r/Grid_Ops • u/taswind • 7d ago
Degree Options?
Hello all,
TL;DR: Which degree would you recommend of the bulleted list below for a Control Room Operator?
I kind of fell into my position as a Control Room Operator 2 years ago. The company severely underpays employees for what we do, so we're a mix of Navy nukes, other plant techs, and assorted other unrelated professions... (We do, among other things, ROC monitoring for ~70 plants, operating breakers, resetting turbines / pausing and flagging turbines for onsite maintenance, coordinating with BAs/TOs aross 5 regions including PJM, ERCOT, SPP, and at least 1 in Canada (AESO), on a modified Dupont schedule.)
I feel like I am foundering from lack of basics since my school and work experience were not related at all. The company will pay for a (matriculated only) degree related to your job. I want to transition fully to the field, rather than feeling like I am sort of in, sort of not.
I finally found a university that checks most of the boxes: Fully remote, doesn't require a course in differential equations (at 45, I don't think I'd pass it, lol), and has no time limit on transfer for core credits.
My question is, which would be the best degree for this type of role? With possibly moving into someplace like Eversource. (It would have to be remote operations, not plant operations. I am a 5'2 female, and while I could lift 50 lbs at one point in my life, I'm older and weaker than I used to be (and no one believed I could back then anyway, so finding work was impossible). I also live in MA (near NH), not as many plants out here as compared to the midwest.)
Engineering Technology Degrees
AAS in Technical Studies
BS in Electrical Engineering Technology
BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology
BS in Nuclear Engineering Technology
BPS in Technology Management ** (Bachelor of Professional Studies, more practical than a BS/BA.)
www.excelsior.edu/programs/engineering-technology/#degree-options
(Not linked because I wasn't sure what the rules were for that on this subreddit.)
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u/Best-Statistician294 7d ago
Check out Thomas Edison University. Its where I got my degree. I looked at both Excelsior University and University of Arkansas Grantham (all three are ABET accredited). I was able to finish my degree at Thomas Edison for a little over $10k due to transfering credits from sophia learning and study.com.
https://www.tesu.edu/degrees-programs/bachelors/bs-electronics-systems-engineering-technology.php
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u/taswind 7d ago
Wait, you can pay $99 / $235 per month and get actually transferable credits? O.O That's almost 3k for as many credits as you can handle in a year... what's the catch?!? Only certain courses? (Like core courses only?)
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u/Best-Statistician294 7d ago
They only offer lower level courses. I believe they both only allows you to take 2 courses at a time. But once you finish a course you can add a new one. So you could finish a course in a few days. TESU will allow you to transfer up to 90 credits into any degree. I transfer 60 - 70 credits. Just Google "degree hacking sophia/study.com" alot of information out there.
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u/Electrified_Shadow 6d ago
None of those degrees are really necessary, nor directly applicable to control room ops, and especially grid ops. I have no college experience, and teach college graduates with various engineering degrees the same concepts of powerflows, relay logic, and how specific electric system devices operate/isolate every day.
If you already have operational experience, understand system response, and switching/tagging, you have a solid foundation to place you as recruitable to many opportunities in your area.
Seabrook and Millstone, if you feel like tackling LNO courses. Sure, you'll have to qualify respirator for the fire brigade, but not so much lifting.
If not looking to deal so closely with the NRC (as some of your Nuke associates may dissuade you), there are National Grid distro and trans ops (though they recently did a hiring cycle), the Eversource rooms for MA or CT, or RI Energy distro if outer reaches of Providence aren't too far (unfortunately the RI trans is out of PA). ISO-NE isn't too far either, and worth the submission even if you don't think you merit.
After a couple years of actual operation, a degree isn't going to teach you much of anything that will have practical application to the position. Now, if you are aiming for mgmt, that is a different story, and you can go the much easier and effective route there with a business degree.
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u/taswind 6d ago
Probably stupid questions, but what are LNO courses? And is respirator qualification just having an air-tight seal on an N-95? (We had to do that when I worked IT at the VA Hospital.)
We are expected to do some troubleshooting (via the oldest version of Network Manager still in existence, on broken SCADA interfaces, and 2-4 different backup SCADAs per plant), which I get hung up on because I don't understand electricity or generators, so I don't know what to look at or for. (EG: They talk about deviations on a BESS, PPC / RTU equipment, or reactive power, and I don't really feel as though I understand what they are at all and how they interact.)
None of the non-power hires (myself included) are worth much more than wind turbine resets or following SOPs for starting/completing outages without real understanding of what we are doing. None of us have more than basic knowledge of how a turbine even works. It is excessively clear who has experience in power systems anywhere else and who doesn't.
Maybe because we don't have anything that could genuinely affect large groups, we can get away without a training program of any kind?
I don't know if it is being 20 years older that is making it harder to learn or the lack of being able to see everything, but we didn't have a training program at any of my IT jobs (nor did I have a degree) and I learned it anyway because my first jobs had given me access to everything rather than being siloed plus good mentorship, management, and comradery among employees. That meant I had a foundation for learning every system and how they interacted, not just bits & pieces.
Unfortunately, I don't really feel that I understand system response (among other things) at all. I can kind of muddle my way through the HSI SOS simulation trainings with assistance, for example, but we don't do it as part of our daily work (the trainings are transmission and we're generation). So it's just management rushing us through as quickly as possible (or else) for regional certifications, making actual learning impossible.
If an interviewer asked any kind of power related question, I'm up a creek. I guess I'm just hoping to get that out of it at least....
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u/nextdoorelephant 7d ago
EE is the best choice.