Looking to make a plan...

[cleonard19]

So i graduate A school here in two weeks, so i'm obviously not getting out soon, but i am trying to formulate a plan here for the future. I've applied for STA-21 (Nuclear Option) because the officer side does appeal to me, but after talking to my SLPO, i've decided i need to look into the option of staying enlisted and going to a commercial plant eventually. I say this because almost 2/3 of the third deck SLPO's have already signed contracts with TVA to start working there at the end of their current enlistments (all 6-7 of them drove out there and interviewed all on the same day). With the rise in fossil fuel costs, the coming mass-retirement of the baby-boomers, and the construction of new plants, I can see why the outside has lucrative options if you play your cards right.

I haven't decided whether or not i'm just going to do 6 and out or 8 and out or whatever, but I would like to get a feel for what I need to do to make myself the most marketable 6 years from now when its time to make that decision. I would assume a college degree and good evals would be a must, but i've also heard that to get the big-paying jobs that you need to really qualify engineering watch supervisor as quickly as possible and stand it at sea for two years. Is this accurate? Also, I've heard that you normally can't qualify EWS on a carrier until you make first class, but (i'm a sub vol already) on a sub, since there's only a couple of first classes, do you get to qualify it as a hot running second class?  Are there any other boxes that absolutely have to be checked to get a good commercial job?

Also, if i get picked up for STA-21 (Captain Bailey said i had one of the stronger packages at the command so i'm hoping things pan out), what options are there in the commercial industry for officers?



I'm sorry if this seems stupid or looking too far into the future, but i'd really like to keep as many doors open (and open as wide as possible) as I can, because i'll get out eventually, its just a matter of what the world looks like when its time to decide whether or not to stay in or get out.

[Gamecock]

You are way too early in the game to worry about anything except studying.  Keep charging along, study hard, and stay out of trouble is the best advice, whether you decide to stay in or do 6 and out.

BTW.....I do believe we are on the threshold on our "Nuclear Renaissance", but NRC has yet to approve a single new CCOL.

[JustinHEMI05]

I agree with gamecock that you are thinking too deep too early, as you still have the toughest part of the pipeline coming. Although, I will say that is a good sign. Officer or enlisted, your future is bright in commercial nuke power, but you will see that there is little difference between the opportunites. Here is a generic break down of opportunities (mostly focused on ops);

Enlisted;
6 and out, not a crap bag = start at NLO at some plant. About 2 years out, make 100+K/yr. Work your way through the ranks as RO then SRO and beyond. This is by far, the preferred path.
8-10 and out, qualified EWS >2 years = start at NLO, or get and instant SRO job. If you got your degree all the opportunities for officer apply, which basically adds engineering. You should note that I know 8 and outters with RPI engineering degrees sitting in NLO classes as we speak, because they never qualified EWS. EWS is key to instant SRO as an enlisted guy.
There will also be many other opportunities such as maintenance or radcon if you aren't interested in ops.

Officer;
Start at NLO
or more probably,
Get an instant SRO job
Also Engineering (pay is less) will be another good opportunity.

The industry doesn't really hold JOs and enlisted in any different light, so the question is what do you want to do while you are in the Navy?

In regards to all of this, keep your nose clean, try to excel (AKA resume build) by qualifying anything you can and going to as many schools as possible. Don't be a dirt bag, and gain some good experience. Remember, if you just do the 6 and out, there are lots of you so try to be a step above the rest.

As far as the new plants, it doesn't matter right now if they never even approved another license. Most of the current plants are so short staffed that if you play your cards right, you will get a job anyway.

Good luck!

Justin

[93-383]

As for your time on the ship hears a little story

A little over seven years ago I my plane landed in Norfolk VA so that I could start my first sea tour. It was at night and I had no idea where I was going so I caught a cab to the base. During the ride the driver (probably in his late 60's) gave me some advice that I wish today that I had taken. First he mentioned that he was prior navy then he said this

   "You know every day I drive sailors too and from the airport, and most of them will say things like; god I hate the Navy, F### that ship, ect. What people forget is the Navy is just a collection of individuals. If you surround yourself with people who are miserable and hate the ship, the Navy, your rating. You will begin to think like they do, and you will be turned into just another disgruntled sailor"

[JustinHEMI05]

As for your time on the ship hears a little story

A little over seven years ago I my plane landed in Norfolk VA so that I could start my first sea tour. It was at night and I had no idea where I was going so I caught a cab to the base. During the ride the driver (probably in his late 60's) gave me some advice that I wish today that I had taken. First he mentioned that he was prior navy then he said this

   "You know every day I drive sailors too and from the airport, and most of them will say things like; god I hate the Navy, F### that ship, ect. What people forget is the Navy is just a collection of individuals. If you surround yourself with people who are miserable and hate the ship, the Navy, your rating. You will begin to think like they do, and you will be turned into just another disgruntled sailor"

If I had a giant sized BS flag, I would be throwing it.

Justin

[PapaBear765]

As for your time on the ship hears a little story

A little over seven years ago I my plane landed in Norfolk VA so that I could start my first sea tour. It was at night and I had no idea where I was going so I caught a cab to the base. During the ride the driver (probably in his late 60's) gave me some advice that I wish today that I had taken. First he mentioned that he was prior navy then he said this

   "You know every day I drive sailors too and from the airport, and most of them will say things like; god I hate the Navy, F### that ship, ect. What people forget is the Navy is just a collection of individuals. If you surround yourself with people who are miserable and hate the ship, the Navy, your rating. You will begin to think like they do, and you will be turned into just another disgruntled sailor"

If I had a giant sized BS flag, I would be throwing it.

Justin

True.  My high school economics teacher told the class that if you want to be a loser, hang out with losers.  If you want to be a winner, hang out with winners.  However, that doesn't mean that much of the complaining by these disgruntled individuals is unwarranted.  The important thing is not to complain and then provide no solution

So you should associate with high quality people, but that doesn't dictate whether or not you will see the BS for what it is.

[hamsamich]

No doubt, people always say "your situation is what you make of it".  And there is SOME truth to that.  But it is limited and another cliched idea.  If you truly are in a bad situation for the long term and can't get out of it, then yes, make the best of it.  But there is nothing wrong with trying to get out of that situation and into a better one, and that includes the process of recognizing the bad situation and doing something about it, which may cause some hate and discontent in your life.

I think a better way to describe 93-383's slant is my time as a house technician at a certain nuclear plant.  It wasn't very good, so I made plans to do something else.  I complained a little, tried to make things better, but it was a losing battle obviously.  Then I went on to something I thought might be better, and it was.  The malcontents that stayed and did nothing but complain and are still there today complaining but doing nothing about it are the ones who are helpless disgruntled souls.

I'm glad I listened to the people who helped me realize the navy was a dead-end place FOR ME.  I surrounded myself with those people who thought like I did, and we all talked about our plans to make things better in our lives and dreamed of it, which made our relatively miserable surroundings better.  There was a power in knowing and realizing most of the people in charge of us did not care about us and really just wanted to advance careers.  And things are better for most of us today who got out....

A bad situation does have alot to do with "state of mind", but if you let reality pass before your eyes because you don't want to be "one of the disgruntled ones", you may miss the opportunity to make things better for yourself.

If Cleonard's prsent attitude is what keeps him happy and active; more power to him. But Hemi is right, you won't need to do too much except be a succesful navy nuke in some capacity to get a good job in nuclear power or other related field.  Trying to position yourself for one job may lessen your chances for another one before you truly know what you want to do, and you may expend much effort for not much gain.  Go with the flow somewhat unless you truly know what you want to do later on.  There are plenty of ex-enlisted navy nukes telling ex-navy officers what to do in the commercial industry and vice versa.

[Fermi2]

My young friend, your job at this point is to work hard, learn all you can, and have fun. If you do that good things will come for you. I've always believed in what Wayne Gretzky said to a young hockey player. "Play for the passion and the money will come later"

It's true. Virtually every nuke that I've known who was willing to stand up and do the job with some initiative and passion, despite what was going on around him, has ended up successful.

I never worried about what other guys were doing or getting, if someone got a good deal and I didn't I've always said well that's great for them, and I never really wondered about the guys getting out until I got to that point in my career.

My advice is to learn the skills you need for when you get out, the Navy will provide plenty of opportunity for that, learn more than your rate and job as any career outside the Navy will have you "cross rate" more than you can ever imagine, and just have plain fun because someone is trusting you with their multi million dollar Lincoln.

The rest will take care of itself.

Mike

[nuketarded]

I see a lot of myself in the question, so I'll offer a little advice (somewhat unsolicited).  I too need a plan.  It took me a while to understand what that meant but, I've been somewhat successful in figuring it out.

First, you need an immediate goal.  A plan for what you will do when you wake up in the morning.  This is priority number one.  It almost always looks like this.  "Learn how to do my current job to the absolute best of my ability."  This is reflected in several of the previous posts.  This simple statement is a goal (or vision).  The tactics required are probably studying, exercising, eating right and not getting drunk everytime you feel like it.

Next, an intermediate term goal. "Have Successful Navy Career" is an example.  Find out what your mentors did to get it right.  Learn how to advance and qualify in an efficient fashion.  Find out what "scores points" for your fit-rep. Look toward EWS quals (enlisted).

Third, long term goal.  "Accomplish a successful commercial career" may be one.  Look at job postings for requirements or necessary qualifications (education).  Start working on that when you get a good handle on number one and number two.  Some specifics - an engineering degree from an abet accredited school is well worth the time.  This does not necessitate engineering for a living but will act as a stamp certifying teachability (and meet some ANS standards as well).

Rules: 

Keep your priorities straight.  You will not accomplish number three if you screw up number one or number two, so don't overlook the present (no stargazing).

Remain flexible.  There are many ways to accomplish your goals.  The farther out in the future a goal, the more creativity (and opportunity) you can employ.  Keeping a plan B and C in mind is absolutely necessary.  Doing so will help avoid the dreadful feeling of defeat (which tends to be self-fulfilling) when things don't go according to plan A.

Never pass up an opportunity to summarize education and experience on paper.  QA certificate, EWS qual, degree (even an associates), project management etc.  This documentation will serve as a tool when seeking employment.  It is an easy way for an employer who does not know you from Adam to identify a qualified candidate.  It is also helpful in the world of electronic resume scanning (though you are nearly helpless when it comes to the resume sea).

Take advantage of military freebies.  Take all the Clep and Dantes tests you can stand. This is a minimal time activity with the potential to save months in the future.  Not all will be used for higher education but you will have the credit forever and you never know when you might need it. I took tests because I thought they looked easy and they satisfied pre-reqs for a business degree 8 years later.

Meet (and impress) people outside your normal line of site.

Work a little harder than the guy next to you.  Stay awake a little longer than you feel like.  Save a little more than you feel like.  Go to bed tired, wake up satisfied.

Remember, if you do what everyone else does, you will have what everyone else has.  Expecting different is an ignorant sort of optimism that misleads a lot of people.  This is not elitism.  Moreover, it was developed through introspection.

Good luck it the Navy.  It worked me over mentally and I grew because of it.

BTW, this is the short version

[Preciousblue1965]

I see a lot of myself in the question, so I'll offer a little advice (somewhat unsolicited).  I too need a plan.  It took me a while to understand what that meant but, I've been somewhat successful in figuring it out.

First, you need an immediate goal.  A plan for what you will do when you wake up in the morning.  This is priority number one.  It almost always looks like this.  "Learn how to do my current job to the absolute best of my ability."  This is reflected in several of the previous posts.  This simple statement is a goal (or vision).  The tactics required are probably studying, exercising, eating right and not getting drunk everytime you feel like it.

Next, an intermediate term goal. "Have Successful Navy Career" is an example.  Find out what your mentors did to get it right.  Learn how to advance and qualify in an efficient fashion.  Find out what "scores points" for your fit-rep. Look toward EWS quals (enlisted).

Third, long term goal.  "Accomplish a successful commercial career" may be one.  Look at job postings for requirements or necessary qualifications (education).  Start working on that when you get a good handle on number one and number two.  Some specifics - an engineering degree from an abet accredited school is well worth the time.  This does not necessitate engineering for a living but will act as a stamp certifying teachability (and meet some ANS standards as well).

Rules: 

Keep your priorities straight.  You will not accomplish number three if you screw up number one or number two, so don't overlook the present (no stargazing).

Remain flexible.  There are many ways to accomplish your goals.  The farther out in the future a goal, the more creativity (and opportunity) you can employ.  Keeping a plan B and C in mind is absolutely necessary.  Doing so will help avoid the dreadful feeling of defeat (which tends to be self-fulfilling) when things don't go according to plan A.

Never pass up an opportunity to summarize education and experience on paper.  QA certificate, EWS qual, degree (even an associates), project management etc.  This documentation will serve as a tool when seeking employment.  It is an easy way for an employer who does not know you from Adam to identify a qualified candidate.  It is also helpful in the world of electronic resume scanning (though you are nearly helpless when it comes to the resume sea).

Take advantage of military freebies.  Take all the Clep and Dantes tests you can stand. This is a minimal time activity with the potential to save months in the future.  Not all will be used for higher education but you will have the credit forever and you never know when you might need it. I took tests because I thought they looked easy and they satisfied pre-reqs for a business degree 8 years later.

Meet (and impress) people outside your normal line of site.

Work a little harder than the guy next to you.  Stay awake a little longer than you feel like.  Save a little more than you feel like.  Go to bed tired, wake up satisfied.

Remember, if you do what everyone else does, you will have what everyone else has.  Expecting different is an ignorant sort of optimism that misleads a lot of people.  This is not elitism.  Moreover, it was developed through introspection.

Good luck it the Navy.  It worked me over mentally and I grew because of it.

BTW, this is the short version

The force is strong with this one....