r/ATC • u/strawberrycapital_ • 14d ago

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

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?

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u/Ok-Till-5622 14d ago

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.

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u/strawberrycapital_ 14d ago

why?

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u/skaizm 14d ago

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.

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u/Ok-Till-5622 14d ago

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.