Join the on-call roster, it’ll change your life
By Sergey Tselovalnikov on 09 December 2025Join the on-call roster, it’ll change your lifeImagine you are a software engineer a few years into your career, working on a service that is an important part of a large production system. One day in a routine 1:1, your manager mentions that there is a gap in the on-call roster and asks if you would like to join the rotation. The concept is simple, if the error rate spikes while it is your turn in the rotation, you’ll get an alert. When that happens at any time of day, you’ll need to open your laptop, investigate and restore the system. They even mention there is extra pay. Chances are you can simply say “no” and keep your life exactly as it is. Or you can say “yes” and allow on-call to start changing you in ways you probably didn’t…
