Here is my 2 cents. im a retired FAA ATC. I was hired in 1982 from the USAF as a Controller. I would be honest and tell you that the outlook is bleek, but not impossible: here is why: There are roughly 15,000 FAA Air Traffic Controllers/Controllers jobs...thats it.
on Aug. 3, 1981, more than 12,000 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization walked off the job, setting off a chain of events that still effects ATC today. the FAA rebuilt the controller workforce in about 5 years. so 1981-1986 90% of the ATC workforce was the same age. So we all retired within 10 years of each other roughly 2008 to 2018 (25 years and age 50) so FAA needed 12,000 ATC new hires to fill.
The following are from the FAA ATC hiring plan. several years ago.
controller retirements are expected to continue to decline for the next five years to a new level of 200-240 per year through 2028. In the last five years, 3,110 controllers have retired. Fiscal year 2018 retirements were lower than projected. Cumulative Retirement Eligibility has also fallen. Tens of thousands of controllers were hired after the 1981 strike, and at the end of FY 2018 only 25 controllers remain from those who were hired before 1984.
The anticipated number of new controller hires in FY 2019 is 907. This represents a substantial reduction to the FY 2019 target of 1,431
the majority of the FAA controller workforce has been hired in the last 10-15 years and are ages 24-37. There are a relative small number of controllers approaching mandatory retirement at age 56 over the next 15 years
controllers can become eligible under special retirement criteria for air traffic controllers (age 50 with 20 years of “good time” service or any age with 25 years of “good time” service). “Good time” is defined as service in a covered position in Public Law 92-297
Agency projections show that an additional 117 controllers will become eligible to retire in FY 2019. The number of retirement-eligible controllers has been in decline in recent years from the peak and should continue to decline for the next few years.
so in summary you will be competing with everyone else for 100 jobs a year.