DOD Facilities vs FAA

[GulfCharlie]

I am conducting some research into DOD (civilian positions) facilities and their culture vs the FAA. The training programs differ by days vs hours but overall how is the environment different from the FAA? In anyone’s experience would say you enjoyed DOD more? Just trying to garner all around opinions.

It was also mentioned to me that a military facility has a set way to do things, ergo not leaving much room for technique, has anyone else experienced that?

 

[LG84]

In the DoD I don’t get dedicated breaks or lunch, but much less traffic, no OJTI pay or Sup pay. I do get to “telework” when the Marines get their 4 day breaks, which feels almost like every month, 5 hours overtime every pay period for our brief, 3 hours a week of fitness time, never work holidays or weekends. We do have training days, but if you have prior experience, you shouldn’t come close to maxing out your days. Compared to when I worked in the FAA, I would say they pretty much even out in my book.

 

[Raz]

We had a decent amount of traffic due to being a pilot training base. The schedule was a week of day shifts and then a week of swing shifts. Show time changed almost every week. It depended on the flying schedule for the week. I had all holidays and weekends off.

My DOD facility had their own techniques just like any FAA facility I have been to. Not everyone did it the same. That occasionally threw a wrench in the gears, but the same thing happened at one of my FAA facilities. Some people like to go against the grain.

Training was hit or miss depending on your trainer. We used days instead of hours. Most positions had about a month total of training time for prior experience controllers.

No OJTI pay and no CIC pay. There were times that they appointed civilians as crew chiefs with no extra pay. I was capped at the top GS step.

My facility would send you to learn STARS automation or possibly TERPs to learn to build approaches for bases. That opened up opportunities for other jobs.

 

[Bizzle2006]

We had a decent amount of traffic due to being a pilot training base. The schedule was a week of day shifts and then a week of swing shifts. Show time changed almost every week. It depended on the flying schedule for the week. I had all holidays and weekends off.

My DOD facility had their own techniques just like any FAA facility I have been to. Not everyone did it the same. That occasionally threw a wrench in the gears, but the same thing happened at one of my FAA facilities. Some people like to go against the grain.

Training was hit or miss depending on your trainer. We used days instead of hours. Most positions had about a month total of training time for prior experience controllers.

No OJTI pay and no CIC pay. There were times that they appointed civilians as crew chiefs with no extra pay. I was capped at the top GS step.

My facility would send you to learn STARS automation or possibly TERPs to learn to build approaches for bases. That opened up opportunities for other jobs.

So we (DODcontrollers) can go to TERPS course?

 

[TushingPin]

So we (DODcontrollers) can go to TERPS course?

Yes