Just past my 21st year. 3 facilities (12/10/11) and have worked the easier/harder/mediocre areas. I work where assigned.
My first career goal when I was at the academy was immediately to be a supervisor and move up. It quickly changed. Controlling is best bang for buck, least drama. Being at the cap makes it easy. For 6k more and little extra in Retirement be a supervisor? No thanks.
My goal now is to finish up in about 4.5 years and time retirement with kid’s schooling. I will do a little more then necessary then leave.. I won’t be here in 5 years. I planned reasonably well and married up so I have zero debt, a paid off house, cars, a fully funded kid’s college account and a decent 401k balance.
In the mean time, I intend to do my job, not screw my coworkers over while I work amongst them, mess with and troll those that deserve it, and try for the best quality of life I can.
I also will run for NATCA president for fun.
Then…. Who knows. Retire, watch kid finish school maybe start flying again since I have a commercial ticket, or just fuck off and enjoy life. That’s why I took this job over flying to begin with.
I also look forward to being able to take fucking NyQuil at night to get a better sleep when I am slightly unwell and not worry about daddy FAA…
Though to be quite honest, when I was going hardcore in BASE jumping, I never thought I’d survive but kept contributing almost max to my 401k just in case. Luck over skill!