Quals to get in?

[Bham_Dave]

Been lurking here for a couple of months. I found the sight while I was doing some research about retuning to school to complete a BS in ME or ChemE. I left college after my junior year to start my own business, and for the last 7 yrs I've been running a contracting business. Anyways finally wound down the business and looking to change directions and find a job in the utility sector.

I'm glad I found this sight because I finished  engineering based physics and chemistry courses when I was in school and I had intended to go back and finish some sort of engineering related degree. After reading through the numerous post related to education I'm wondering if I should just start applying for some jobs and be persistent in following up while taking a few classes and working another job until I can get my foot in the door.

My question is if I can pass the POSS test, I passed for an internship in college (I know different co. different cut offs) will I be able to land an offer somewhere without an AA or BS. I'm completely flexible as far as location and just looking for an in to prove myself. I feel like I'm kind of stuck in a qualifications no-mans land.  Ideally, I'd love to just take a bunch of tests to prove what I have to offer. Any suggestions?

[Nuclear NASCAR]

One of the first questions that comes to mind is What type of job are you looking to get?  Obviously you'd need an engineering degree to get an engineer job.  However, passing the POSS could get you in the door into Operations as a Non-licensed operator. 

There is also of course the Radiation Protection route depending upon if the chemistry and physics courses you've already passed apply to that field. 

I apologize for not helping a lot with this but I'm also hoping that we can get the discussion rolling for you.  Perhaps a little bit of an idea of what you might be looking for will help get it going.

Peace,
Tom

[Bham_Dave]

Thanks Tom. I'm mostly interested in finding an NLO position to get my foot in the door so that I can start working my way through qualification and training toward SRO. My coursework was pre-engineering coursework at the University of Kansas. I wasn't looking to major in engineering at the time, but had thought about grad school in the health field, so I was trying to keep my options open.

I looked at the AS degrees and I guess since I have around 95hrs it seems counterproductive, but on the other hand for an engineering degree at the local university (UAB) the counselor told me it'd be just as fast for me to get a BA in psychology and then do an MS Eng. because of the way the undergraduate engineering course offering is geared toward the traditional student.

I have an opportunity to get into some transmission/construction lineman work starting late this summer, but it's not what I'm looking for as an in to the utility industry, mainly the heights/dangers. In a perfect world I'd like to find a NLO position wherever I can.

I also wouldn't be against doing some outage work while trying to find a place to start. I mean if I'm willing to do transmission linework, I'm definitely willing to do some outage work without a problem, but I would definitely appreciate any direction that could be offered for finding an NLO position or outage work.