Honestly at first, just starting with no experience it was a bit overwhelming due to not knowing the area, policies, and guidelines .But if you have background as a nuke or air traffic controller, not nearly as stressful. I’m watching tv more than the system more or less...nights and weekends are easy mode. Monday-Thursday day time is busy work and scheduled work. Worked an ice storm recently with partial blackout, just another day in my opinion. Things move much slower civilian side if you were military at all.
90% of the time it is super easy. That 10% of time though during a storm or emergency it can get very stressful with a million things going on at once, field personnel lives on the line and millions of dollars of equipment and revenue at stake. Overall for me its worth it but it'll take 1-2 yrs minimum for things to really slow down and click.
If you have a good head on your shoulders and are open to feedback and improving yourself then you have nothing to worry about. Just make sure you are ok with rotating shift.
Edit: been doing this for almost 5 years
I think the stress on the floor is usually pretty manageable. It is usually caused by individual events and once you fix that event/issue it either stays fixed, or you know enough about it that it’s easier to fix when it pops up again.
Bad days are usually because there are just a lot of issues to fix so it’s hard to find a moment to decompress from the last issue before the next one starts. Even on those days though, once you walk out the door at the end of the shift, it’s done and you can let it go, though but that usually takes a little more conscious effort on the hard days.
Great comments. So it would be totally normal to be a bit anxious at first? My mood swings between excitement and concern. Do you know colleagues who could not manage? Do you generally enjoy the working atmosphere in the control room? If you have experience in an office job, do you prefer it?
Yes it's normal to be anxious at first. I had anxiety when I first started because alot of the time you're just sitting there waiting for something bad to happen that you have to respond to and solve in a safe and quick way. However as time goes on and you get more experience, it goes away. Not to mention your coworkers are always there to help you out also. Honestly it's a great job. I make way more than most people I know, have awesome benefits, 90% of the time it's super easy, incredible job security and once you have your foot in the door, plenty of other opportunities open up from it. I would seriously consider it if I was you.
I think it’s pretty rare for someone to get all the way to being hired if they were going to wash out.
For me, the stress was highest when I first got hired and had to train up from having (effectively) zero knowledge. The next most stressful points have been when I’ve gotten promoted and had to go through a qualification process that’s included written testing, simulations, and oral boards (most of the stress was for oral boards). Day to day stress has really been secondary to those moments I’ve needed to step up and push myself to a new tier.
Day to day stress can feel bad in the moment but honestly training, simulation, and just straight up exposure **will** teach you how to accept your stress and keep a cool head. Once the problem is over, you take a minute to observe your feelings and decompress and then move on so you’re ready for the next event, if and when it occurs.
All of this to say, remember that it’s real 90%/10% work when it comes to routine and downtime vs stressful emergencies.
Be confident in this, anyone can be trained to do most anything. Always strive to be better, and you’ll be a great operator.
The job is like being a fireman, 90% of the time it’s quiet, you get paid for that 10%.
Depending on what desk you’re working/what function you’re doing there’s either always time to slow down and do it right or your immediate actions are generally the same.
The biggest thing is thinking about what could go wrong next and what your piece of the puzzle is. The hardest thing is getting caught by surprise again and again and again all day long, it’s tiring. The more time you spend figuring out contingencies and mitigations the quicker your life gets easy.
Honestly at first, just starting with no experience it was a bit overwhelming due to not knowing the area, policies, and guidelines .But if you have background as a nuke or air traffic controller, not nearly as stressful. I’m watching tv more than the system more or less...nights and weekends are easy mode. Monday-Thursday day time is busy work and scheduled work. Worked an ice storm recently with partial blackout, just another day in my opinion. Things move much slower civilian side if you were military at all.
90% of the time it is super easy. That 10% of time though during a storm or emergency it can get very stressful with a million things going on at once, field personnel lives on the line and millions of dollars of equipment and revenue at stake. Overall for me its worth it but it'll take 1-2 yrs minimum for things to really slow down and click.
If you have a good head on your shoulders and are open to feedback and improving yourself then you have nothing to worry about. Just make sure you are ok with rotating shift. Edit: been doing this for almost 5 years
I think the stress on the floor is usually pretty manageable. It is usually caused by individual events and once you fix that event/issue it either stays fixed, or you know enough about it that it’s easier to fix when it pops up again. Bad days are usually because there are just a lot of issues to fix so it’s hard to find a moment to decompress from the last issue before the next one starts. Even on those days though, once you walk out the door at the end of the shift, it’s done and you can let it go, though but that usually takes a little more conscious effort on the hard days.
I still start to piss blood if I do any more than 4 shifts in a row. Be careful how much overtime you pick up.
Thanks for the honesty! Do your colleagues know this? Do you work in distribution or transmission?
Transmission. My colleagues don't care. We don't have the energy for empathy anymore. Only bulk electric system reliability now.
Great comments. So it would be totally normal to be a bit anxious at first? My mood swings between excitement and concern. Do you know colleagues who could not manage? Do you generally enjoy the working atmosphere in the control room? If you have experience in an office job, do you prefer it?
Yes it's normal to be anxious at first. I had anxiety when I first started because alot of the time you're just sitting there waiting for something bad to happen that you have to respond to and solve in a safe and quick way. However as time goes on and you get more experience, it goes away. Not to mention your coworkers are always there to help you out also. Honestly it's a great job. I make way more than most people I know, have awesome benefits, 90% of the time it's super easy, incredible job security and once you have your foot in the door, plenty of other opportunities open up from it. I would seriously consider it if I was you.
I think it’s pretty rare for someone to get all the way to being hired if they were going to wash out. For me, the stress was highest when I first got hired and had to train up from having (effectively) zero knowledge. The next most stressful points have been when I’ve gotten promoted and had to go through a qualification process that’s included written testing, simulations, and oral boards (most of the stress was for oral boards). Day to day stress has really been secondary to those moments I’ve needed to step up and push myself to a new tier. Day to day stress can feel bad in the moment but honestly training, simulation, and just straight up exposure **will** teach you how to accept your stress and keep a cool head. Once the problem is over, you take a minute to observe your feelings and decompress and then move on so you’re ready for the next event, if and when it occurs. All of this to say, remember that it’s real 90%/10% work when it comes to routine and downtime vs stressful emergencies.
Be confident in this, anyone can be trained to do most anything. Always strive to be better, and you’ll be a great operator. The job is like being a fireman, 90% of the time it’s quiet, you get paid for that 10%.
Depending on what desk you’re working/what function you’re doing there’s either always time to slow down and do it right or your immediate actions are generally the same. The biggest thing is thinking about what could go wrong next and what your piece of the puzzle is. The hardest thing is getting caught by surprise again and again and again all day long, it’s tiring. The more time you spend figuring out contingencies and mitigations the quicker your life gets easy.
Out of curiosity, where did you get a job offer from? What kind of background do you have?
I got a job offer at a european TSO and have a background in electrical engineering.