I would guess many of you are in the same or similar situation I am in.  You have 10, 15, 20 plus years of experience in your field.  You probably hold a title like Senior DBA or Data Architect, or perhaps Senior System Programmer Analyst.  You might even be called the “Gatekeeper” or some fun name like that.  Anyway, it doesn’t matter what your title is, the fact is that you are the GO TO person.  The junior people look to you for solutions.  Your opinion is valued and sought after.  You develop and plan out and architect new systems.  When problems happen, you are the one they expect to identify the problem and fix it to get the systems back up and running.  You are the last line of defense.

Now being the last line of defense is nice in some ways.  You can have a certain amount of pride in the work you do.  It feels nice to be looked up to.  Often companies recognize your value and compensate you well for your services.  Still there are downsides as well.  In general there isn’t someone for you to go to when you need help.  If you work in a small enough shop you might be the only senior level person.  Often, if your systems are used 24 hours a day, you can get called at any time and be expected to be available.  Whatever system problems might exist, it is expected that you will figure out a solution no matter what the problem might be.  You are often expected to be an expert outside of your field. 

This can cause a lot of pressure to be put on you.  Work can start to feel stressful.  Family life can suffer.  You go on vacation, but you have to bring a laptop and often have to do 1 to 3 hours a work a day while on vacation.

So the question is: How do you deal with the pressure and stress?  How do you balance family life and work life?  How do you cope with the downsides of being the last line of defense?