This week I’m taking you with me through my very first on-call shift as an Amazon software engineer in Vancouver. I’d only been at Amazon for a month, my team owns three services I barely knew, and suddenly I’m responsible for monitoring and responding to issues for 7 days—inside and outside work hours. I talk about what on-call actually means, what a ticket is (bugs, transient issues, server/system failures), and the very real anxiety of getting paged at the worst possible time (yes, I was literally paranoid about it happening at a restaurant). Also: no, I don’t get paid overtime for on-call. I ended up getting a high-severity ticket on a Sunday morning and had to jump in right away—because if you wait too long, it escalates up the chain. I show my process of investigating, documenting what I found, and keeping the ticket updated, plus a cozy cafe work session (bubble tea included) where I also talk honestly about impostor syndrome and feeling lost in docs and procedures. Later, I head into the office, sync with my secondary on-call (my onboarding buddy), and share what helps me ask questions without spiraling into people-pleasing. I also share my thoughts on Amazon’s 2025 return-to-office mandate (5 days a week), why hybrid worked so well for me, and how commuting + office noise affects my focus—while still appreciating the Vancouver views and, obviously, the free sandwiches.