It is a sad fact that the work on the sectors, when compared to West Drayton, is, for the most part, boring and uninspiring. That is the down side of life at Swanwick for us ATSAs. If you are lucky enough to work on FIS or FPRS (or even as a WAS
) there is still loads of job satisfaction to be had. You get out of the job what you are prepared to put into it, and that is very true on those positions.
However the big improvement, as DotMac says above, is that there are now numerous ways out of the Ops room, and I am not talking about fire exits. We all know friends who have moved through to the support sections and are now rising up through the chain of command. Also, unlike the days at WD even if you are a sector assistant, the 4th floor listen to your ideas and, shock horror on occasion, even implement them. If you want to get involved there are now many ways you can do so, and that in itself increases job satisfaction enormously.
It isn't perfect, far from it, but a quantum leap from life at WD for assistants as far as opportunities are concerned.
I had the chip on my shoulder surgically removed a few years back and it is surprising how different the world looks
.