As with any career, there are upsides and downsides to being a power systems
operator. On the upside, the job pays well, is interesting and is important.
On the downside, there are pressures and demands that can't be avoided.
"It's interesting, challenging and rewarding," says Alden Briggs. He adds
that the pay is also pretty good.
Briggs manages a team of 14 power systems operators.
When he's hiring, Briggs looks for "a calm, cool guy who knows his stuff.
We've got problems that just have to be dealt with, and I can't have some
guy panicking and getting all flustered."
Emergencies don't happen often, but when they do, you need to react swiftly.
That's one of the downsides of the job. But if you're calm and cool, you take
it all in stride.
Storms are a big source of problems for a power systems operator. Outages
can be caused by lightning. Or a power pole can get hit by a car. Whatever
the cause, the power systems operator has to keep electricity flowing and
make sure necessary repairs are done.
Another downside is the shift work. Power systems operators alternate between
day and night shifts. In the past, rotating eight-hour shifts were common.
Now, 12-hour shifts are much more common.
"In the industry now, I think most people have recognized the fact that
rotating 12-hour shifts are much better for the health of the employees, their
home life and everything else, than the rotating eights," says Jim Hunter.
He's with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
"There have been many studies done about our body clocks, and they're finding
that you can't go for too many days working night work, and then swap back
to day work," says Hunter. "The second or third night, your body just quits
working. And to do that year after year, there's a cumulative effect."
Power systems operators often work four days on, four days off. Often,
two of those shifts are day work and two are night work. Doing four 12-hour
shifts in four days is tough, but then you have four days to recover.
"Your body has a hard time adapting, but then you have four days off, and
people really enjoy having the extra time off," says Hunter. "But if a storm
or something comes through, it doesn't matter. Then it's basically all hands
on deck."
Elisha Odowichuk, who works with a hydro company, agrees that shift work
is a downside of the job. "Not everybody can work shift work," she says. "Not
everybody can get up at 9 at night after sleeping all day and work overnight."
Odowichuk says a big challenge to being a power systems operator is the
stress. Some people thrive on it, but some don't.
"I think stress would be the largest downside," Odowichuk says. "Basically,
you've got your finger on the button that controls all of the power, and you're
moving it and telling people when to move it and when to make it. And that
is a fairly big responsibility."
Odowichuk says many power systems operators like working under pressure
and keeping up to date with new developments. "Moving electricity, just by
the nature of what it is, is a very fast-paced job. And the technology is
always evolving and changing."
On the upside, the job is interesting. Constant changes in technology mean
you're always learning new things. "The requirements have changed considerably
in the past five years, mainly because of computers," says John Stolley. He
is a control center supervisor in Iowa.
"The individual has to be willing to go through continuing education and
training," Stolley adds. "Each individual we have, at least once or twice
a year, is going through some type of training program, mostly external, so
they have to be willing to travel."
Deregulation of the electrical industry has made the job more interesting.
With some companies, such as Stolley's, the power systems operators also handle
the marketing of power. They're involved in buying and selling decisions on
the electricity market. More typically, marketing is handled by a separate
department.
The marketing of power has led to new opportunities for power systems operators.
Some move into new careers in marketing, where they can make more money.
"Some utilities will get a guy and train him and, boom, he's gone after
a couple years because he's now valuable to the whole new area we're getting
into, and that's the marketing aspect," says Briggs.
"The changes in the electrical industry in the last five to seven years
are dramatic," he adds. "We didn't used to deal in the marketing aspect, in
which there's a market and generators bid in and bid out. Basically, it's
a whole new field for a bunch of people to make money. Therefore, the marketing
wing of the industry has recruited technical expertise, of which the large
base was power systems operators."
Stolley also comments on the demand for people in marketing. "I know on
the marketing side, there's a ton of openings," he says. "So if you're willing
to move and take the gamble, you can do what you want to do and go where you
want to go."
Cynthia Clark is the manager of employment for a power company. "You get
somebody who's quite technical, in that they're very engineering-oriented
and technical in understanding the system and how it works. That's the science
side, the engineering side," she says.
"But on the personality side, they're very calm, very professional, exceptionally
low-key about their work, competent, careful and cautious."
If that sounds like a description of you, maybe you'd get a charge out
of being a power systems operator.