From getting to facility to getting CPC usually takes 2-3 years at any given Z, maybe a little less in some cases. You graduate the academy and start out as AG, making about 50k. USUALLY, before covid, within the first few months you'd get your first D side cert (D side is the position you'll train on at the academy, its the coordination position on radar) and you would get a pretty significant pay raise. Trainees from 2 years ago haven't gotten off their AG pay yet. All i'm trying to say is even though we lost a year of seniority to the people who got in right before us and covid, we will probably be pretty close to the same level of training as them in our first couple of years.
i.e. no where near CPC