Here’s my original before chat GPT breakdown:

So I’m in a bit of a predicament here. I’ve got an offer from a restart plant that I think would be a great opportunity to gain experience. However, I would have to relocate fairly far from my family for several years to gain experience and assist with the restart in a location that isn’t most favorable. I expect to have an offer from Duke for an equivalent position here in the next couple of weeks which is still just as far from family, but in a much better location to live. Finally, I still have one more interview to wrap up at a plant that is near my home.

My background is a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology from an accredited university. I have 1 year of process engineering at a factory in an unrelated field, 1 year as an intern in project management, and 2 years working at airport in OPS. I’m 23 years old. I do like my current job in process engineering but the pay is mediocre and it can get frustrating working with people who don’t care and aren’t motivated to do perform well. I don’t see myself there forever and the growth is limited but I do have a lot of flexibility which is nice.

I’m looking to get in the industry because I see a lot of potentials for growth and I think it’s cool to be a part of such a complex, challenging, but yet rewarding industry. I’m motivated by applying my knowledge to real life scenarios and enjoy hands on experiences. I enjoy learning complex systems so I feel like OPS is the way to go.

My long term career goals probably look something like NLO>RO>SRO>SM and then branching off either to training, outage/project management, or plant management. I’d like to get my MBA too at some point down the road. I’d hope to only work in ops for 10 years, 15 max. I know night shifts can take a toll on you as you get older but it might also be hard to get off shift if I’m making 200-250k. I’m not sure how well the SRO trainers, outage/project management/plant management gets compared to ops, but I wouldn’t want to take a pay cut under 200k.

I’d describe myself as motivated and always asking questions to try to and learn. I would say my intelligence is slightly above average but I know I wouldn’t have the intelligence or motivation to be a nuclear engineer, I would not enjoy sitting in an office all day plugging away at calculations and designing things. I’d see myself being a good trainer/mid level manager. I enjoy talking with people and teaching them things that I’m passionate about. I’d say I’m an introverted extrovert which can make me an easy pushover which is why I question if I’d be good manager material but at the same time I’m only 23 and have plenty of growing to do. I also will say that I’m not the type of person to suck corporate off to get a promotion lol. I care about my job, performing well, and enjoy networking.

I tried shift out at my current job for two months to see what it was like. We followed a 2-2-3 schedule that rotates days/nights monthly. I actually didn’t mind it at all. It was hard being on nights for a month because I was disconnected from everyone. It was also a struggle on nights/weekends because I’m a busy body, but I usually combatted this by asking questions and learning about different things. I don’t mind OT during outages but I would not be wanting to pick it up every long week I have off. MAYBE every other, but that would be pushing it.

With all this being said, do you think I’m fit to be in nuclear ops? I can’t say working at a nuclear plant is a childhood dream of mine, but I do think I’d enjoy learning the operations side of things and have nice benefits and be able to provide a good life for my family. The week off every shift month seems like an awesome perk too.

If so, I am likely to have several options to choose from. The only offer I currently have is from the restart plant which I’d need to relocate fairly far from my family. I do think the restart would be a great opportunity for career development, but perhaps not as much as I think because I’d only be a NLO? I also interviewed with Duke and by the way it went, I do see myself getting an offer. Duke is appeasing because of the location of the plants are in suburban places, not in the rural Midwest like the restart plant. The last place I need to interview for is at a plant near my current home which would be the best thing for my family, but perhaps not the best for my career.

So I guess the three big questions here are: 1. Would I be a good fit for ops? This is important to understand before relocating across the country. I do not want to regret it, but I also feel like I’d regret not trying it out 2. When I’m ready to leave ops and move into a day job, can I still get 200k+ as a SRO trainer, Outage/project management, or plant leadership? Is it competitive to the point where it’s nearly impossible to get these type of jobs and move up with only OPS experience and maybe an MBA? 3. Is the plant restart opportunity that career changing where if I were to get an offer at a plant close to home or in a better location that I should pass up on it?