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I also work in the manufacturing industry and have had many years of on call support. Even though it is not always fun, it was very valuable.
In the manufacturing industry (industrial robotics) it really helps to understand the environment in which these machines operate. It is important to also understand all the different kinds of users.
This domain knowledge is what differentiates the great developers from good or average developers. The code we write is not always that difficult, but without an understanding of the context, it is easy to make the wrong technical decisions.
I am glad I did the on-call support early in my career. Definitely....
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I don't do "on-call", I don't do more than eight hours per day unless I decide that I need/want to, and I don't work weekends.
How do you make that happen? Write good code. It also helps if you're a bit of a prick.
I once walked out of an interview when they said, "We expect you to work at least 60 hours per week."
I responded, "On salary? Are you out of your f*ckin minds?", and I was out the door.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: I responded, "On salary? Are you out of your f*ckin minds?", and I was out the door.
You took time to respond to them? So kind of you.
As soon as that 'we expect 60 hours' was said just walking out without saying a thing would have sent the loudest message.
Sin tack ear lol
Pressing the any key may be continuate
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That is kind of what I did. They sound almost the exact words.
We were going to schedule a visit the their office, when I learned that they really expected 60-70 hours with on-call, I cancelled the trip.
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You can tell them off while getting out of your chair and walking you know. 
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Work so that you might live, do not live to work.
Speed of sound - 1100 ft/sec
Speed of light - 186,000 mi/sec
Speed of stupid - instantaneous.
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Liked your motto. 
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NotPolitcallyCorrect wrote: Work so that you might live, do not live to work.
I believe the absolute reverse of that.
If you don't love your work, your life's not worth living.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: your life's not worth living
Ah, so, if you spend your whole life working, when do you have time to live?
Speed of sound - 1100 ft/sec
Speed of light - 186,000 mi/sec
Speed of stupid - instantaneous.
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Everyone* spends the majority of their waking hours working.
If you hate your work, you're pretty much screwed.
* Everyone with a full-time job, that is.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I don't hate my work, it has plenty of fun moments and is fulfilling, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't get paid. There are dozens of other things I would be doing if I didn't need the money; family, friends, enthusiasms. It's an amazing world out there beyond my programs. That's how I see it.
That reminds me of a great quote about the "world" though not specifically relevant to the discussion.
" You can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."
- Q, Star Trek Next Gen
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Sorry, but all Sci-Fi quotes directed at me have to be either from Firefly or The Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy (but NOT the godawful disney atrocity!)
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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You must forgive me, as a young mind I suckled upon the breasts of Kirk and Spock.
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Well, it's full of stars, and maybe I'm getting to old for this.
I'll phone home, to see if anyone's in, and get the smeg out of here, if there is.
Don't worry, though; I'll be back.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: If you hate your work
If has nothing at all to do with loving or hating your work.
Speed of sound - 1100 ft/sec
Speed of light - 186,000 mi/sec
Speed of stupid - instantaneous.
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Ah, that explains it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Programming (development) is my hobby, also my work. I like working, but when my free times could at any time belongs to my boss or company, it is time to hang the hat and move on.
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Good attitude.
Giving a little extra when there's a rush on is one thing, but I've worked place where there was always a rush on.
The down side of leaving, though, is that situations like that are where you can get to know some really great people.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Depending on the amount of time on call. I spent four years working on site for a bank. As a company we provided 24/7 support and normally someone would be on site within 30 minutes if there was an out of hours outage. As the tech lead of the team, most calls escalated to me. Yup 24/7 support for 4 years. Even during my holidays I was on call; I took to going diving as I could keep away from the phone.
I made a lot of money with that gig and only gave it up because I was getting married and there was no way on earth I could have kept it going with a wife [especially not Mrs Wife] and now with kids. There was a life, but it came after work. I partied very hard and lived a very good life, but it was a bachelor's life.
veni bibi saltavi
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I turned down one from a start-up in 2008 for the same reason despite the pay being very handsome. Money is one thing, but my peace of mind and my time with family is not for sale.
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Now that all my children have grown and moved out. I will value my time alone peace and quite. I would rather spend time play video games (FO4 anyone) than on the phone.
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Leng Vang wrote: the pay is among the best ($250-300K)
Geez, at that pay rate, I would have happily written a diagnostic flowchart script and call-forwarded my phone to a call center in India, probably could get away with paying them $15K to take the calls. 
Marc
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See my response to him. I call bullshit
If it's not broken, fix it until it is.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind.
Ya can't fix stupid.
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Yes, one could. Only if those from India could support the internal business, like AWS and boss's demands.
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Yeah, highest I've never seen was for 150K-200k, and the 200k was working as a dev on wall street where living expenses are incredibly high.
Jeremy Falcon
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