Hiring Bid FAA-ATO-19-ALLSRCE-61676

As someone who already went through the academy I'd have to agree with you. People are talking about selling their possessions for a 1K paycheck like they have some kind of job security. I've seen a guy that needed 20/100 points on his last eval walk out of there with a zero meaning he was fired.
Serious question, how do you get 0 on an eval? Did the guy just pass out the second he plugged in?
 
Serious question, how do you get 0 on an eval? Did the guy just pass out the second he plugged in?

I am currently 3 weeks out from starting Online Basics, so I have never been to the Academy yet. The little I have read up on, this is what I gathered.

Every evaluation, you start out with 100 Points. As you start making operational errors such as loss of separation, deals, and lack of situational awareness, you start getting docked points.

PRESUMABLY, the academy student did the good ole snowballing effect where he/she made 1 mistake near the beginning of the evaluation (quickly destroying the persons morale and effort) and continued making mistakes throughout the entire evaluation.

Again, I could be wrong. The only "relevant" experience I have with evaluations comes from graduating through a CTI program which I hate to admit via this open public forum. My program had 2 retired air traffic controllers watch over you and evaluate your performance which (from what I have read and heard) is close to the Academy's evaluations. Nonetheless, as much as getting a 0 sounds absurd and ridiculous, I can see how it could happen.
 
Serious question, how do you get 0 on an eval? Did the guy just pass out the second he plugged in?

One plane can lose separation with multiple aircraft losing you 16 points a piece. Especially on a departure. He was in my group and thought he totally aced the problem only to be informed he got a zero.
 
Even if they stick to online basics after the academy reopens, at least you would know the exactly how long you would have to be prepared to live off a small paycheck. With the current situation you don't know if it's one month or six.
This is why I turned down the online option and decided to wait. I’m not willing to live on a 50% wage decrease for an indefinite amount of time.
 
Hey everyone, I have not yet received an assignment or been invited to online basics, but I have gone ahead and started studying the enroute map posted above in my free time. After going through several sheets of paper drawing it by hand, I decided to move to my iPad using an app I have called Affinity Designer. It's been quite helpful, so I figured I would share my workflow in case any one else finds it useful.

Essentially, I created template files which are blank other than either the sector boundaries or all boundaries. I have pulled vector graphic assets from the chart PDF and compiled them into an assets file. These can be dragged, rotated, and resized on the blank chart. Then I go ahead and fill in the rest of the text-based info with the Pencil tool using either my finger or Apple Pencil. You could also do this with the Text tool, but I find using the Pencil tool slightly less cumbersome. While you're practicing, what you can do is drag all the image assets out, maybe fill in some constant info that you don't need to practice, then select everything and merge it into a single layer. Then lock both the new layer and the template layer, then you can easily delete everything that you're practicing and leave the rest on the screen.

I'm aware that not everyone has an iPad, Apple Pencil, and $9.99 for a specific drawing app. I already had these tools available and so I created this solution around my situation. I'm hoping at least a few of you can find it useful. These files can also be used for Affinity Designer for Mac/PC. I tried testing with Affinity Photo as well, but the graphics did not seem to scale well in a non-vector format.

Since pointSixtyFive doesn't allow attaching unrecognized file types, here is a link to the template and asset files in a Google Drive folder.

To set up Affinity Designer for iPad (assuming you have latest iPadOS):
  1. Purchase and download Affinity Designer from App Store ($9.99).
  2. Open the above link in Safari on iPad and tap DOWNLOAD ALL. Confirm by tapping Download on the pop-up.
  3. Tap the Downloads icon in Safari, then the magnifying glass next to the .zip file to open it in the Files app.
  4. Tap the ... icon on the file inspector, and then Move into On My iPad/Affinity Designer.
    1. NOTE: If the Affinity Designer folder doesn't exist, open the app and create/save a blank document.
      1. Click the + icon in top-right, OK with defaults, return to main menu with the Arrow icon in top-left, click the hamburger icon on the Untitled document, click save.
  5. In the Files app, navigate to On My iPad/Affinity Designer, select the .zip file, tap the ... icon on the file inspector, then tap Uncompress. You may delete the .zip file if desired.
  6. In Affinity Designer, tap the + icon to create a new document, then choose New From Template.
  7. Tap Browse on the bottom of the screen, then navigate to On My iPad/Affinity Designer/Enroute Affinity Files.
  8. Choose either All Boundaries or Sector Boundaries template.
  9. Tap the Assets icon on the right (looks like 9 squares in a grid).
  10. Tap the hamburger icon on the top of the Assets pane, then Import Category.
  11. Navigate to On My iPad/Affinity Designer/Enroute Affinity Files, and select Enroute Assets.
  12. Scroll over to Enroute on the Assets pane.
Quick tips because they're hard to find: Undo is a 2-finger tap. To Deselect All, long press on the image (with finger, not AP), then tap Deselect.

IMG_4B9EE668DD89-1.jpeg
 
Hey everyone, I have not yet received an assignment or been invited to online basics, but I have gone ahead and started studying the enroute map posted above in my free time. After going through several sheets of paper drawing it by hand, I decided to move to my iPad using an app I have called Affinity Designer. It's been quite helpful, so I figured I would share my workflow in case any one else finds it useful.

Essentially, I created template files which are blank other than either the sector boundaries or all boundaries. I have pulled vector graphic assets from the chart PDF and compiled them into an assets file. These can be dragged, rotated, and resized on the blank chart. Then I go ahead and fill in the rest of the text-based info with the Pencil tool using either my finger or Apple Pencil. You could also do this with the Text tool, but I find using the Pencil tool slightly less cumbersome. While you're practicing, what you can do is drag all the image assets out, maybe fill in some constant info that you don't need to practice, then select everything and merge it into a single layer. Then lock both the new layer and the template layer, then you can easily delete everything that you're practicing and leave the rest on the screen.

I'm aware that not everyone has an iPad, Apple Pencil, and $9.99 for a specific drawing app. I already had these tools available and so I created this solution around my situation. I'm hoping at least a few of you can find it useful. These files can also be used for Affinity Designer for Mac/PC. I tried testing with Affinity Photo as well, but the graphics did not seem to scale well in a non-vector format.

Since pointSixtyFive doesn't allow attaching unrecognized file types, here is a link to the template and asset files in a Google Drive folder.

To set up Affinity Designer for iPad (assuming you have latest iPadOS):
  1. Purchase and download Affinity Designer from App Store ($9.99).
  2. Open the above link in Safari on iPad and tap DOWNLOAD ALL. Confirm by tapping Download on the pop-up.
  3. Tap the Downloads icon in Safari, then the magnifying glass next to the .zip file to open it in the Files app.
  4. Tap the ... icon on the file inspector, and then Move into On My iPad/Affinity Designer.
    1. NOTE: If the Affinity Designer folder doesn't exist, open the app and create/save a blank document.
      1. Click the + icon in top-right, OK with defaults, return to main menu with the Arrow icon in top-left, click the hamburger icon on the Untitled document, click save.
  5. In the Files app, navigate to On My iPad/Affinity Designer, select the .zip file, tap the ... icon on the file inspector, then tap Uncompress. You may delete the .zip file if desired.
  6. In Affinity Designer, tap the + icon to create a new document, then choose New From Template.
  7. Tap Browse on the bottom of the screen, then navigate to On My iPad/Affinity Designer/Enroute Affinity Files.
  8. Choose either All Boundaries or Sector Boundaries template.
  9. Tap the Assets icon on the right (looks like 9 squares in a grid).
  10. Tap the hamburger icon on the top of the Assets pane, then Import Category.
  11. Navigate to On My iPad/Affinity Designer/Enroute Affinity Files, and select Enroute Assets.
  12. Scroll over to Enroute on the Assets pane.
Quick tips because they're hard to find: Undo is a 2-finger tap. To Deselect All, long press on the image (with finger, not AP), then tap Deselect.

View attachment 3811
Navaids and airports are depicted on the test map just have to label them
 
Well the last few pages have started making me a bit nervous, I was really hoping that I'd be able to go back to work after online basics and before the academy. I even cleared it with my work. Being forced to live off $300/wk indefinitely is a nightmare. I'll be able to make it 2 months before selling possessions or quitting becomes the reality for me.

Unrelated note, I have my virtual onboarding tomorrow, and never received an iPad. I've got a decent teleconferencing setup already so it's not the end of the world, but I was under the assumption that I'd be using it for this. Yay uncertainty.
 
Well the last few pages have started making me a bit nervous, I was really hoping that I'd be able to go back to work after online basics and before the academy. I even cleared it with my work. Being forced to live off $300/wk indefinitely is a nightmare. I'll be able to make it 2 months before selling possessions or quitting becomes the reality for me.

Unrelated note, I have my virtual onboarding tomorrow, and never received an iPad. I've got a decent teleconferencing setup already so it's not the end of the world, but I was under the assumption that I'd be using it for this. Yay uncertainty.
You won't even have to touch it once for basics if you have a computer already.
 
You move in with your parents rent-free. I did that. I also sold every belonging I could except my car on Facebook and Craigslist to have a nest egg that will last me a little while. If you can't do that, move along. Breaking out my tin foil hat here, but ATC isn't going to have a need for new hires for a while...so they're not going to bend over backwards for those in the pipeline. If you can't make it on the offered wages, they expect you to move on and won't feel bad about it.

After all the taxes/retirement/insurance, I get like $575 per paycheck. Luckily, my wife is working full time and we live in a much cheaper locale than a lot of people. But also, we just made that same decision to leave our rental, and move back in with my folks. Makes no sense to pay rent when we can live for free until I get to go back and finish en route, since we will be moving for real to my new facility at that point anyway.
 
After all the taxes/retirement/insurance, I get like $575 per paycheck. Luckily, my wife is working full time and we live in a much cheaper locale than a lot of people. But also, we just made that same decision to leave our rental, and move back in with my folks. Makes no sense to pay rent when we can live for free until I get to go back and finish en route, since we will be moving for real to my new facility at that point anyway.
Anyone try to apply for unemployment if they came from a higher paying job. Can’t you get some if your “underemployed”
 
Anyone try to apply for unemployment if they came from a higher paying job. Can’t you get some if your “underemployed”

I was told by LM when offered online onboarding that you cannot apply for unemployement.

AFAIK, to be eligible for unemployment, you have to be fired, furloughed, or have reduced hours. That is also verified by them contacting your previous employer, as they pay for some of it. Voluntarily moving to a lower paying job does not qualify you for unemployment.
 
Blue cross basic is like 80 dollars a paycheck
I'm planning on applying to nice health insurance because I have some procedures that will eventually need to be done- probably going to go with a pretty expensive plan to cover more of my medications/procedures then move to something cheaper when I get to an new facility (assuming I pass enroute training). You have up to two months to apply (of which I have around a month left) so I've been putting off getting it for about an extra grand.

+ dental for braces or invisalign.
 
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