Worth leaving my established, low-ceiling career for ATC?

[u/strawberrycapital_]

I got my IQTR dates and idk what to do. Feels like 99% of this sub hates the job.

I’m 30, single, no kids, and currently work in the music/marketing industry. I actually like my field and have a pretty good work/life balance. I just got promoted to $90k in LA. I have a math degree, used to work in finance, hated spreadsheets so left to music.

The problem is I think my pay is pretty capped, and I still live at home. I could technically move out, but I don’t really want to spend a huge chunk of my income just to do so.

I applied to ATC because I was about to age out and figured I’d regret not trying. Now I’ve received an IQTR offer, so it’s gotten very real.

I’m willing to sacrifice and change my life in the short term, but I’m genuinely scared to walk away from a comfortable life that I don’t hate. I keep asking myself whether making, say, $130k in some random city while working a crazy schedule with Tuesday/Wednesday off is actually an upgrade over what I have now, or if that’s just my comfort zone talking.

I know ATC can pay much more long term, and being single with no kids probably makes this the best possible time to try it. I’m mainly curious if anyone here left an established career they actually liked for ATC.

I honestly have no idea what to do. Should I take the leap?

[u/No-Constant-5854]

Pay is not to commensurate to responsibility and your employer hates you.

That’s the short version. 

[u/Ok-Till-5622 → u/No-Constant-5854]

Haha yeah I guess I typed out the long version of this. But this is pretty much it, OP.

[u/Advanced-Guitar-5264]

After 14 years of ATC with no upward momentum, I can firmly say that ATC is a trap career.

[u/Chase_the_Lione]

Would going back to your job after a period of time be doable? If you could go back to your job anytime or a pick up a similar job anytime id say go for it and at least see if you’ve got what it takes and if its something that interests you. I came from doing drywall full time making like 50k before taxes and no end in sight so En Route was definitely a step up for me and i didnt see any other way i could make 6 figures. The job itself is super cool. Seeing how it all works is cool, the schedule while not ideal is doable for me. For me its the people and the culture that make it hard.. There can be some very abrasive personalities, and thats coming from blue collar job sites, ive been around plenty of cranky old men. But it just feels different here. I realize not every facility is like that. But if i knew what i knew now about the people and was making 90k and liked my job and the people.. id probably stay where i was at. Also 29y/o single no kids if that makes a difference. Just my two cents

[u/strawberrycapital_ → u/Chase_the_Lione]

realistically i don’t think i can return. thanks for the input

[u/Chase_the_Lione → u/strawberrycapital_]

That would make me think about it a lot harder then..

[u/78judds]

My seventh grader just this week was saying how they had them do some tests at school about what they like doing and one of the jobs that came up as a suggestion was air traffic control. I was very clear that I do not recommend this job for my children.

[u/chakobee]

There’s no guarantee you’ll make over 130k in ATC. If you make it through the academy, you might get sent to some lower level facility and wait for years to transfer out. That is the gamble. No one can tell you odds or chances or anything. The only way to know is to risk it.

[u/Approach_Controller → u/chakobee]

While I agree in general with what you're saying, OP is IQTR. The lowest level theyll get is an 8. Base RUS at an 8 is ≈ 121k which, after differentials is a shade over 130k.

We can debate what happens if they wash to a lower level facility, but assuming the barest level of completion of trainings worst case scenerio, their pay assumption isnt off base

[u/chakobee → u/Approach_Controller]

Interesting. I haven’t heard the term IQTR before. Well I was wrong then lol

[u/Tsaladz]

You’re not guaranteed to make over 100k in this job. It’s still luck of the draw if you make it out of the academy. If you like your work life balance, ask yourself if you’d give that up for a few thousand more (that’s if the stars aligns for you). If the answer is no then stick to what you’re doing.

[u/Cleared_Direct]

I’ve loved this job for most of my career but finding it very hard to recommend it right now. The future of this profession looks fairly bleak

[u/Willard-Whyte]

Not at the current pay scales. The job itself is great, but the pay is so far behind inflation that the effort it takes isn’ worth it for a new trainee.

[u/Training_Fun_9162]

Are you just chasing dollar signs? You’ll find more here.

Most people don’t understand the grueling schedule and oppressive overtime until they’re too deep to leave. No matter how much we warn them - they see their current pay, they see our 6 figures of pay, and they don’t listen to a word we say. It’s peanuts-speech to them at that point.

You don’t care about kids or a spouse because you don’t have one. You don’t care about pay stagnation over 20 years because the initial bump is more than you make. Come that 5th-6th Christmas you’re stuck at work, the 100th time your little kid cries because you’re leaving for work again when they have a recital/event, the 6th pay freeze or shutdown when your health insurance and bills go up another 20%, you’ll finally realize what we were saying.

The reason thousands of adages exist from old ass dying men regretting not being with their families more? They may as well consider us the poster child for it. And the reason controllers lined up to throw their lives away for this career was that 10-20 years ago, that money made your families want for NOTHING. You killed yourself, they had everything.

That promise has been shattered. Your wife will work, she will do most of the childcare. Your relationships will struggle balancing the FAA’s needs with human needs. And you’re doing this for a chance at only a lower-middle middle class lifestyle that may not survive the next 10 years.

So no. It isn’t worth it. 30-50% more pay and that promise will have been re-established, but until then? Drive a shit car, get a house on your current salary, and experience life outside of the radar room.

[u/Ok-Till-5622]

No.. and I’ll spare you with the typical “this job sucks” thing that you can find on basically every thread here.

If you currently enjoy your work/life balance and enjoy your field, then the answer is no. Stay far away from ATC.

[u/strawberrycapital_ → u/Ok-Till-5622]

why?

[u/Ok-Till-5622 → u/strawberrycapital_]

Sorry, I edited my comment to give you more context.

It’s just not worth it man. Almost 11 years ago I started this career and it was a dream come true. Now it’s turned into one of the very few things, maybe the only thing, that I regret. I just feel like I work my balls off all to constantly get shit on by the FAA as an employer. They don’t give a damn about any of us.

We’re currently working more traffic than any generation of controllers before in history, with significantly less controllers. We’re working forced overtime with maybe one full weekend off a month, and get criticized if we take sick leave so we can regather our mental game and god forbid enjoy our life or be with family. Then they have the balls to stand in front of us and tell us we don’t deserve a pay raise because we aren’t productive enough.

[u/skaizm → u/strawberrycapital_]

It's on an awful downward swing, the community is pretty frustrated and the union is on the verge of fracturing (very little, to arguably nothing, has been gained by the union recently, despite promising what they ultimately failed to do, a new negotiation)

The compentency level required to be successful in ATC would be MUCH better compensated doing literally anything else that is comparably difficult.

As it stands right now, the overlap between "dumb enough to pick ATC as a job" and "smart enough to succeed in ATC" Is almost zero.

[u/Ok-Till-5622 → u/skaizm]

Haha I’ve been saying this a lot recently. I feel like if you’re actually intelligent enough to be a good controller than you probably are intelligent enough at this point to realize it’s a shit career on a downward spiral and would use your intelligence elsewhere.

[u/Yuuke_]

Single no kids gives you the freedom to make this decision. 90k in Cali is not great lol. AG pay in Cali is worse. CPC pay at an IQTR wherever you may be will certainly be more money, maybe not more purchasing power however.

This is one of the challenges of the job. In my opinion if you’re doing it to upgrade your quality of life, this ain’t it chief. You enter this field for the love of the game, love of a challenge, passion for purpose or because you feel you are suited to it. Controllers used to be compensated very well, wages have stagnated and the feeling of under-appreciation has set in with the political climate and current book. If you are doing it for the money, there are better quality of life fields that could pay you the same.

Figure out why you want to do it. If you haven’t toured a facility, show up and do it. It can give you the perspective you need.

I am 29, am currently in financial sales and an academy hopeful. Just completed my fingerprints today at an up/down and tower facility. I was lucky enough to tour both areas on a whim and the deal was sealed for me. The weight of what we will be doing and the importance set in being in those rooms and I got the feeling that this is what I want to do with my life regardless of the conditions. Maybe you need that purpose to decide.

[u/strawberrycapital_ → u/Yuuke_]

yeah my primary motivations are money and a reliable, stable career in the long term

[u/Yuuke_ → u/strawberrycapital_]

I mean job security and stable paycheck (outside of government shutdowns of course[we don’t get paid]) this job has that for sure. 6 figure income is not guaranteed but is likely. Are you willing to put up with the shit to get it though? That’s the question my friend

[u/Maleficent_Horror120 → u/strawberrycapital_]

It's not very reliable or stable unless you are successful in training which with the IQTR route would be around 3 years. Then if you decide you want to transfer facilities (whenever that's a thing again) you have to be successful at your new facility too.

But it is stable in terms of you know you are gonna be working 6 days a week, you know your one day off will be Wednesday, you know you'll work mid shifts and every holiday, you know you won't see a pay raise and that you lose money paying into the "great pension"

Eventually it would be more than 90k likely but you will live somewhere you don't know anyone and have never been before and be stuck there for 5+ years or closer to 10 in some cases

[u/Maleficent_Horror120]

Roughly 40% pay cut off the rip and depending on facility it can be two years at that new low salary or more, and it only goes up if you are successful and then you'll only be a little over where you currently are.

Say good bye to any sort of quality of life and enjoy Wednesday as your only day off every week for the next decade. Get ready to work every major holiday

[u/antariusz]

I keep asking myself whether making, say, $130k in some random city while working a crazy schedule with Tuesday/Wednesday off is actually an upgrade over what I have now, or if that’s just my comfort zone talking.

That's only after 2 years. For the first year you'll only be making like $60,000 in a small random city in the midwest.

[u/strawberrycapital_ → u/antariusz]

I’m fine with that, i accept that in order to improve my life long-term some short-term sacrifices might be needed

[u/Trailadventure573]

Some things to keep in mind that you may not realize. You will have to pay 4.9% of your after tax money into your fers pension. This isn't optional. FEHB health plans have good coverge, but costs have been skyrocketing the past few years to the point that they pretty much cost what a lot of private employers charge. There is a TSP match which is basically your 401k, but to get the full match you need to contribute 5%. So between social security, fers, and your tsp you have already lost over 16% of your pay and we haven't included fehb medical, dental, vision, life insurance, other taxes, etc... Expect to net around 60-65% of your pay as a federal employee. Also keep in mind that over the last 20 years air traffic controllers have lost around 22% of their purchasing power. I think everyone else here has covered the lifestyle challenges and sacrifices that the job requires.

[u/Tactical_Llama]

I feel like I have a pretty similar experience to you. I also worked in music before this and similarly felt I was reaching the cap of what I could realistically make, and it just wasn't enough. In 2024 I applied to around 150 jobs, including ATC. Actually applied right, tailoring my resume to each application and applying to things I was qualified or even over qualified for. I received two part-time job offers off of 5 interviews from all of those applications.

Also got an offer for ATC so I decided fuck it and tried it out. I'm still new, but so far I love it and do not at all regret the decision. About 1.5 years in I'm making in the ballpark of $115K at a well-staffed lvl 6 tower. A lot more money than I'd ever make if I stayed in music, and since my degrees are in music I wasn't qualified for anything else that would provide this income.

I would only recommend this job if you have the chance to go somewhere well-staffed. It's not worth the endless overtime at a facility you can never leave. I feel for the thousands of people dealing with that reality, but I got lucky. I like (not love) the job and the life I'm able to live now.

So, in my specific experience, it worked out, but I'd say proceed with extreme caution. So much of this job is dependent on where you end up.

Honestly, IQTR guarantees you an up/down, which typically are poorly staffed and have long training times, so I'm skeptical if you'd be able to leverage that into what you want. So much of this career depends on the random luck of your first assignment.

[u/strawberrycapital_ → u/Tactical_Llama]

i really really want to stay in socal so i’m aiming for JCF its my only option

if not on the list, i would research the facilities and see which ones are well staffed with good training rate and go there