[Fripplebubby]

Maybe I'm naive, but doesn't it depend a lot on the situation? If I'm being told to be on-call for a system I don't know and can't debug, then I would set the expectation that I'm going to reduce my availability for other work while I learn this new-to-me system to the point where I feel confident that I can debug prod issues (to the degree that any of us can debug prod issues, anyway), understand the major risks to that system and common operations, etc. If they say, "sorry, you have to be on-call for this new thing and also keep working 100% on something else", then I fully agree - bad situation, incompetent management, time to go. But needing someone to be on-call for a system isn't a bad sign - in a different viewpoint, it's a good sign that someone is anticipating a future problem and actively planning ahead.

[coldpie]

The issue is the change in workload. If I'm going from "40 hour work week" to "40 hour work week plus on-call" then you need to compensate me for the increased workload. If you're not going to increase my compensation, then I'm not going to agree to increase my workload.

[Fripplebubby]

I agree that that would be fair, but we should also acknowledge that usually an IC doesn't actually have any leverage in this situation, although this depends on your location and particular employment situation. Typically (and maybe this is changing) a US software developer is employed overtime-exempt at-will, right? So, you can ask for this, but as per your employment agreement, they can absolutely demand this of you and let you go if you don't agree. I'm not arguing that is the way that it _should_ be, just that to my knowledge that's the way it usually is.

Edit - you say you're willing to quit if they don't agree, so I guess you're up for this possibility. More power to you!

[coldpie]

Yup. There's a hojillion jobs out there, and I'm a good engineer. I can find another one if my current one decides to piss me off. I value work/home separation very, very highly. No work stuff goes on my personal devices, and I leave my laptop at the office. You want me on-call, you're gonna be paying me for it :)

But regardless, outside of rare exceptional circumstances (sometimes there's a deadline and shit's gotta get done), I'd recommend anyone to tell their employer to pound sand if they ask for more work from you than you agreed to.