Seriously! Working weekends in retail when I was young, one of the hallmarks of a "real, professional job" was not having to work nights/weekends when your routine schedule is during the day. It was a major motivator to get through school and get skilled.
Now I see young engineers from top-tier school working "on call" without complaint. I've found ways to avoid such roles, but it always seemed ridiculous and completely unnecessary in a world where there are software engineers around the globe that could easily work full time support positions.
I found it to be rather the opposite; when I was off from a wage-slave job, I was actually off. If the boss called, you could just ignore it and say you missed it because you were studying or sleeping or with friends or whatever and they couldn't really say anything because they knew they didn't pay you enough to care.
Indeed, those who are exempt or whatever with salaries... consider it purchase/lease with at-will employment in most states.
Both salary and hourly gigs have income hanging by a thread with plenty of work, yet only one can get overtime.
Be given responsibility/salary for something (aka hired) by a particularly needy manager/org and be 'undependable'. Read: not at their call. See how it turns out.
The worst/eventual outcome: bye-bye money. Hopefully one has a more reasonable environment. Workers have little on their side.
As someone who does SRE (not AWS, elsewhere)... I would absolutely prefer pay as an hourly rate over salary. I don't like putting in more hours/making less money because Developer Kelly had a bad launch... but I have to, The 9s (and bills) Must Flow.
Fortunately, my current place takes this into account. I don't actually need bonuses or structure change... but the larger trends remain. The employer is buying you, salary opens the time box.
Now I see young engineers from top-tier school working "on call" without complaint. I've found ways to avoid such roles, but it always seemed ridiculous and completely unnecessary in a world where there are software engineers around the globe that could easily work full time support positions.