on the offer being the problem.

Honestly it would be a red flag for me, too. Not a very specific one, but red all the same. On the one hand, I can understand them wanting to make clear that you might be needed after hours. On the other, it's the kind of thing that is usually agreed to in conversation during interviews. If they want it in writing then I'd feel entitled to ask why? How often does it come up?

 

[Cogman]

Honestly it would be a red flag for me, too. Not a very specific one, but red all the same. On the one hand, I can understand them wanting to make clear that you might be needed after hours. On the other, it's the kind of thing that is usually agreed to in conversation during interviews. If they want it in writing then I'd feel entitled to ask why? How often does it come up?

Yep. I'm the same way. When I see a requirement for something that should be, IMO, a pretty standard thing, I start to think that it comes up frequently enough that they needed that specific clause. And if there is a strong need for this in their programmers, what does that say about the code base?

I certainly could be blowing it out of proportion. A visit to their site and the interview should pretty quickly tell you what kind of company you are signing up for.

If you do land the interview, just be on the lookout for a stressful work environment. Also, watch the interview questions. If they are asking you a lot of questions about how to fix problems and maintain code, that would tend to indicate that they have some pretty bad code supporting their product. If they start asking you questions about VB6, run for the hills.

It is an employees market right now. You have a right to be picky with who your employeer is.

 

[sourceninja]

It is an employees market right now. You have a right to be picky with who your employeer is.

I'm not 100% on board with that statement. I still know way too many people who can't find jobs.

 

[beginner99]

I need to be available at all times.

OT but isn't that per se a huge security risk?

What if you die? Company goes bankrupt or what because no one else knows the system?

 

[brandonb]

OT but isn't that per se a huge security risk?

What if you die? Company goes bankrupt or what because no one else knows the system?

It's an issue, and something the executives have thought about. I know the owner of the company has mentioned in the past that if he knew about me writing the software, he would have never approved it or allowed it to happen for those very reasons.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), he was left in the dark during the designing and the conversion to this project. Only after we succeeded was he made aware of what we did.

I can only speculate, but I assume the reason why it was done behind his back, and the reason why we did this is because there is no software out there doing what we wanted to do. I suppose its all about risk vs. rewards. The executives took the risk, and are receieving the rewards. They can easily hire a top notch developer with the increase in revenue to take over in case I get hit by a bus.