House tech vs. Road Tech

[IPREGEN]

The vs. is a little too broad.
House tech gets better formal training
better benefits

Road tech usually has more outage per year experience and has the chance to see a variety of techniques / systems, used at different plants. This can be considered better informal training

but...
There are dirt bags and superstars on both sides of the paycheck. Some house techs are "retired in place" while others are making it all happen. Some roadies are impossible to find while others feel like part of the house "working" family because of their contribution.

A friend once asked a bragging nuke, "Do you have 20 years of experience, or 1 year twenty times?" 
It's a good question.

[Nuclear NASCAR]

A friend once asked a bragging nuke, "Do you have 20 years of experience, or 1 year twenty times?" 
It's a good question.

Post of the day at the very least!

[UncaBuffalo]

A friend once asked a bragging nuke, "Do you have 20 years of experience, or 1 year twenty times?"  
It's a good question.

I've heard that quote before...and here's my response to it:

If you need a tech to cover your refueling cavity (or nasty job of your choice), do you want the 'well-rounded' 20-year tech that knows all about routines, count room, instruments, environmental, etc...or the 'mono-faceted-1-year-twenty-times' tech that has only done refuel floors over and over and over and over...?

Yes, you have a nice sound bite, but...it all just depends on what you need done...  1 year 20 times is NOT a bad thing in & of itself.

[mostlyharmless]

Being good at this job transcends where you work. It does not transcend experience. When I think well rounded, I think experience,especially job coverage,  of a wide variety of situations.  What do you do for a glove puncture at a Pu-239 glovebox facility? How about pulling insulation from a leaky rcp, or initial entry into containment? This is not to take away from the countroom or routines, the plant runs on routines. Some folks love the count room,more power to them. I prefer the jobs. I am project oriented. I loved the outages and would do any job. Everything was new and I love being in the BRT. Now I work at a DOE facility and the challenges are no less,only different. I don't know what it is to be house in commercial.
There is a lot to be said for focusing,specializing in one area, but a lot also for wide ranging experience. Each recquires a different mindset. This topic is to broad. But since the first day I walked on site as a "rent a tech" ( I hated that term, but I've been called worse) I have thought about the difference between the two environments ,the road vs. stay at home,and the type of techs each produces. Its not the place , but the tech.IPREGEN  is right, there are fantastic techs and sorry techs in both. I felt like there was competition for work while on the road, and taking the test so often made me more sharp. Also the pace of the work made me sharp. Now the pace is slow and I have to keep myself sharp. I don't work at he same pace, I don't cover work every day,so I don't feel as sharp with the coverage. I hate to say it but I believe I was a better tech ,in some but not all ways,before I got here. And its because of the slow pace.
I keep repeating myself and going around and around on this subject. Perhaps it could be narrowed a bit. I have worked in outages in Commercial,as a sub at doe sites and now house at doe. So house to me is doe. Is there a big difference between the house world of the two?

[retread]

We are required to perform our jobs considering the direction given us by the house techs.  You may know our direction is wrong, but we still need to comply.  I need this job, I'll do what is required.  Is that wrong?

[RAD-GHOST]

mostlyharmless,

I'm thinking you need a week at the Tiki Bar in Holiday Isle...

retread,

The answer is "YES"!  If you comply with something you KNOW is WRONG, then YOU are WRONG!

I recently had a conversation on the same subject with a Technician I use to have confidence in.  He informed me that he would do whatever his supervisor requested, (right or wrong), because he was being paid to do so and considered the request a condition of immunity!  I never have, don't now and never will need a job that bad!  If "Neck Down" is a title you wear proudly, then you're probably as far as you're going to get!

Have a Great Day...RG!

[UncaBuffalo]

We are required to perform our jobs considering the direction given us by the house techs.  You may know our direction is wrong, but we still need to comply.  I need this job, I'll do what is required.  Is that wrong?

retread,

The answer is "YES"!  If you comply with something you KNOW is WRONG, then YOU are WRONG!

How WRONG is wrong?

If you are asked to do something that is illegal, then you have to say 'No'.  (This includes procedural violation...you can be prosecuted as a 'willful violator' if you intentionally do an action that you know is prohibited...)

If your supervisor is just asking you to do something in a different manner than you would choose (even if it is blatantly stupid), then sometimes it's easiest just to do it the house way.  (Note:  If you are convinced it is stupid to the point of dangerous...for you or your crew...ask them to put it in writing.  I've only had to do this twice in 20+ years...once, they realized how dumb it was going to look on paper and did it my way.  The other time, they went ahead and wrote it down as an order in the logbook for me...and everything worked out fine...they were 'right' that the job could be done their way.)

[Camella Black]

How WRONG is wrong?

If you are asked to do something that is illegal, then you have to say 'No'.  (This includes procedural violation...you can be prosecuted as a 'willful violator' if you intentionally do an action that you know is prohibited...)

If your supervisor is just asking you to do something in a different manner than you would choose (even if it is blatantly stupid), then sometimes it's easiest just to do it the house way.  (Note:  If you are convinced it is stupid to the point of dangerous...for you or your crew...ask them to put it in writing.  I've only had to do this twice in 20+ years...once they realized how dumb it was going to look on paper and did it my way.  Once they went ahead and wrote it down as an order in the logbook for me...and everything worked out fine...they were 'right' that the job could be done their way.)

I heard once that hubby Henry was asked to violate procedure and he was quoted as saying " Put it in writing, sign it and then I might consider it"... or something to that manner... I applaud you for standing up for your principles in this day and age.

[IPREGEN]

I've heard that quote before...and here's my response to it:

If you need a tech to cover your refuel bridge (or nasty job of your choice), do you want the 'well-rounded' 20-year tech that knows all about routines, count room, instruments, environmental, etc...or the 'mono-faceted-1-year-twenty-times' tech that has only done refuel bridges over and over and over...?

Yes, you have a nice sound bite, but...it all just depends on what you need done...  1 year 20 times is NOT a bad thing in & of itself.

The point is you may have someone who never advances his skills and knowledge. Maybe they already know everything. We have met them. You could put a Jr on the bridge to "ride"

[RAD-GHOST]

Marssim,

Where's that Colonel Nathan R. Jessep speech when you need it.....

....You want me on that Bridge.....You need me on that Bridge......

Opps, off topic,

Got to go, RG!

[Shawnee Man]

You want me on that wall.

[rocknrollrick]

Great Jack Nicholson Road Tech's Rule !!!!!!!!!!!!

[RAD-GHOST]

Excellent, but you may have lost a few with the acronyms....

RP = Radiation Protection

FME = Foreign Material Excussion

SAFDL = Specified Acceptable Fuel Design Limits

DNBR = Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio

EFPH =  Effective Full Power Hours

GDC-10 = General Design Criteria ...#10 requires that the reactor core be designed with appropriate margin to assure that specified acceptable fuel design limits will not be exceeded during any condition of normal operation. A Good Thing...

Hu-rrrrrrrrah..RG!   

[mostlyharmless]

Vote your experience not your preference.

[mostlyharmless]

Vote your preference not your experience.

[Dwayne]

I am a road tech. and always will be...use to work at plants for 4-6 months at a time back in the 80's...now lucky to get 30+ days at a plant.   

[Marlin]

I put down long term contract, but when I was younger it would have been road %100.

[Laundry Man]

Eight years was my longest.  But now sleeping in my own bed most evenings seems to work a lot better for me.
LM

[Mike_Koehler]

Now that I have family....... house. If it was just me, not so much .....

Mike

[stormgoalie]

I am with you Mike.  If it was just me I would love to be on the road as I like to travel etc.  With a family not so much.

[radbrat]

Have tried staying in one place, 10 months was the longest. The road is for me!

[retired nuke]

Now that I have family....... house. If it was just me, not so much .....

Mike

Ditto - even to the point of refusing OT now... 

[Bonds 25]

On the road for 10 1/2 years.....House Tech for 2 1/2.......making $50,000 more a year, while having full benefits and a retirement package.....Priceless.
I do miss the summers off  .....but with my Shift Schedule, I only work half the year anyways.

[Already Gone]

The hardest part of being a house tech was seeing the same people every day, all year, every year, until the outage came along and we got to see new and old friends.

The hardest part of being a road tech was saying goodbye all the time.

House makes so much more sense.  There is so much more stability and security.  But, in my heart, I'll always be a roadie.

[MeterSwangin]

The roughest aspect of the house techs is their belief that they know what they are doing and need no input from the road techs who all know what they are doing and need no input.......................