I developed in the summer. It has definitely cost me my mental health. You also carry a lot of responsibility on your back with all of the baristas on the floor. Closings can be the most stressful in my opinion because you have a time restriction. Be prepared to deal with a lot of difficult customers. Your mood on the floor will greatly affect the mood of other baristas around you. In my experience the easiest way to coach baristas is if they trust you and aren't afraid to ask you questions.

My perspective of Starbucks corporate management drastically changed as well when I developed. You will have to deal with the pressure of encouraging nervous baristas to connect with customers, as well as get drinks out super fast. My store manager told me the new expectation is 35 seconds per car (which is ridiculous). I have to juggle a lot of different tasks while on the support position and sometimes it can be overwhelming.

I am enjoying the pay, but it gives me a lot of anxiety and stress everyday. If you are willing to sacrifice that, go for it. If you are worried about your mental health, it might be a bad idea.

Then again, I also don't know what kind of store you work at or how busy it gets. If you do develop, good luck!

I’m still a relatively new SSV, and while I’m finally somewhat more comfortable in the role, tbqh I still have days where I want to self-demote.

the main thing, IMO, is that it’s a totally different experience from being a barista. you have to keep track of breaks, what time people clock on/off, what position everyone will be on (and try to remember to rotate people, and give the green beans bar time, and barista X doesn’t like to be on POS, and so on), make sure all tasking gets completed, deal with difficult customers, coach on standards, keep track of inventory, etc etc.

as a barista, I’m great on bar, pretty good on POS/warming, and great at restocking & cleaning (and I’m a really fast precloser/closer); give me a task and I will knock it out of the park. as an ssv, I feel like I’m constantly behind and dropping the ball on something or other; it’s harder to turn off the work part of my brain or to feel like I truly did my best during each shift. also, it’s been an adjustment to delegate more instead of trying to do everything myself 😅

we have a much smaller ssv team, so in addition to being scheduled longer shifts/more hours each week (barista shifts at our store are typically 4.5 or 6 hours, total 12-25 hours per week with a few baristas who work more like 35; ssv shifts are typically at least 6.5 hours, 30-40 hours per week), there’s more pressure to come in early or on your day off when someone calls out. plus you can still be asked to cover non-ssv shifts.

all that said, overall I do like being a SSV. I care deeply about supporting my team, and I feel like I’m more empowered to do that as a SSV - I have access to more information (eg deescalation & safety training, sales numbers, IMS), I build plays based (as much as possible) on people’s preferences and strengths, I get to give direct input to the SM and other SSVs during SSV huddles, and I can remind baristas that they can say no even as I’m asking them to stay longer or cover a callout. I actually do like working longer shifts: I get to connect with more of our regulars, and I get to work with both AM and PM baristas. and of course there’s the personal growth & leadership aspect, which not only looks good on a resume but helps you build interpersonal and professional skills to carry with you wherever your career takes you (if you’ll pardon the cliches).

if you have any specific questions, I’m
happy to answer those too!

I've only been training a few months, but I think it will largely depend on your relationship with your other Barristas.

Picking up Deployments and knowing who your aces are just comes with that relationship. I know that I can talk to my partners, and they can talk to me. If I ask one of them to do bins, they know I'm not doing it to single them out, it's just because the job needs done. Some people don't like all the extra shit they need to do, I just have a checklist for everything, so when I start I pull that up, take 5 minutes to go over what we need to achieve, and then just crack on.

If you can handle a team, keep yourself organized, and can handle things going not according to plan you'll be fine. Probably the best thing to do is to just try it. If it's not for you don't feel you have to stick to it.