Some of the CUNY/CIS's key staff members are seldom seen by their nine-to-five colleagues and are little known to many of the countless users who depend upon their work.

They are the machine room operators who report to work at midnight and are in charge of the CUNY/CIS mainframe until 8 a.m. Currently the third shift staff consists of four people. Albert Rivera, the shift supervisor, has been with CUNY/CIS since December 1977. He started out in the CUNY/UCC mailroom and within a year had moved to Operations on a "tryout" basis. After working under Anna Finn, Pat Hansen, and the late Danny Jones, he was appointed third shift supervisor by Manager of Operations Ron Wooten in October of 1981. While working fulltime, Albert also studied data processing at LaGuardia Community College throughout the 1980s.

Albert Rivera
(Photo by Anna Finn)

Titus Alston, senior console operator, also worked as an intern, in 1982-1983. He went on to complete his A.A.S. and then joined the staff three years later.

Titus Alston
(Photo by Anna Finn)

Peter Lew, the back-up supervisor, came to CUNY/CIS as a member of the LaGuardia internship program in the summer of 1987, and graduated from the college with an Associate in Applied Sciences (A.A.S.) degree the following year, at which time he came on staff.

The fourth member of the night crew, Avril Skeete, began as an Input/Output (I/O) clerk on the swing shift (12 noon to 8 p.m.) before joining the third shift in December, 1991.

Peter Lew and Avril Skeete
(Photo by Anna Finn)

The third shift plays an important and unique role in keeping the CUNY/CIS mainframe system running smoothly. While it shares the same responsibilities as the other shifts, such as identification of problems and investigation of solutions, third shift acts also as a "crossover point" for the new day. System information is backed up, and subsystems are brought up afresh. In addition, preventive maintenance and upgrades to system software are usually scheduled for the latter part of the third shift when backups have been completed and system usage is at a minimum.

Almost all comprehensive backups are done on the third shift, including those of databases, minidisks, online logs, and temporary spool files. Once a week a special backup is done which is stored "off-site" for protection against an "on-site" catastrophe. Other responsibilities, shared by the other shifts, include the mounting of tapes, the loading of printer forms, the separating and filing of output, and the maintaining of the machine room environment -- always several degrees cooler than elsewhere at CUNY/CIS -- through the use of air conditioners, water chillers and the water alert system. "No matter what the weather's like outside, it's always cold in the machine room," Albert remarks, "And most of us wear jackets and sweaters at work year round."

The biggest difference between the third and other shifts is, of course, social. The early morning hours give few opportunities for face-to-face interaction with the administrative staff, programmers, or system users. Most contact is by phone or through written or electronic reports. At the same time, third shift has more contact with IBM personnel than any other shift. Most scheduled maintenance work on the mainframe is performed when the user load is at its lightest, often making the hours before dawn a lively time at CUNY/CIS while the rest of the University sleeps.

And how does a night-owl job mesh with life in the daytime world? Albert cites big advantages. "With my days free I have real flexibility. I can make appointments during business hours that I would otherwise have to miss." Avril likes the schedule for practical reasons. "It took awhile to adjust to it, but at least now I can help my daughter with her homework when she comes from school in the afternoon." Still, she admits, "When midnight comes around I'd rather be home in bed!"

-- by Anna Finn