Ok, here's the deal. For the last 16 months I've learned how to be a junior RP Tech at Big Rock, mainly focusing on bulk material release, with occasional sojourns into the other side of the house (ops) for some nearly-real RP experience. Directly prior to this I spent 5 years as an admin assistant at Fermi in the training department, a job I loved to tears but also one that didn't pay beans.
I realize that decom isn't the best RP experience to have to get farther out into the real nuke world, although it was a great opportunity for me, having done nothing more previously than help during an outage as PCM watch. And I realize that if I try to head off to another plant, I probably have a good chance at getting some great experience. I actually had planned to try to head to Fermi this year for RF09 as a junior, but real life issues got in the way.
My problem is that... well... moving out of a comfortable (if unpleasant at times) niche is very difficult for me. I came up to the Rock only because another friend was making a leap of faith at the same time. When it comes to thinking about going someplace new, all by myself, where I could *gasp* do something wrong or find out yet again that there are gabillions of things I don't know... the stress starts to pile up.
In the same manner, I realize that the Rock is on its way down, and I can only hold this job out for just so long. As well, my fresh-from-the-Navy boyfriend is searching for a job elsewhere, and I'll be trudging along with him when he finally lands something. So sometime real soon here I'm going to have to branch out, as frightening as the prospect is.
What I was wondering is if there are almost-equitable options out there, something nuke-related, with pay near to equal, where I could slowly learn the ins and outs of this industry, or if it's better to jump in with both feet, eyes closed and nose plugged. I had planned to go back to office work when my boyfriend gets a job, but even I'm not so dense as to think that office work will come close to maintaining the lifestyle I'm used to now, unless the job interview fairy hands me an executive assistant position with a decent salary package, complete with a brand-new appropriate wardrobe.
At this point, if I stay in the Nuke industry, anywhere I go I'll be going alone. And even tho I tend to become quite the social butterfly, I rarely make close friends, and the beginning meet-and-greet part brings out the shy side of me ten-fold.
So does anyone have any suggestions for a scaredy cat? Even tho I've always talked about travelling the country, right now my comfort zone tends to be within driving distance of home. I've been considering training in a corner of my mind - is it worth it? And does anyone else have the initial job-site heeby-jeebies, and how do they get over them? I like what I know of the industry so far, and would love to continue... I'm just not sure what the best path is to take.
