Very much to my surprise the BLS tells us that you do not in fact need to have a college degree to become a power plant operator. Not even in a nuclear plant, which must make this one of the best paid jobs in the US where you don’t actually need a college degree. $65,000 a year on average, that’s a truly stunning sum these days for something which doesn’t require those years of preparatory training.

However, as always, there are some reasons. The first is that the training usually takes place within the workplace itself. It’s just as long as a college degree, taking years, and of course the pay is much lower while training. There’s another reason the pay is high too: it’s shift work. As power plants run 24/7 they also have to be manned 24/7. So power plant operators tend to work either one of two 12 hour shifts or one of three eight hour ones in a day. And those rotate, weekly or monthly, so that everyone gets to do the overnight or graveyard ones: and, yes, the weekend ones as well.

The usual entrant is a high school graduate with an aptitude for science and engineering, but this is changeing because of the competition for these highly paid jobs. Those with some or all of a college degree will find it easier to land a job even thought the qualification is not required. Military training is also highly desired, well, it is if you’ve been helping the Navy run some of its nuclear power plants, at least.

As for our EQSQ personality tests this is very much a male brain or systemizing type job. Power systems are, well, systems, and very complicated ones at that. As the job is to keep them running, and when they either break or look like doing so, figuring out why and stopping them from doing so or repairing them from having done so, well, yes, a systemizing job, don’t you think?