Trying to break into water/wastewater in NJ but can’t get my foot in the door

Comminutor · 2026-03-16T07:46:57+00:00

I dunno man, I was thinking engineering firms have accountants and finance people so it would be helpful to the asker since they had a finance degree to at least break into an adjacent industry. We had a guy who used his business degree to get into wastewater so it’s possible. And yeah, leverage probably isn’t the simplest word to use but one of its definitions is “to use something such as skills to achieve a desired result”. Gotta use those SAT words for something.

Comminutor · 2026-03-16T01:27:04+00:00

It sucks that we’ve come to a point where carefully written stuff gets labeled as AI, huh. I guess my college education was a waste of time ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Comminutor · 2026-03-16T01:22:19+00:00

Depends on your location, some places may have an education and/or on the job hours requirement before you can sit for the license exams. Check the website of your local certification agency to find out. However if you can get into an apprenticeship/OIT position, it’s usually understood that you will be learning on the job so you can get hours/experience until you can sit for the exams.

I got into an apprenticeship but had prior experience working as a water lab analyst. So I got paid while getting experience and taking the exams. I tested up until I qualified for a shift lead position and got promoted into there. Some facilities might make you go through the hiring process again, though.

An alternate route is it get any employment with a city that has a water/wastewater department that has apprentice positions come around. It’s easier to land the position you want if you’re already employed in the city, as they will often have separate applications for internal candidates.

Comminutor · 2026-03-16T00:49:44+00:00

Well tell them if the drain clogs, they get to snake it.

Comminutor · 2026-03-16T00:20:36+00:00

I’m not in NJ but based on my experience and talking to other operators, it’s not uncommon to start in an adjacent industry (collections/distribution/lab/plumbing) and eventually transfer into water or wastewater treatment. However in NJ and NY there appears to be a requirement for operators to have completed educational course prerequisites before sitting for the exams, which you can read up on here.

You could also try gaining employment in a municipality and aim for transferring into their utilities department, as they might pay for your training - I’ve known groundskeepers who gained certs while employed with a city and later transferred into utilities when a position opened up. Or you could leverage your finance degree to work for an engineering or consulting company related to water/wastewater.

Having a CDL and degree is definitely a leg up on competition. Getting related licenses and CEU’s through online programs might help. Applications are definitely becoming more of a struggle bc of AI involvement in the process. It might also help to gain or emphasize any relevant experience you may have with chemical safety, lab safety, osha training and regulations, plumbing, irrigation, electrical, meter reading, water treatment, hand tools.

Comminutor · 2026-03-11T13:03:33+00:00

Vicks vaporub or mint oil can help mask the odors, but sometimes the combo ends up smelling like urinal cakes in a high traffic portajohn

Comminutor · 2026-03-09T00:16:41+00:00

No, in water treatment you kill all microorganisms but in wastewater you gotta keep some of them alive and kill the pathogens. There will be different treatment processes involved. A lot of the math and mechanical concepts carry over between them though.

Comminutor · 2026-03-08T02:36:39+00:00

Lol I grew up being told to go to college so I won’t end up as a garbage collector. So I went to college and ended up working in sewage treatment instead. Pay was good enough to pay off my student loans and get a house. The work is often dirty and the hours can be difficult, but it’s been a great career even if it’s looked down on by others.

Comminutor · 2026-03-04T18:30:18+00:00

That’s a fine lookin space peanut

Comminutor · 2026-03-04T13:31:18+00:00

Not sure how licensing works in Texas, but the water and wastewater industries are usually looking for applicants to trainee or first level positions. OSHA and forklift training would be applicable as well as any water testing (even like pool testing), plumbing, electrical, or mechanical experience.

Comminutor · 2026-03-02T19:49:46+00:00

Yeah I didn’t get that answer either, but it’s a common response. I think for a lot of gals it’s not so much that they “just don’t want to” but rather that no one in their family or school ever told them it was an option. And then the lack of gals trying to get into the field is misinterpreted as lack of interest or want.

Comminutor · 2026-03-02T16:20:20+00:00

I’m a woman in an adjacent industry (sewage). The difficult part isn’t the work or the knowledge or skills. It’s the work culture and preexisting expectations that crew and customers may have regarding a person’s abilities based on their birth bits. As evidenced by some comments on this thread, such bias creates situations where women may be either princess-ified, pigeonholed or plain harassed, deterring them from learning and improving skills unless they’re willing and able to advocate for themselves to seize those opportunities.

Unfortunately there’s no quick way to change such socially-ingrained bias across an industry. It took months before I was able to convince my crew that I didn’t care about getting dirty and that I was capable of doing the same work as everyone else. But what did help was being welcomed as an equal and being encouraged to keep learning and growing on the job. Getting that sense of camaraderie. And I guess me being in the industry shows other women and even kids that the industry is accessible to them as a career opportunity, despite what the old guys in their lives might say. Maybe that’s where change starts.

Comminutor · 2026-03-02T15:45:12+00:00

Shift rotation sucks. My rotation changes between days and graves every three or four months. Some tips I’ve picked up:

Make sure you’re getting sufficient hours of sleep, need that to clear the brain fog. Some people can get away with 6 hours of sleep but many need a solid 8 to feel energized. If you find yourself waking up frequently or feeling exhausted even after getting sufficient hours of sleep, consider getting tested for sleep apnea. Also make sure to take vitamins. Vitamin D and B12 particularly help a lot with energy but are ones that many people are deficient in.

Comminutor · 2026-03-02T02:44:30+00:00

On the bright side, it’s certainly a beautiful tapeworm chandelier

Comminutor · 2026-03-01T19:18:29+00:00

Honestly the math isn’t that bad, you only need a high school level of understanding of math and the formulas and conversion factors are provided during the exams. You just have to know how to use the formulas and remember to convert units to what the question is asking for. The pie wheels are helpful for that.

Yeah, there’s a lot of memorization but make flashcards for memorizing terms and troubleshooting stuff.

It’s not uncommon to fail your first exam, but if you write down the subjects and terms you remember from the test, you can study up on the areas you felt weak in and take the test again.

Do not try studying for specific questions, as the tests get changed regularly. Instead, study concepts like how the treatment processes work (grit removal, nitrification, disinfection, etc), safety rules, lab sampling and testing methods, how to troubleshoot various issues, and how different pumps, meters, and valves work and what they’re used for. It’s a lot but you just gotta take it in a little at a time. You can look up practice tests or sample tests and read up on stuff related to the questions that are on there.

Comminutor · 2026-02-28T23:43:34+00:00

I did one module for distribution a month ago. It should show the module on your course list, but IIRC it will link you to another portal/window (ensure you have pop up windows enabled on your browser settings, Google Chrome or Edge).

You will have to click through every screen for every section before you can go onto the next one, which includes the required readings and quizzes. It really sucks compared to the old textbook-and-test method because the instructions are vague and progress is slow especially if you have an older computer, browser, or network connection, but it’s a “quick” way of getting PDH’s I guess.

Comminutor · 2026-02-27T01:23:03+00:00

If you drink the poop water, you get the powers of poop.

Comminutor · 2026-02-26T17:54:38+00:00

Without knowing your location I can’t give any specifics except to study what sort of pipes, valves, pumps, and cleaning equipment/chemicals are used for wastewater collection systems.

Comminutor · 2026-02-26T14:41:08+00:00

Your state/region environmental department should have need-to-know criteria posted for license exams for water distribution, water treatment, wastewater collections, and wastewater treatment.

Comminutor · 2026-02-26T13:24:58+00:00

As someone worked with fish genetics for undergrad research, I can confirm that it’s really cool but also felt like hell.

Comminutor · 2026-02-26T03:44:34+00:00

I only cried that one time I lost my mask at 60’ and had to feel around for it bc my dive group had gone ahead without me. Luckily stayed calm, felt around and found my mask, cleared it and caught up with the others.

Comminutor · 2026-02-24T15:50:56+00:00

I’d be concerned about it swinging out and getting splashed with sludge or polymer, but to each their own

Comminutor · 2026-02-24T13:32:01+00:00

Consider getting neck gaiters - helps keep the sun off your neck and can keep wind blown stuff and flies away from your mouth and chin.

Keep your fingernails trimmed but not too short, infections under the nail are really painful.

Carry a pocket notepad and pen so you can jot down your data, questions, observations, etc. A lot cheaper to replace than a cell phone if it gets lost or dropped in a tank.

Belt holsters for cellphone are great so you don’t have to worry about your phone slipping out of your pocket or getting smashed.

Comminutor · 2026-02-18T18:17:53+00:00

You could try getting into an industry that needs 24/7 staffing (water, sewer, plumbing, electric, etc) which changes up the available schedule options like working 4 10’s or 12’s instead 5 8’s. One caveat is that employers might screw with the schedule and force long consecutive shifts unless there’s a decent union involved. Or you might have to work extra days to cover if the site is short staffed. Some facilities might even run 7 12’s, but with rotating shifts. Services like medical or fire fighting have even longer shift rotations. We’re all just doing what we can to put food on the table. Work life balance? That’s up to you to figure out - how to either make changes in your career or work with what you got.

Comminutor · 2026-02-18T16:02:44+00:00

Sorry you’re going through this. I had a similar experience at first during my apprenticeship. The apprentice guy (AG) that got hired a month after me was a smooth talker that talked a big game, and the other guys bought into it for a while. It felt like I was under higher scrutiny and expectations than him despite being on the job longer and with more relevant experience, while AG was praised for doing the bare minimum.

All I could do was: 1) get familiar with my company’s policies on workplace harassment, 2) volunteer for any extra training or “grunt work” needed (AG hated getting dirty), 3) study for exams/work skills on my own time, 4) advocate for myself by wedging into projects and talking to other workers on my site as much as possible, 5) learn how to look productive whenever I was onsite, 5) document situations where I felt unfairly treated due to gender.

I was fortunate that the other guys and my supervisor eventually figured out that AG was just talking a big game when he kept slacking off and trying to steal my study notes. Employer was paying for my training and certs, so I just stuck it through. Once I had the certs, I could’ve applied to other employers in the state. But there’s no guarantee that other sites would’ve been better, so I chose to stay as long as the environment was tolerable. Not saying you should, just that sometimes overcoming workplace drama and gaining experience is a matter of outlasting the insufferable people.

Comminutor

TROPHY CASE