Pros
- Paid training - High pay after training and does not require a degree or experience
Cons
- HIGH STRESS (This cannot be understated) - 3 months of classroom training (book work) that does not align with what you do in your daily work; i.e. you do not learn how to do crew swaps or the importance of scheduling train meets in the classroom, and these are pivotal parts of the job. You spend 90% the time in the classroom learning terms but not working in the application that you will be using to actually do the job. There is a major disconnect between training and being on the job. - Trainers make it "sink or swim" instead of guiding you through as if it should be simple. They treat you as if you should know how do to everything right out the gate. - Intense, harsh culture with rudeness and cursing. Not a typical "office" environment. - Too many things go unexplained; how to contact Payroll if there are any issues, how to use/take advantage of your benefits, how the extra board works, how overtime works, how does bidding for a job/schedule work - You have to put in years before you get in desirable days off - No support and very few resources to aid in performance. There is no knowledgebase to guide you but you are required to remember hundreds of rules while there are multiple things happening simultaneously and you still have to perform while being mindful of safety (another thing you do not learn in the classroom) - No designated breaks. You are expected to eat at your desk. No lunch break. You are penalized for being away from you desk for longer than a few minutes at a time. - You get practice with radio procedure, but you don't learn how to really respond to every thing they may ask and who all the people you will be talking to. Also, you are not prepared for all the terrible static from the radio, which makes it difficult to understand what they are requesting/saying. - Leaders are not supportive. They don't provide clear instructions or adequate resources. They just expect you to be able to do you job and they have a way of barking out demands to you and you are just expected to do it because everything is happening so fast. - You do not get prepared for how fast everything moves in training for when you get on the job. In the classroom, the trains are one at a time, versus on the job you will be working with multiple trains and workers at the same time.