Lose money or make money as an AO.

[GatorNuke007]

I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea on if you lost money or made money going to civilian power as an Aux operator from the navy. I am an E-6 with 8 years in any input would be helpful.

[JustinHEMI05]

You'll probably lose a little or break even to start... but after you complete training and are qualified... you will far surpass. I don't know what an 8 year MM1 makes these days, but when I got out as a 9 year MM1, I was around 55K so I would have made more.

Others that are currently paid as NLO trainees or NLOs will chime in for more accurate info.

[Cycoticpenguin]

Will depend on a lot of factors, shoot me a pm and we'll discuss these things when im not on my phone. You're gonna have to get used to paying taxes again

That said, I should be clearing 90k this year, but moving bonus and outages help that.

[hamsamich]

you should start out at 23 bucks an hour at the very least but it all depends.  if you get some OT you will be making well over 60 grand.  some utilities start way higher than this depending on what they give you for experience. I was an E5 over 6 when I got out and started out at 17 an hour in '95.   Thought I was rich for a while.....

[xobxdoc]

I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea on if you lost money or made money going to civilian power as an Aux operator from the navy. I am an E-6 with 8 years in any input would be helpful.

How many hours would you say an E-6 with 8 years puts in per year to make his salary? An unqualified AO depending on the plant makes makes about 60k on a 40 work week. I would say your quality of life is a lot better. You could always supplement your income with a part-time job.

[thenuttyneutron]

You could always supplement your income with a part-time job.

I think your time would be better used to get qualified.  You will end up making more money by studying at home (working for free) and getting the quals completed.  Once qualified, you can get OT money and the pay raises that come with it.

[xobxdoc]

I think your time would be better used to get qualified.  You will end up making more money by studying at home (working for free) and getting the quals completed.  Once qualified, you can get OT money and the pay raises that come with it.

I agree. But the OP was concerned about the possibility of the  initial short term money loss. You can't compare the annaual salary of a navy nuke and civilian nuke. To me it is a no-brainer working 2000 hours per year as an AO making a decent starting wage as compared to ( insert hours here) as a Navy nuke.

[Cycoticpenguin]

I think your time would be better used to get qualified.  You will end up making more money by studying at home (working for free) and getting the quals completed.  Once qualified, you can get OT money and the pay raises that come with it.

Unfortunately for us, that "time spent to get qualified" is wasted waiting on building classes to start because everyone else is qualifying too slowly. At least at my plant, its impossible to qualify early, no matter how much you know/study. I work 4 days a week, and I have entertained the idea of getting a second, "fun" job just to eat away some of my spare time, so its entirely feasible.

OP, from last year heres some numbers I saw to give you an idea,

Lowest I saw was "apprentice operator" at Fitzpatrick for 26$ an hour, the highest was Waterford 3 at 32$ an hour. Im hired in at riverbend for 31$ an hour. 

Now, you cant just look at the bottom line there. A lot of the plants that start higher build slower. I.e. I cap out at 36$ an hour after two years, but some plants that start lower build much faster and cap out higher (potentially). So make sure you ask these questions.

You also need to get to a plant that will pay you to move. They pay a gross amount to move your stuff and is well worth it.

The real issue is taxed vs non taxed. You being a bonus having, tax-free deploying person, with free health care, you will most certainly take a "pay cut" at first. I pay  about 150 a month on health care and insurance, I pay a lot more in taxes (no bah here!), and all that jazz. Cant look at just the salary amount. If you have kids and stuff, its gonna hurt for a minute. After a while, you can make some SERIOUS money when you hop over to the licensed realm. That said, if you work an outage during the year, you make about 8-10k a month take home.... Consider that your "deployment".

[GatorNuke007]

The job I was offered started at 29.18/hr. I have thought of getting a second job somewhere since the schedule I was given shows me having alot of time off. Thanks for all the inputs I appreciate it.

[terrysleeger]

I think the job with  29.18/hr. is great...Go ahead man........

[jams723]

From day 1 I made more money and had more free time as an NLO than an E-6. Of corse in my day we qualified fast and on our own, they gave us 12 weeks of class and cut us loose in the plant.

[DSO]

Yea...with any new Operator job in the very beginning (training phase) you will lose maybe 15-20% of your overall pay until you get in shift then you will surpass an E-6 8+ pay. Its well worth the wait and keeping your finances in order as at $65,000/yr as a 8 year E-6 averaging 80 hrs/week working, you are actually only making $10 to $11/hr. paid as in the same way a civilian gets paid....thats pretty pathetic..Keep that in mind

[ToadSuck]

Plus make sure to work with the Training bosses to get your GI bill while you are training...You can supplement over a grand a month or more depending on where you are at.