The Road Family: Introduction

SB' coworkers are the best part of her job in my opinion.  They're fun, intelligent, and insightful people whose experiences are unique and telling of what road life might be like for us.

In this series, I'll interview her coworkers about their road experiences to give you a better idea of what road life entails.

First, though, I need to layout, by my own understanding, how they work.

Field Operating Services (FOS) is the department at UOP for which SB and her coworkers work.  Within FOS, there are two groups, instrumentation and process advisors.

Instrumentation advisors install and inspect instruments on a refining unit.  Process advisors monitor and run the unit at optimal output.  SB is in instrumentation.

Worldwide, there are about 225 people in FOS.  The average crew for a single unit is about five people - three process, one instrumentation, and one chief advisor.  Some jobs require more advisors, some less.

The chief is usually chosen from the process advisors.  They act as a buffer between the customer (companies like BP, Husky, Sunoco, etc.) and the other crew members.

Staying the longest, the chief arrives first at a unit.  Instrumentation advisors arrive second, sometimes at the same time as the chief.  The process advisors arrive last and are usually the first to leave.

Process advisors have it rough, in my opinion.  Despite jet lag, culture shock, and the other difficulties of travel, they have to adhere to a schedule that needs 24-hour coverage.

Their schedule gets broken up into chunks of eight or twelve hours and is in constant threat of change.  Some process advisors can work third shift at the start of a week and then switch to first by week's end, requiring a complete upheaval of their body clock.

They do, however, have the perk of long-offs.  A long-off usually lasts about three to five days while they're between shifts or processes.  Many process advisors travel during this time, but more often they use it to catch up on sleep.

I call this series "The Road Family" because they're the closest to a family we'll have for the months or years we're on a job.  We travel with, celebrate holidays and birthdays with, cook and bake for, and take care of each other like family.

This is an introduction to those family members we meet on the road.  Depending on their comfort level, I may post their interview with an abbreviated or fake name.  If they're comfortable, I'll also try to include pictures and a map of their travels.

Below is the list of questions I'll ask.  If you have questions you would like me to add, please comment or send me a message over e-mail or Facebook.

Questions

- Hometown

- Alma Mater

- Years at UOP and "on the road"

- Countries worked in

- Favorite assignment and why?

- "What do you do?"

- Why travel full-time?

- Stories and memories

- Advice, problems, and warnings

- Anything to add?