Is it worth it?

[FlightOfTheShortGuy]

While a staff support schedule and ability to take leave sounds nice the actual job sounds brutally boring. I'd take being a controller any day. To each there own and we need people to do the support jobs.

I do like working traffic but it’s not some dream job where I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I value work-life balance greatly so a boring job like Staff support that is secure sounds right up my alley.

 

[GulfCharlie]

I do like working traffic but it’s not some dream job where I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I value work-life balance greatly so a boring job like Staff support that is secure sounds right up my alley.

Start bidding DoD jobs.

 

[Slalom]

This job is not worth it at all anymore. It gets worse and worse every year. I would actively tell people interested to not pursue this. People are miserable and salty rightfully so. At lower level facilities there isn't any pride in doing a good job or being good at this. But like most, being in 10 years plus it is hard to give up the pension and early retirement.

At most facilities you can easily be stuck for your whole career with no advancement potential to make more money or improve skills. If you have hopes of a specific facility or the ability to make it to a city/state good luck. Your chances I'd bet are less than 1 percent. You will see lucky people with year or two in FAA get to level 12's with ease but to be realistic you may never move again in your career.

Everyone knows this, but don't go to level 8/9 up down. No one on NCEPT wants to go to Level 8/9 unless they like the area, because everyone knows you'll be stuck and why step up slowly when you can go to 10+ much easier. But also 8/9's can't get academy grads. So your only hope is hardships if no one wants your facility on NCEPT which is ridiculous. The standard for controllers has dropped to nothing. If you don't have a deal for one single day, you will get recommended. Everyone is over mandatory 6 day workweeks. It's not even about leaving your facility anymore because most have given up hope. People want trainees to checkout just to get a 2 day weekend.

The schedule kills you plain and simple. Everyone knows it, but somehow we all put up with it for the potential glory of a longer weekend which probably won't happen because you are on a 6 day workweek.

Pay doesn't keep up with inflation and we are not compensated enough in comparison to other fields to feel like a professional saving lives. We all see how much the rest of the world is being paid after covid. It's a joke. Just simply compare us to the piloting worlds recent raises. Everyone jokes that we are the guys with wands waving at the planes, the jokes on us because currently thats about what our pay feels like we are compensated for.



This is no dream job anymore. Far from it

 

[rugbydog11]

Good job spending a large portion of your career wasting everyone's time training you.

Shut up nerd.

 

[blarg]

Shut up nerd.

Truth hurts.

 

[Phillytroll69]

Good job spending a large portion of your career wasting everyone's time training you.

Everyone?? Imagine management not being able to get consistent training done and you're mad at your coworkers fellow plebs.also wasting? 20% ojti isn't enough? Yuge win for the union

 

[kombucha23]

I like telling airplanes what to do and I’m not ashamed to say it.

 

[TangoBearFox]

No, I would never tell my kids to do this job.
Cons:
1. The schedule sucks. No weekends or holidays until halfway through your career in the best cases.
2. The medical clearance could ruin you if you have something slightly wrong with you and you go down, you could lose your job and everything you worked for.
3. Training, you might get fired.
4. Career advancement might not ever happen for some controllers.
5. Pay has not kept up with inflation for the majority of controllers. This job use to be very well compensated but every decent paying job has caught up.

This list is not all conclusive but just off the top of my head.

Pros:
1. The breaks are nice.
2. Being able to retire early is nice if you don't die soon after retirement which might have to do with horrible schedule.
3. Talking to planes is cool.

 

[Momo]

it really depends on what you like to do as with everything else in life. if it's your passion then go for it. the pay is not to praise for. it used to be a lot back then but now it's very little! seriously tech people get a lot more than controllers. and not just tech but other jobs as well. they really need to pay controllers more! i need more than 1 day off for the weekend.

 

[AZNLUVR69]

it really depends on what you like to do as with everything else in life. if it's your passion then go for it. the pay is not to praise for. it used to be a lot back then but now it's very little! seriously tech people get a lot more than controllers. and not just tech but other jobs as well. they really need to pay controllers more! i need more than 1 day off for the weekend.

2nd year first officers are making more than the average ATC now a days!

 

[Motodog]

2nd year first officers are making more than the average ATC now a days!

That’s true. With the pilot group it’s supply and demand. Direct result of collective bargaining. Should be the same w ATC. Right? Can’t it be the same w ATC If/when there’s a shortage of supply?

 

[Bird.Person]

I’m highly considering taking a job with TERPs. Same pay, work from home, same benefits…move up opportunity. And a regular schedule.

 

[FlightOfTheShortGuy]

I’m highly considering taking a job with TERPs. Same pay, work from home, same benefits…move up opportunity. And a regular schedule.

What is TERPs?

 

[Horno]

What is TERPs?

They are the people who make sure arrival and departures procedure are safe and feasible to fly. Make sure a good glide path can be achieved, no obstacles in the way, etc.

 

[Bird.Person]

What is TERPs?

Department that makes the instrument approaches basically. But the computer does most of the work for you. It’s a government job

 

[SwissDog]

NATCA has degraded the job. Unfortunately now it’s just another job. The slightly higher pay than the average professional at high level facilities is completely negated by the schedule and the fact that you have several less earning years than other professional jobs. The pension is nice but look at several 56 years old controllers retiring. Many don’t make it that long after 56.



Working traffic is cool. The rest is…



The sweet spot is probably a mid level facility without mids in a low cost of living area and work until 56. Or go to a high level facility and retire asap. But not many will be able to do either.



As for supply and demand there is a shortage of controllers. There may be applicants but how many will succeed or be willing to subject themselves to being stationed anywhere without any guarantee of movement?



If the airlines had low requirements and paid for flight training there would be tons of applicants for pilot jobs. It’s apples and oranges.



Reform is needed in controller pay, schedule, medical, management, and training.

 

[GulfBravoPapa]

I think it's worth it. My pay is more than the majority of people I know and I've maxed out my TSP my entire career. For the most part I don't have to work mids if I don't want to as my crew mates will take them and I'm not on six day work weeks. I can retire at 47 and likely won't stay long after that.

I try to stay out of the drama and work my airplanes. I've certified at my third facility and was able to transfer once under the old system and once via NCEPT. It all depends on where you are, where you want to be, and your coworkers.

The government paid for half of my masters degree and has allowed me to travel to various conferences and training classes. I've met countless awesome controllers and a handful that I'm glad I no longer work with but thus far in my career it has been mostly good.

 

[Phillytroll69]

I think it's worth it. My pay is more than the majority of people I know and I've maxed out my TSP my entire career. For the most part I don't have to work mids if I don't want to as my crew mates will take them and I'm not on six day work weeks. I can retire at 47 and likely won't stay long after that.

I try to stay out of the drama and work my airplanes. I've certified at my third facility and was able to transfer once under the old system and once via NCEPT. It all depends on where you are, where you want to be, and your coworkers.

The government paid for half of my masters degree and has allowed me to travel to various conferences and training classes. I've met countless awesome controllers and a handful that I'm glad I no longer work with but thus far in my career it has been mostly good.

Can you expand on the degree and travel? A starting point?

 

[GulfBravoPapa]

Can you expand on the degree and travel? A starting point?

I participated in the degree completion program. You'd have to do some digging on the FAA or DOT program to find it but I happened to see a post on the FAA website about it while I was doing my classes. You apply to the program and create a graduation plan. There are requirements, obviously, you have to have completed 50% of your degree and keep above a specific GPA but if accepted into the program they will reimburse you for a certain amount of money per fiscal year to finish your degree. I'll see if I can find old links on here...

For travel I've been to CFS two or three times, attended some of the IFATCA conferences (mostly as an accompanying person but nonetheless didn't even know the organization existed before being hired), went to NASA once to do a human in the loop research project (not sure what it was technically called), as well as getting to travel to other facilities for a variety of reasons. If you're in Natca read the emails they send out with solicitations of interest and see if you can find something that interests you, even if it is only a one time thing.

Degree Completion Program

Here is my post from last year... was around this time of year that they were accepting applications. Perhaps keep checking the FAA website to see if they're doing it again this year.

 

[Peter Gibbons]

I honestly lost any love I had for the job a long time ago, and coming back off the covid schedule sealed the deal for me (not that i expected or wanted it to go on forever, just the return to shift work and "business as usual" type stuff we all get used to doing the job not being there by and large during covid).

I've watched my peers in other career fields pass me by in pay, benefits and work life balance without any of the associated shift work bullshit And half the office politics drama, though that's more a facility thing than a job factor for everyone, the egos, rumor mill, cliques and drama seem to be everywhere to some extent. Any opportunity for movement or advancement ranges from awful to nonexistent, and no one in a position to fix these issues seems keen on doing so. There's just so many issues with culture and work conditions in atc that aren't worth it.

Add to this as I've gotten older, and my life outside of work has changed I rely less on work for fulfillment (and how much that type of work as an excuse for a personality person annoys the fuck outta me, and ATC is absolutely filthy with it) and realized how much this job is taking away from all the other things that make life good outside of being a worker drone.

I used to really enjoy the job enough to counterbalance the negatives, but now not so much. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone with other options or prospects.