I think there may be an imaginary place — a time or a crossroad of life — where some of us unconsciously decide to take the path toward operations, and others toward engineering. I’d like to share this perspective.
I’ve worked in the wastewater treatment field 28 years, at a variety of treatment plants in various positions. I have found in common at every facility the negative opinion operators and engineers hold about each other. I’ve been fascinated (and sometimes disheartened) at the low esteem in which some operators hold engineers, and vice versa.
Not every operator dislikes engineers, and plenty of
