I know, it’s been ages since I’ve posted. Rest assured, I’ve been reading LJ when I get a chance to, but if you ask around, you’ll know I’ve been pretty much tied up with work. So, for those of you who dare, feel free to click on the cut link below.
Where to begin? I started my job with Yahoo back in the last week of March and I was writing that things were going pretty well. They’re still going well for the most part, but one of the most overwhelming things about the job is that it’s incredibly challenging at times. Yahoo’s NOC is more like a NOC on steroids, where we don’t just support one property (or part of the site), but we support 30. So things like YMail, Messenger, Mobile, etc… all of those have different procedures you have to follow (ie: runbook) and sometimes each one wants you to perform the same task in a different manner. It’s somewhat stupid… but let’s say Mail, Messenger, Mobile, and Mingle (Yahoo 360) all run sshd. If sshd ever goes down, they’ll all want you to restart it, of course, but each one is going to want you to restart it using a different command. So, it’s not as easy as one might think, because it’s not as autonomous as other NOCs I’ve worked with, because of the simple fact that each property feels like they have to hand down procedure that’s specific to them. It’s like each property is striving for individuality, even if perhaps you know better about how restart procs… it doesn’t matter to them. So, it makes learning that much harder, but the best part of that is that the runbooks are pretty well documented, so even if I forget, I can always reference it. I guess, though, after a while, you just know it because you’ve done it so many times before.
The most recent problem I’ve been having is my work schedule. I was originally hired for grave shift, but I worked days for three weeks before moving to the swing shift, and then I was working there for another two before I got moved to grave shift (the first time). I sat on grave, for three weeks before my boss moved me back to a half-swing/half-grave shift. Needless to say, it’s been throwing my sleep cycle for a loop, and making plans outside of work suffers because of the inconsistancies with the shift schedule. A lot of things have suffered because of it; I haven’t been writing at all, I haven’t been able to continue working on my radio show with Jesse and Shon, I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with my wife during the day, especially when she’s at school, so there’ve been days where I didn’t see her until just before leaving for my shift sometimes. I’m hoping that once I get to a shift where I know it’s going to be stable, I’ll be able to resume my hobbies… unfortunately for me and others, that’s not going to be until late July or early August at this point.
This also means that I can’t go to AX. For the second year in a row. I’ve never missed two years in a row… EVER. I might have to go to another convention to make up for it, but this sucks so hard you have no idea. AX is my favorite con of the year.
Anyway, my life’s pretty much been about training for this job and working as hard as I can so I can get converted to full-time employment and have medical insurance. Which I’m looking forward to having again.
In the meantime, I’m turning 31 in three days, thereby closing the book on the first thirty years of my life. I’ll post some New Year’s resolutions, hopefully.
2 comments
I’m glad to hear you’re okay and that everything’s going well for you (well except the sleep schedule.)
I hope that gets straightened out and I hope your writing is still going well.
It’s good to hear about what’s up with you. Too bad I won’t see you at AX, though. I was looking forward to it. :\