5
4
5I am an Air Traffic Controller. Two weeks from today the FAA will be hiring more controllers. This is a 6 figure job that does not require a college degree. AMA.
UPDATE July 11
The next step for those who applied will be to wait for the AT-SA email to come. That can take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months. I will update you all over on r/ATC_Hiring once I hear that some emails have started to go out.
UPDATE June 28
The FAA has reopened the application from now until tonight at 11:59 PM EDT. If you haven’t been able to get your application submitted yet, APPLY HERE NOW.
UPDATE June 24
The application is live! APPLY HERE.
UPDATE June 15
I will be joining representatives from FAA Human Resources, the FAA Academy, and other air traffic controllers for an AMA about the application process on June 24th at 1:00 PM EDT over on r/ATC.
The FAA is also having a live Q&A with current air traffic controllers on June 21, 3:00PM EDT. Follow them on instagram to join.
UPDATE June 11 #2
I will update the top of this post with a direct link to the application once it goes live on June 24.
In the meantime, you can go ahead and make an account on USA Jobs and create your resume. The FAA highly encourages applicants to use the resume builder on the site rather than upload your own.
UPDATE June 11
I’m beginning to work through my DMs in the order I got them. I will get to all of you eventually.
UPDATE 4
I know I’ve got a ton of you who sent me DMs hours ago and are still waiting for a response. I absolutely will get to each and every one of you as soon as I can.
UPDATE 3
You will apply HERE. Search for job series 2152 and look for “Air Traffic Control Specialist Trainee”.
UPDATE 2
UPDATE: To everyone sending me DMs, I WILL respond to all of you. I’m working through the comments first, and responding to DMs as I can in the order I got them. Hang tight!
I’ve been doing AMA’s for these “off the street” hiring announcements since 2018. Since they always gain a lot of interest, I’m back for another one. I’ve heard back from hundreds of people over the past few years who saw my posts, applied, and are now air traffic controllers. Hopefully this post can reach someone else who might be looking for a really cool job.
Check out my previous AMAs for tons of info:
The application window will open from June 24 - June 27 for all eligible U.S. citizens. Eligibility requirements are as follows:
Must be a U.S. citizen
Must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable (Required for males born after 12/31/1959)
Must be age 30 or under on the closing date of the application period (with limited exceptions)
Must have either three years of general work experience or four years of education leading to a bachelor’s degree, or a combination of both
Must speak English clearly enough to be understood over communications equipment
I highly recommend checking out the FAA’s info on their site HERE. It includes instructions on how to apply.
Let’s start with the difficult stuff:
The hiring process is incredibly arduous. After applying, you will have to wait for the FAA to process all applications, determine eligibility, and then reach out to you to schedule the AT-SA. This is basically an air traffic aptitude test. The testing window usually lasts weeks-months for everyone to get tested. Your score will place you into one of several “bands”, the top of which being “Best Qualified.” In previous bids, essentially only those in the Best Qualified band get an offer letter.
If you receive and accept an offer letter (called a Tentative Offer Letter, or TOL) you will then have to pass medical, background, and psychological evaluations. If you do, you will receive a final offer letter (FOL) and be scheduled to attend the FAA Academy in OKC (paid).
Depending on which track you are assigned (Terminal or En Route), you will be at the academy for 3-4 months. You will have to pass your evaluations at the end in order to continue on to your facility. There is a 99% chance you will have to relocate. Your class will get a list of available facilities to choose from based solely on national staffing needs. If you fail your evaluations, your position will be terminated. Once at your facility, on the job training typically lasts anywhere from 1-3 years. You will receive raises as you progress through training.
All that being said:
This is an incredibly rewarding career. The median pay for air traffic controllers in 2021 was $138,556. We receive extremely competitive benefits and leave, and won’t work a day past 56 (mandatory retirement, with a pension). We also get 3 months of paid parental leave. Most controllers would tell you they can’t imagine doing anything else. Speaking for myself, when I’m not on position working traffic I’m either playing Xbox, spikeball, volleyball, resting, etc. Enjoying yourself at work is actively encouraged, as taking down time in between working traffic is paramount for safety. Some controllers will read this and scoff, and rightfully so as not all facilities are well-staffed and working conditions can vary greatly. But overall, it’s hard to find a controller who wouldn’t tell you this is the best job in the world.
Please ask away in the comments and/or my DMs. I always respond to everyone eventually. Good luck!
· 9 mo. ago · Stickied commentLockedFor more AMAs on this topic, subscribe to r/IAmA_Specialized, and check out our other topic-specific AMA subreddits here.
Once you are certified, there is a process for transferring called NCEPT. There are typically 4 NCEPT panels per year (quarterly). The ability to transfer depends on the staffing of your facility and the one you want to go to compared to national staffing numbers. It can get tricky.
Also keep in mind if you’re older, you may NEVER get “good” days off if you come in after a bunch of younger people. When I’m forced to retire I’ll be 10th in seniority. I got picked up at 28.
A lot of misconceptions about bad shifts going on here. I've worked both en route and terminal (currently). Our current staffing has allowed us to have half of our certified controllers on permanent days off with the other on rotating days off. Rotating will have 2 weekends off in a row every 6 weeks where permanent will have the same 2 days off all year. I much prefer a rotating schedule as I'm currently 13 in seniority of about 25 CPCs. In the terminal world at a smaller facility (which is where most ppl out of the academy will be placed) schedule flexibility is a lot greater that an en route facility. Our union pres and ATM work very closely to make sure there's something for everyone when it comes to the schedule. When I was in en route training my trainers were higher in seniority and had weekends off. I was placed on their schedule for the first 2 years of my career (lucky I know). A lot of younger controllers prefer night shifts and weekdays so you never know what will fall to you when bidding your schedule.
I've never had a better career and I got into the FAA at age 30. I'll never regret that decision. Best money for the amount of actual work done in my opinion.
Depends on the facility. Where I work the controller - management relationship is so bad that the most desirable days off tend to be mid-week and all the new people get weekends off, because management + front office work mon-fri. Also people tend to want their Sunday pay, why get paid less to do the same job? At my old facility relations were good and everyone wanted weekends off.
15 more replies
2Anyone on the fence about this career and want to hear from someone who saw OPs post back in 2019 and is now a controller? Well that’s who I am. I had a degree in something completely unrelated and it was looking like I wasn’t gonna land a career in that field. Then I see OPs post, applied and made it through all pre-employment screenings and testing, and then made it through the academy training and now I’m an ATC at an airport.
I love this job. The actual work is great, the work environment with coworkers is fun, and I get a lot of breaks. With how many breaks you get, you end up getting paid 6 figures for really only 25ish hours of work. The other 15 (in a 40 hour work week) are on break. Just this past work week alone I watched 2 different movies on my breaks and a Bunch of TV shows. But also note that every facility is different depending on staffing.
The retirement is great and I have realized that I will likely retire a solid 10+ years before my friends.
I would say most my coworkers are not stressed at all in their day to day lives and have a lot of other endeavors in their time away from work.
If you’re on the fence please apply! You literally have nothing to lose.
This is just out of curiosity since I don’t live in the US and like my career, but what’s the testing like? Id imagine that although a degree isn’t required you’d have to be quite good at e.g mentally managing a large and fairly dynamic amount of data? Plus of course being a good/assertive communicator and being calm under pressure
About Community
Members
Online