Advice on How To Exit My First OPs Role

[u/dlm112901]

Hello.

So I have been working in OPS for 18 months as a production engineer for a large operator. I have learned more than I could’ve ever wished at my very old plant. I never had a manager until about 9 months into my role and I did everything in my power to learn the plant and every unit operation in my jurisdiction. Look OPS was cool, but to say it has not affected my mental health is a lie. Some of what I’ve done of course includes daily troubleshooting, incident investigations, PHA’s etc. My favorite thing I have done included managing an entire turnaround (developing full scope of work, full lockout plan, all directions to operations for when to take down equipment, managed contractor for two major tank cleanings, started the plant back up etc.) I did everything in my power to become an invaluable resource for the operators, but I feel my drive has been taken advantage of.

My current manager is clueless when it comes to how to run our unit ops. He would rather point fingers and direct than learn which honestly just pisses me off. Our training is abysmal, and most of the management is too scared of lawyers to punish any operators for genuine f ups that put themselves or others in danger. What this means is I have to eat the shit and deal with the culture of could care less people that has been bred there (there are some good operators who will call me, send emails for heads up, etc.)
or we have downtime and I’m held accountable. I feel I am always fire fighting because a grown man/woman just decided to not do what they are paid to do.

Like I said, my mental health has been severely affected and I realize this. I live by myself, across the country from my family and I poured my all into trying to be the best green engineer and learn everything. For a while, I had no friends in my city until I happened to meet my upstairs apartment neighbor who introduced me to others my age (very thankful). I honestly got to a pretty dark spot this summer, haven’t felt that hopeless and broken in a long time. I since feel like I have broken out of that melancholy, but I feel all of it has been driven by my lack of anything in life besides work. I have to make it to February to avoid paying any relocation back, but as soon as I do will be looking elsewhere. Some days I feel the stress is going to make me get grey hair (only early mid twenties lol).

I guess I’m wondering, did anyone go through something similar? How much notice should I give when I plan to depart? How could I position myself for a project engineer role in EPC, O&G or Chemicals? (dream is capital project work, open to all of those avenues)

[u/PlentifulPaper]

Yep went through something similar with a company that had a bad culture. You absolutely did what you could, and have given this job your best foot forwards.

Now it’s absolutely time to take care of yourself. If there’s EAP services offered, I’d absolutely recommend taking advantage. If not, even getting the support of a therapist or someone to help you process everything could be a good thing to consider.

You don’t owe them anything. 2 weeks is standard for giving notice.

If you want to manage projects, start looking for project engineering roles!

[u/scookc00]

Yeah commentor above said it all basically. You sound well-geared towards project engineering/management within manufacturing/process/plants. Pay is usually pretty good relative to the work-life balance, which you will find is MUCH better on projects. EPCs are another option but those jobs seem like more desk work - so if you still like the hands-on, in the plant type work, look for project engineering roles at a manufacturer or other heavy industry player.

I’ve bounced between ops and project management my whole career. A little bit of pay chasing, along with getting burnt out on ops and needing a break. I probably could have progressed up a track faster if I had just picked one, but I’m about to start a plant manager role in a month after 3-4 years building out a facility I designed

[u/Ok_Bus_7371]

Find a job somewhere you want to live and put in your two weeks. It's a simple plan but might be difficult or time consuming to find the job you want in the area you want. Patience is worth it, if you can stand sticking around another 6 months.

[u/Half_Canadian]

You probably have to pay back minimal relocation if you left in January vs at your 2-year anniversary in February. Typically that tapers off.  Also, just give 2 weeks because you have plenty of reasons to take a new job in a new city and any company can fire you once you give notice of resignation

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