Asklemmy

I'm a power plant operator, specifically now a ZLD operator. Basically I run the little water plant that pulls the solids out of our cooling tower blowdown and sends the (relatively) clean water back to the cooling tower. I also do routine operation of the RO-EDI system which gets us ultra pure demineralized water for the HRSG feedwater.

I was working for a major water chemistry company as a service tech. A coworker was running a few accounts which included a plant about 2.5 hours from me and he was having me come give him a hand here and there while I wasn't busy running his whale account (which was a big nuclear plant I'd been around for like ten years). I asked why we were cancelling a visit to that other plant and he said it was because they just lost a guy or two and the supervisor we were gonna meet with had to go on shift while they were short-handed. So I applied.

I came prepared for a lot of "classic" interview questions. One of them was what is my biggest weakness. Tip for you guys, don't just identify your weakness; talk about what steps you're taking to make it not a weakness anymore. I said my weakness was problem-solving and conflict resolution in a group, but I was enrolled in a weekly group meeting with diverse (but mostly STEM) professionals to work on communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution, critical thinking, and resource management. So, in a way, playing in that D&D group in my thirties was a big part of how I got my 6-figure job.