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I considered the nuclear navy program in 1986/1987 as a college junior, looked like an interesting opportunity. There were 3 tracks (not the official terms):

by nwatson 10y ago

I considered the nuclear navy program in 1986/1987 as a college junior, looked like an interesting opportunity. There were 3 tracks (not the official terms): + nuclear operator on a ship or submarine + nuclear school instructor + naval nuclear reactor program manager I qualified for the "naval nuclear reactor program manager" and went to San Diego to tour a nuclear submarine, then a few months later flew to DC. The local university recruiter accompanied me both times. Nobody told me much what the "naval nuclear reactor program manager" work involved because they really didn't know and couldn't say. I finally had a chance in DC to talk to someone who actually did the work, and the fit didn't seem quite right at the time -- I'd be traveling a lot to GE, Westinghouse, etc., and reviewing designs, change management, etc., -- not a lot of original work. The few days before the meeting I'd been wavering every hour or so. Had they caught me a few minutes before or after, who knows, I might have decided differently. I felt sorry for the recruiter. Of course, I was naïve at the time -- nobody, especially in nuclear, starts off with original work. I count that as one of the four or five big forks in my own "destiny". edit: the naïve part.

devoply 10y ago
How did your life work out in the end?
- nwatson 10y ago
  Thanks for asking, and I'm not yet at "the end"! I'll say the first big fork was deciding to forego free EE education at Universidade de Brasília and living a Brazilian life in favor of going to my family's US stomping grounds in Arizona. There were many student strikes in Brazil at the time, I didn't want to spend 8 years on a BSE, and was sure all my family would end up in the US eventually anyway. I didn't want to be so far away. The second fork was not entering the navy nuclear program. The next was foundering in grad school with an NSF Fellowship. I'd say social/personal issues got in the way, and though I'd try to blame grad school context, I'd lost my creative drive. My oldest brother had an "in" to early access to the Apple Newton at the time so I headed to Silicon Valley, and we tried to build something on the platform. After several months and seeing the idea/platform wouldn't pan out for our use case, I started working at SV startups. I did the SV startup thing for 19 years, had some good experiences. My wife wanted to move ... so the next big fork was moving to North Carolina. I continued SV work (almost 3 years at one really really really crappy podunk startup), and recently moved on to a former-startup-division-in-a-large-enterprise-security-company. My current team is awesome and I learn something new every day. Those are the big professional forks so far ... as for professional future, I don't know. I've got a couple of ideas I'd like to pursue some time. But then there's time with my daughter, relative ease of a near-SV (?) salary in NC, etc. In all, I can't complain.
gavanwoolery 10y ago
Was also a significant fork in my path! I applied to NUPOC program out of college and was accepted, although for whatever reason chose to work in the startup world instead. I still wonder what my life would be like if I had taken that path. For those curious about the process, IIRC it goes something like this (feel free to correct me, its been a long time since then): apply (at the time I applied a 3.5 GPA was required from a 4 year college although for some reason they accepted my much lower GPA). If you accept, you enter at the lowest rank (E1) and go through boot camp as any recruit would. Afterwards, you are put through several years of school (3?) to attain a degree in nuclear engineering. After that you sign on for a 5 year contract aboard a sub or aircraft carrier (the only two nuclear-powered ships in the Navy, as far as I know). During my time, pay started at $80k once you became an officer, and then $120k after four years.
seere 10y ago
Your year was the same time when I was courted by recruiters for the USN Nuclear Program. They treated me well and offered a bonus, but I went Army instead. God, how I imagine how things would've turned out had I chosen that path.
brandmeyer 10y ago
I was an enlisted nuke before going to college and getting an engineering degree. Even in the early '00s, my impression of the nuclear program manager role was very similar to yours, in that the naval officers are primarily providing oversight rather than design engineering work. However, there is still quite a bit of original work going on in the nuclear Navy. In the late 80's, you might have been involved in the Seawolf class design. Each new ship class has been getting a new reactor plant design. The changes are very much evolutionary from one generation to the next, but it all adds up.

by nwatson 10y ago

devoply 10y ago

How did your life work out in the end?

nwatson 10y ago
Thanks for asking, and I'm not yet at "the end"! I'll say the first big fork was deciding to forego free EE education at Universidade de Brasília and living a Brazilian life in favor of going to my family's US stomping grounds in Arizona. There were many student strikes in Brazil at the time, I didn't want to spend 8 years on a BSE, and was sure all my family would end up in the US eventually anyway. I didn't want to be so far away. The second fork was not entering the navy nuclear program. The next was foundering in grad school with an NSF Fellowship. I'd say social/personal issues got in the way, and though I'd try to blame grad school context, I'd lost my creative drive. My oldest brother had an "in" to early access to the Apple Newton at the time so I headed to Silicon Valley, and we tried to build something on the platform. After several months and seeing the idea/platform wouldn't pan out for our use case, I started working at SV startups. I did the SV startup thing for 19 years, had some good experiences. My wife wanted to move ... so the next big fork was moving to North Carolina. I continued SV work (almost 3 years at one really really really crappy podunk startup), and recently moved on to a former-startup-division-in-a-large-enterprise-security-company. My current team is awesome and I learn something new every day. Those are the big professional forks so far ... as for professional future, I don't know. I've got a couple of ideas I'd like to pursue some time. But then there's time with my daughter, relative ease of a near-SV (?) salary in NC, etc. In all, I can't complain.

gavanwoolery 10y ago

Was also a significant fork in my path! I applied to NUPOC program out of college and was accepted, although for whatever reason chose to work in the startup world instead. I still wonder what my life would be like if I had taken that path. For those curious about the process, IIRC it goes something like this (feel free to correct me, its been a long time since then): apply (at the time I applied a 3.5 GPA was required from a 4 year college although for some reason they accepted my much lower GPA). If you accept, you enter at the lowest rank (E1) and go through boot camp as any recruit would. Afterwards, you are put through several years of school (3?) to attain a degree in nuclear engineering. After that you sign on for a 5 year contract aboard a sub or aircraft carrier (the only two nuclear-powered ships in the Navy, as far as I know). During my time, pay started at $80k once you became an officer, and then $120k after four years.

seere 10y ago

Your year was the same time when I was courted by recruiters for the USN Nuclear Program. They treated me well and offered a bonus, but I went Army instead. God, how I imagine how things would've turned out had I chosen that path.

brandmeyer 10y ago

I was an enlisted nuke before going to college and getting an engineering degree. Even in the early '00s, my impression of the nuclear program manager role was very similar to yours, in that the naval officers are primarily providing oversight rather than design engineering work. However, there is still quite a bit of original work going on in the nuclear Navy. In the late 80's, you might have been involved in the Seawolf class design. Each new ship class has been getting a new reactor plant design. The changes are very much evolutionary from one generation to the next, but it all adds up.