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Career Exploration

Power Distributors and Dispatchers

Also called: Distribution System Operator, Power System Operator, System Operator, Transmission System Operator

What they do:

Coordinate, regulate, or distribute electricity or steam.

On the job, you would:
  • Respond to emergencies, such as transformer or transmission line failures, and route current around affected areas.
  • Prepare switching orders that will isolate work areas without causing power outages, referring to drawings of power systems.
  • Control, monitor, or operate equipment that regulates or distributes electricity or steam, using data obtained from instruments or computers.
On the job, you'll need:

Safety and Government

  • public safety and security

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Engineering and Technology

  • product and service development
  • computers and electronics

Communications

  • telecommunications

Basic Skills

  • keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • notice when problems happen
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information

Visual Understanding

  • quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things
  • see hidden patterns

Realistic

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

  • Dependability
  • Attention to Detail
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Self Control
  • Integrity
  • Persistence

Spreadsheet software

  • Microsoft Excel

Presentation software

  • Microsoft PowerPoint

Industrial control software

  • Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
  • Wide area monitoring system WAMS software

Video courtesy of CareerOneStop.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for this position is Below Average.

New job opportunities are less likely in the future.

Median Annual Salary: $101,650

Education

High school diploma/GED or certificate after high school is usually needed.