TAFKA wacowx
Oct 4th 2007, 11:26 AM
I get a lot of folks asking me about energy trading, what's required, how to break in etc., so I thought I would start up a thread which would answer at least some questions about it and maybe anonymously give info to some folks who want to know more, but don't want enyone to know they want to 'give up' on TV. smile.gif
In the Central Time zone, my work day runs from 5:30A - 3P or so. Other parts of the country may start at different times...perhaps after 6A in the east, but perhaps before 4A on the West coast. Most energy jobs focus on doing discrete 10-day forecasts for several points across the nation ( I do about 45 cities in the US and Canada). We also draw up our expectations for the 6-10 and 11-15 day maps. Seasonal forecasts are also very important as well as the tropics...especially a storm that would affect production in the northern Gulf.
Some 'insider' info which may help:
EarthSat is the main forecasting player in the business. When they make major changes, the market reacts...whether they are right or wrong, so knowing how they think and especially pointing out when they will be wrong is a major key to this business.
WSI and Freese Notis are other weather providers that are not as all-encompasing as EarthSat.
Joe Bastardi of AccuWeather is also a pretty big driver of the markets. He has some extremely great longer-range concepts about the weather right or wrong, you'll be amazed at his knowledge.
As for the resume/cover letter/interview: Saying you wouldn't be afraid to point out the differences from the vendors and how confident in said forecast would be a selling point. Also use your ability to communicate on TV as a selling point...i.e. briefings are no biggie. Make it known that you are truly interested in moving and leaving TV. Folks think all TV stations pay well and you'd be nuts to leave. The money, benefits, hours and time off will all be better on this side of the fence in most cases. Also play up your graphics abilities and offer to do extra maps and graphics to help better communicate with the traders....etc. Maybe an intranet website daily update if they don't have one.
You can expect a starting salary anywhere from 50-80K with in most every case a yearly percentage bonus probably at least 2 weeks of vacation to start, cheap health, dental and eye care, 401K contributions, life insurance...etc.
If you think you might be interested in this in the future...start out by paying attention to ALL of the global model runs and the differences between them. If you have access to Joe Bastardi's column...read it and ingest all of that info about the current pattern and teleconnections and analogies to similar years' weather. He has an amazing amount of knowledge that he freely shares in his column every day (well, not freely...ya gotta pay to read him now but a subscription to the AW professional site would be a worthy investment in the future if you are seriously interested in this path). Study up on the various oscillations, how they react to North American weather patterns, what level La Nino we are at now...etc. After a little while, you'll be able to spot how good or bad the models are trending and you might be able to argue against the current NWS long range graphics (the ultimate goal.) Doing all of this will get you prepared for interviews with the inhouse mets as well as some of the traders who you will find are extremely weather savvy in some cases.
I have found that the NWA website gets a lot of these job listings as does the PSU meteo jobs e-mail that I know some of you subscribe to. The 'center of the universe' is still here in Houston, but many other enegry interests across the country have weather jobs like this too...I know specifically of ones in Denver, Near Philly, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chattanooga...etc.
I hope this helps and feel free to post more questions or comments and I will try to answer them as best as I can.
Mark
In the Central Time zone, my work day runs from 5:30A - 3P or so. Other parts of the country may start at different times...perhaps after 6A in the east, but perhaps before 4A on the West coast. Most energy jobs focus on doing discrete 10-day forecasts for several points across the nation ( I do about 45 cities in the US and Canada). We also draw up our expectations for the 6-10 and 11-15 day maps. Seasonal forecasts are also very important as well as the tropics...especially a storm that would affect production in the northern Gulf.
Some 'insider' info which may help:
EarthSat is the main forecasting player in the business. When they make major changes, the market reacts...whether they are right or wrong, so knowing how they think and especially pointing out when they will be wrong is a major key to this business.
WSI and Freese Notis are other weather providers that are not as all-encompasing as EarthSat.
Joe Bastardi of AccuWeather is also a pretty big driver of the markets. He has some extremely great longer-range concepts about the weather right or wrong, you'll be amazed at his knowledge.
As for the resume/cover letter/interview: Saying you wouldn't be afraid to point out the differences from the vendors and how confident in said forecast would be a selling point. Also use your ability to communicate on TV as a selling point...i.e. briefings are no biggie. Make it known that you are truly interested in moving and leaving TV. Folks think all TV stations pay well and you'd be nuts to leave. The money, benefits, hours and time off will all be better on this side of the fence in most cases. Also play up your graphics abilities and offer to do extra maps and graphics to help better communicate with the traders....etc. Maybe an intranet website daily update if they don't have one.
You can expect a starting salary anywhere from 50-80K with in most every case a yearly percentage bonus probably at least 2 weeks of vacation to start, cheap health, dental and eye care, 401K contributions, life insurance...etc.
If you think you might be interested in this in the future...start out by paying attention to ALL of the global model runs and the differences between them. If you have access to Joe Bastardi's column...read it and ingest all of that info about the current pattern and teleconnections and analogies to similar years' weather. He has an amazing amount of knowledge that he freely shares in his column every day (well, not freely...ya gotta pay to read him now but a subscription to the AW professional site would be a worthy investment in the future if you are seriously interested in this path). Study up on the various oscillations, how they react to North American weather patterns, what level La Nino we are at now...etc. After a little while, you'll be able to spot how good or bad the models are trending and you might be able to argue against the current NWS long range graphics (the ultimate goal.) Doing all of this will get you prepared for interviews with the inhouse mets as well as some of the traders who you will find are extremely weather savvy in some cases.
I have found that the NWA website gets a lot of these job listings as does the PSU meteo jobs e-mail that I know some of you subscribe to. The 'center of the universe' is still here in Houston, but many other enegry interests across the country have weather jobs like this too...I know specifically of ones in Denver, Near Philly, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chattanooga...etc.
I hope this helps and feel free to post more questions or comments and I will try to answer them as best as I can.
Mark