Raw LLM Responses

I've worked in the chemical manufacturing field for years, now ending up as a wastewater plant operator for a local government.  There's a divide between the "old" operators and the "new" operators that's more than just an age gap. The old operators did a really good job for a long time hiding how little they really had to do in their day to day operations. They love gatekeeping knowledge and refusing to write things down/make SOPs because they want to be the only operator that knows how to unfuck a certain process because it makes them valuable. The old operators were basically gifted these jobs decades ago because they knew somebody and as you said barely even have a high school education. Most of the rest of us have to be competitive with a bunch of school or experience to get selected. We understand the tech/computers and their terrified of doing things different because "this is the way we've always done it so we're not gonna do it different". As the old operators are aging out, they're not being replaced and their duties are just being absorbed into the rest of our days. The software/programming that runs most plants has been solid for decades. The reactions/processes all were for the most part fine tuned decades ago by smart humans, we're just keeping the needle in the middle of the gauges. The only reason why we're here is for when things break and there's a legal requirement for a human to be on the facility. If nothing's broke, the plant's software could run the place indefinitely. They also don't have robots cheaper than my labor yet than can make PVC repairs in a cramped concrete box built in the 80s. In brand new plants, I could see automation with robots becoming reality relatively soon. But unless it's purpose built for them, the old plants will need humans to continue to run them at least for our lifetimes.