If Reactor Operators had a morning prayer, it would go "Lord, grant me a boring shift. Amen."
The only excitement I had as an RO was during drills. It was a time when all that could go wrong did as operational errors happened. Normal steaming was boring, four hours of gauges and dial recordings and nothing changed. Startups and shutdowns, by the book, boring. Hours of boredom. Running two engine rooms off one reactor, the MM's had to pay attention. Running all ship's loads off on generator and something unexpected happens, not good (resulted in a dual plant scram and fill initiation). Been there did that. It was an experience. Going to reduction gear torque curves, icy. The rest of the time was boring.
The navy recruits enlisted to run the plants and keep them going as designed until yard time fixes the big things. Officers make sure the departments do their job and within budget.
The navy recruits offices to drive and fight the ship. There is the key, which is how you prepare the ship as a manager, and how you fight her.
If you think that being an officer for a minimum contract time will make you a better operating engineer then the enlisted who actually did the job, you are mistaken.
If you are joining the navy as an officer, keep in mind that the navy is looking at you as a potential CO, not an engineer. As a career officer, command is your goal, not engineering. You as an officer will be trained to manage and fight, not hands on running the ship.
If you want to be a design engineer, or rather an implementation engineer in new construction, well that is a whole different world. There are those who can build them, but they are not necessarily the same as who can lead men and women to run them. The builders and implementers are a very small world of engineers. If you join the Navy, be prepared to be neither the builder or the implementer . It will be your job to manage the operating engineers who work for you, people who at least, when I was in, knew more then you ever will.
I have often said, as a nuke who left the field, the officer life was better way to go if a career is your goal, but if operating engineering is you desire, then enlisted is the better avenue. That said, I often have been proven wrong, but as an officer, you will be better trained in political BS then the guy polishing the brass. And sadly, BS all to often rules.