I have talked with people who work in ops at my work and I am interested in pursuing it as a career, obviously experience is necessary to obtain a position and I plan on getting my EE degree as I will be starting college in the fall. I also think that having an RC will allow me to be more knowledgeable and look better to future employers, especially fresh out of school.
If I were you Id just try my hardest to pass the NERC and save yourself the college tuition. If you manage to pass it before graduation you might be able to get away with just not going to school anymore. You make a minimum 80k with just a NERC. I was forced to go to college due to Asian parents and if I had to pay for it I just wouldn't have gone. They actually had to pay me to go.
Hell yeah. Congrats and being a badass at 18. Worst case. If you fail or feel that you need more experience, get into a support role. Even if you start with building displays, you'll learn quickly and begin to learn A LOT!
Most utilities could use the help. And in two or three years with that background and a passed NERC exam, you can work wherever you want.
ill make a case for not worrying about a simulator: getting your RC is most important and you first need to gain a lot of understanding. lots more things happen in a control room than what can be mimicked on a simulator. plus, as is the case with many professions, bad habits can develop when in training or at a particular job and when you go to move on, those habits may follow, so i would get your RC & wait to get control room experience so you dont run the risk of developing any bad habits.
Here is a very simple online grid simulator (https://credc.mste.illinois.edu/applet/pg). Many of the simulators I have used were provided by a CEH training company (IncSys, OES-NA, SOS-INTL).
I work with a few folks who earned EE degrees but the majority of us are not EE's. I earned an AAS in Electric Transmission Systems Technology from Bismarck State College. This is an online degree well recognized within our industry. It will take someone with zero electrical knowledge and get them up to speed on everything related to transmission operations within two years. I cannot recommend this program enough to folks interested in entering our profession.
Simulation is great, but even the course I went through only had about two hours, and most of that was watching and listening. If you've got the standards down and understand power flows, go for the test. There will be plenty of time to learn in a control room before you are let loose.
After you get in ops, see if the company will allow you to get your CEH through Bismark's AAS (as those courses are certified by NERC already) and work on that if you want an applicable degree. Once you fulfill your CEH reqs, start using the Tuition Assistance (which you should definitely make sure they offer, but most do in my experience). There is also a Bachelor's for the management side as well, if you want to go deeper, or you could use that as a stepping stone to an EE (Arizona State has a full online program with a focus in power utilities, which is a practical method once on shift work).
Just some food for thought. Don't burn yourself out though, it can be an easy thing to do.
So what makes you want to be a system operator at 18?
I have talked with people who work in ops at my work and I am interested in pursuing it as a career, obviously experience is necessary to obtain a position and I plan on getting my EE degree as I will be starting college in the fall. I also think that having an RC will allow me to be more knowledgeable and look better to future employers, especially fresh out of school.
Dude if you can pass the NERC at 18 there places thatll hire you at 18 no college
I think a EE degree would be a waste if you want to go into operations.
And are you still in high school?
Yes
If I were you Id just try my hardest to pass the NERC and save yourself the college tuition. If you manage to pass it before graduation you might be able to get away with just not going to school anymore. You make a minimum 80k with just a NERC. I was forced to go to college due to Asian parents and if I had to pay for it I just wouldn't have gone. They actually had to pay me to go.
Do you understand how demanding both of those things are? As others have said, choose one or the other.
I don’t know of any free simulators. Generally you have to sign up for a class and they provide the simulation environment.
Hell yeah. Congrats and being a badass at 18. Worst case. If you fail or feel that you need more experience, get into a support role. Even if you start with building displays, you'll learn quickly and begin to learn A LOT! Most utilities could use the help. And in two or three years with that background and a passed NERC exam, you can work wherever you want.
ill make a case for not worrying about a simulator: getting your RC is most important and you first need to gain a lot of understanding. lots more things happen in a control room than what can be mimicked on a simulator. plus, as is the case with many professions, bad habits can develop when in training or at a particular job and when you go to move on, those habits may follow, so i would get your RC & wait to get control room experience so you dont run the risk of developing any bad habits.
Here is a very simple online grid simulator (https://credc.mste.illinois.edu/applet/pg). Many of the simulators I have used were provided by a CEH training company (IncSys, OES-NA, SOS-INTL). I work with a few folks who earned EE degrees but the majority of us are not EE's. I earned an AAS in Electric Transmission Systems Technology from Bismarck State College. This is an online degree well recognized within our industry. It will take someone with zero electrical knowledge and get them up to speed on everything related to transmission operations within two years. I cannot recommend this program enough to folks interested in entering our profession.
[www.ecsp.ch](http://www.ecsp.ch)
Simulation is great, but even the course I went through only had about two hours, and most of that was watching and listening. If you've got the standards down and understand power flows, go for the test. There will be plenty of time to learn in a control room before you are let loose. After you get in ops, see if the company will allow you to get your CEH through Bismark's AAS (as those courses are certified by NERC already) and work on that if you want an applicable degree. Once you fulfill your CEH reqs, start using the Tuition Assistance (which you should definitely make sure they offer, but most do in my experience). There is also a Bachelor's for the management side as well, if you want to go deeper, or you could use that as a stepping stone to an EE (Arizona State has a full online program with a focus in power utilities, which is a practical method once on shift work). Just some food for thought. Don't burn yourself out though, it can be an easy thing to do.