Is the money what they say when you get out?

[redimsok]

I'm in DEP now and leave next november. My biggest question is whether or not the money is as good after getting out the nuke program as my recruiter suggests. The way he tells it you're looking at around $50,000 starting salary and close to $100,000 after a few years. Is this reasonable? what IS to be expected?

[Fermi2]

Is he talking about the commercial industry? If so he hit it pretty much right on the head.


Mike

[ageoldtech]

redimsok, if you were to work 12 months out of the year, you might see between 75 and 100K, if you include perdiem. The commercial outages these days are all seasonal. Most techs are lucky to get 7 months of work per year. It's OK if you're single, but tuff, if you have a family. I myself, have been fortunate, been following the Steam Generator Replacement Projects for the last 10+ years as an Alara Tech, but I'm always on the road.  You might want to look at taking a house job where you get decent pay, and benefits. Look into DOE, DOD jobs also, these usually are year around.

[M1Ark]

I'm in DEP now and leave next november. My biggest question is whether or not the money is as good after getting out the nuke program as my recruiter suggests. The way he tells it you're looking at around $50,000 starting salary and close to $100,000 after a few years. Is this reasonable? what IS to be expected?

If you are going into the navy nuke program your options in the commercial nuke industry is huge.  You can be a road tech and receive the compensation that ageoldtech describes or you can go into maintenance and make around $80k with some overtime.  I chose the operations route and seems to be the higher paid option.  Of course everything is relative and can be different one plant to the next.  I'll PM you with my specific situation.

[Already Gone]

I agree with M1ark.  We all need to remember that not every single Navy nuke is going to get out and be an RP tech.  Most of them are going to get real jobs.
During the next several years, the youngster here is going to learn to operate a nuclear power plant, do maintenance on it, and about a trillion other skills that will qualify him or her to do basically ANY JOB in the world.
The recruiters tell you $50k to $100k based on an average annual pay for plant operators.  The range is wider than you would think because it is based largely on geography.  If you're going to work in the deep South, expect about half of what the pay would be in more populated areas in the North.  Also expect the cost of living to correspond with that.

[MLew44]

Ditto what Beer Court said. I suggest that the range is wider... 50K to 150K or slightly higher. For jobs in locations with higher pay, this is definitely tempered by the higher taxes and cost of living. Excellent career and pay, but it doesn't make you wealthy. If you like the work, it's worth it. If you're in it strictly for the money, you probably won't be happy.

[hamsamich]

Yes, sometimes the pay is higher for people in higher cost of living areas, but this is not always the case.  Entergy has plants all over the place, and I have a friend who was contemplating taking a job at Grand Gulf (miss.).  He was working at Indian Point (ny).  He didn't go.  The pay was not different, it was just that nobody wanted to move to Mississippi.  There is a reason why 20 million people congregate in one area, which adds value to living in that area (since obviously it has more appeal since more people are there).  So i don't agree that the money is half as much in cheaper areas.  For instance, GG paid me almost the same in per diem (85) as Indian point did (105).  And the pay per hour was the SAME.  The cost of living was way cheaper in rent, but close to the same in GAS/FOOD and others.  So while the cost of living may be about half as much in the deep south, the pay difference is not that extreme. I'm sure it is always a bit lower, but I think 20% lower may be a better ballpark number.  I think at plants like Brunswick in NC, the pay is much lower (abeit not 50%), maybe 21hr and 70diem.

[graydragon67]

I'm in my 2nd year out as a Civiy and I've come close to 100K this past year.  Granted I'm not in the private sector.  I work for one of the 3 Gov't owned shipyards as a RCT.  I stay here, travel very rarely and I'm not too concerned about not having work.  Uncle Sam seems to like these Nuclear Vessels of his.  Plus, you get to tell the Officers on the boats what you really think and not have to worry about any UCMJ crap. 

Ah life is good at times...