August 29, 2008 at 3:34 am
RE: "Most of the people working in IT seem to actually work pretty hard. They put in long hours, work after hours, and are on call pretty much all the time. And they seem to get called on a regular basis, so perhaps more than some other professions, IT workers really need to take vacations."
How ironic...I watched this one at 5:30AM on a Friday...at work. *sigh* Normal start time is 7:30AM.
August 29, 2008 at 4:03 am
It has taken me a long time of grafting to get to a position where I can refuse to do things.
I refuse to be on formal call, I refuse to have a company blackberry, I refuse to be easily available when on vacation.
When I am on vacation my company does not own me and I make it difficult although not impossible to be contacted so that only truly serious problems come my way. I trust my colleagues to handle things in my absence and they trust me when they're away.
I work so I can have leisure time and this is why I work and do not expect this time to be compromised except when there is no other option.
Unless work is your life, any other way leads to job fatigue.
August 29, 2008 at 4:14 am
In reality being a contractor and running my own company with several clients its hard not keep yourself "wired" some of the time while away. basically the health of your company is a forerunner to you earning a good living, so you can't just leave it until you get back...there might be nothing to come back to. i tend to set aside 30 minutes or so each day while on holiday to deal with urgent issues that just can't wait. anything that can wait will be dealt with when i get back...
In an ideal world. You finish work on a friday and start back when you've finished your vacation/holiday with no work at all in between just sun sand and the occasional cold beer...
uhmmm beer!
Gethyn Elliswww.gethynellis.com
August 29, 2008 at 4:17 am
I trust my colleagues to handle things in my absence and they trust me when they're away.
There are a lot of us that don't have colleagues...so if a problem arises, and work is now stopped for the whole company, then you -must- be on call. Most employers are nice enough to comp you the time back (of course, you'll be back at home by then).
Frankly, I don't mind it too much...here's why: There is a lot of down time on vacations...so filling in a little work in the evenings isn't too bad (what? You don't love your work?!?) 😛 ...besides, you get to mark it on your timesheet and save your vacation hours for another vacation. 🙂 I'm always able to stretch another week out of my vacation time.
August 29, 2008 at 4:57 am
It's taken 22 years working in the same company to achieve vacation nirvana (and you do have to have colleagues that you trust to be able to delegate sideways) but over time I have worked very hard to drop off the radar and have turned in my bleeper, company mobile, and laptop. The deal (to myself) is I work all the hours necessary during the week and perhaps the weekend at a push, but vacation time is mine - I earned it and I'm taking it. Besides, I need the time off work to keep an eye on running my website.
August 29, 2008 at 5:06 am
It always feels, to me at least, if you can drop off the radar without anyone noticing...then you may need to update your rèsumè. 😛
So, b_o_t_f...what's the website address? (Hey, you mentioned it!)
August 29, 2008 at 5:09 am
http://www.tinkerowners.org.uk
August 29, 2008 at 5:10 am
I work inland, so my vacations are normally a seaside one, and most of the time we'll be swimming or just enjoying the time in the sun or outside for at least the whole day, so I leave my cellphone at home and .....maybeee..... have a look at it when we're back, and depending on the severity, make contact.
We have a company policy that no two employees (in the IT department) (with the same job description) can take leave at the same time, so we always alternate and like Richard Bradford mentioned, trust comes into play, a lot, but more so, before we go on leave, there has to be some form of debriefing just to get the colleage up to speed, in case he has to handle something I was working on.
And so far this has worked pretty well and I can enjoy my leave, not having to think about 'what if'.......
August 29, 2008 at 6:37 am
Every year I vacation with my family at a cottage on a remote beautiful lake in Maine. Been doing that for about 15 years. The only sound you hear up there at all are the loons as they fly overhead, or in the evening when they call out to each other as sun sets and the sky fills with stars. The lake itself does not allow power boats, so truly, the quiet, the peace and the beauty is just breath-taking and frankly, the worst part is when we have to head for home.
The first year we found this place, I brought the laptop, PDA and cell phone and sure enough, there was a "crisis" at the office and I got called. It turned out to be nothing really, but it did intrude on our time and after that my then-younger beautiful children forced a rule upon me. NO BUSINESS WHILE ON VACATION!!!
So for 14 years, I have left the laptop and PDA at home, and the cell phone stays in the car largely turned off. The world has not come to an end, and business has just kept plugging along, and I get a maginificent week of rest and bonding with my family, and the world is still there when I get back.
However, now my kids are just about in their 20's, and guess what rule we had to instititute FOR THEM a couple years ago?
NO cell phones, NO ipods, NO laptops, NO DVD players, NO XBox, NO PlayStation, NO Wii...
As much as I suffered some "withdrawal" from the wired world years ago - Now I get to laugh... You should see these kids when their wired world gets taken away and they are stuck with fishing, cookouts, reading a book and playing "old fashioned" board games!
My son calls it our "Survivorman week"... 😀
August 29, 2008 at 7:08 am
I just came back from a 3 week road trip.
To tell you the truth, I did stay somewhat connected (i.e check email in the AM). My boss and co-workers are pretty good about not trying to bother me, but at the same time there were several issues that came up that I had dealt with in the past, and they had not. It didn't take much of my time, and I felt a bit better knowing that stuff was not hitting the fan. If I were not connnected, I would be constantly worrying somewhat about what was happening back at the job.
My wife runs a Photoshop website, and she had to stay connected to some degree, though there were a few nights without even Treo coverage.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
August 29, 2008 at 7:12 am
I haven't ever taken an actual vacation, but if I did, I would probably remain compulsively connected.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
August 29, 2008 at 7:22 am
I had need to call one of our infrastructure support guys so dialled his mobile. He answered and resolved my issue over the phone. The background noise was a bit strange so I asked where he was. On a beach in Greece. Dedication, or just scared his job might not be there when he got back?
August 29, 2008 at 8:35 am
I have been all over the world trying to find places they cannot find me, to no avail. I went to Finland last year and still spent about 3 hours a day on the phone.
I had found a nice little state park here in Vermont about 30 miles from work that had no cell phone service. The nice thing was that it was close enough that someone from work could drive o get me if hell broke loose, but they never did. Unfortunately Verizon placed a tower on a nearby mountain, so now even that sanctuary is gone.
To the guy that says checking into work is not a bad way to spend your vacation time, go lie down. 😀 There are plenty of ways to take up downtime (like sleeping in a hammock, or getting reacquainted with your significant other :cool:).
August 29, 2008 at 8:36 am
I regularly read the blog of John Halamka, the CIO of Harvard Medical School. Just this week, he posted about taking an un-wired vacation as CIO: http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2008/08/connectivity-holiday.html
Sadly, I haven't had a get-away vacation longer than a weekend in about 7 years, so this isn't an issue that I have had to personally address.
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