Cha-Ching & Congrats!

I must give myself a little pat on the back, as myself and two other classmates (trainees) have finished the classroom portion of our training. We now move on to the real world experience of on the job training. It will start off “slow” but more and more responsibility and control will be given as we become more competent in what we are training for. Personally, I am looking forward to finally getting out of the classroom setting and into the proverbial, “hot seat.”

Many questions are still out and the word on the street is, other people doing the job will know inside of two weeks if any one of us will or won’t make it. I feel confident I will pass the two week “test” and finish off all 27 weeks of OJT. Yeah, that is not a misprint, it really is that long. I feel very comfortable sitting at the console, with a headset on and typing up to 500-600 commands an hour, depending on what is happening during our shift.

Thankfully I am strong in typing, even though the input are just short commands for the most part. Learning or re-learning of the correct phraseology is going to be a bit more of a challenge. I feel I will grasp the standard phrases and build good habits as training goes along.

Congrats for what you say? Well, yesterday I and one my fellow trainees were given a “raise” of 6.50%! Actually it was a pay adjustment because our pay grade was increased to start 2007, so it’s nice to know we will be receiving a retro check in the coming weeks. Maybe it could go towards the Cougar. LOL! Come July, I will see another 2% raise based on our union contract.

Ah yes, life is good, but there is still a long road to travel and our journey has just begun.