Woah... thats awesome ^.^

[necine]

I wanted to be a Navy Seal when I was 7. Congrats though, he seems like a cool little kid.

 

[clamum]

I wanted to be the guy that rides on the back of a garbage truck. I guess it looked like fun?

 

[Scouzer]

That's what I do for a living. I feel glamorous now. I'm Canadian.

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: alkohoLiK
I work for ATC and yes, once it was a great job. Not so anymore.

Starting pay is $31,500. Getting raises depends on how much you can check out on. It doesnt matter on skill but rather who is willing to train you and who is in front of you on your training.

For example at an ARTCC it can take anywhere from 5-7 years to get fully certified...meaning you will be stuck at 31,500 for 2-3 years or so. Thats all fine and good for some people but try living in a high cost area like NY or Miami and you can barely afford to live off that.

Also, you need to spend 17 weeks down in OKC for training at an annual pay of about $18,000 which works out to about $9/hour. You have to pay for your own housing, food and transportation during that time. I believe take home salary for 2 weeks is about $500 without medical benefits (if you chose to decline). Last time I checked the apartments to rent down there were about $30/day.....so after the housing you'll have about $100/m for food.

Currently there are only 2 ways to get hired with the FAA - go to a approved college or be a military controller. There are only 12 approved schools in the US and most of them are pretty costly. My college tuition cost me around $80,000 so also take that into consideration. The FAA needs to hire around 12,000 peope in the next decade and the people that graduated from those schools are being snatched up quickly so they are running out of people. There will probably be some sort of civil service test in the future so the schooling may not be necessary.

I know your son is only 7 but you may want to think closely and do some research into a career with the FAA. I havent even gotten into the Union vs managment issues, work schedules, etc.

Is it true what the guy in this thread said about you being liable for damaged aircraft in the US? It sure as hell isn't the case in Canada.

 

[JohnCU]

i wanted to go to a tech school to be a webpage designer back in 02 but my grandma said i had to go to a 4 year school.

thank god for grandma, EE makes more money than the webpage fad i was on in 02.

 

[RKS]

Originally posted by: daveymark

Originally posted by: RKS
I've already told my 3 Y.O. he can be anything he wants, as long as it is either:
doctor, lawyer , or engineer (PhD).

asian?

I asked my 4 y.o. what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said "Ice cream truck driver"

lol, 50%; but my wife and I both come from families where education is highly stressed.

Even though a BA/BS would be the minimal education level that we would like we don't care what he does as long as he is happy. If he and his brother both went to law school and decided practice with me I would be estatic.

 

[Flammable]

Originally posted by: alkohoLiK
I work for ATC and yes, once it was a great job. Not so anymore.

Starting pay is $31,500. Getting raises depends on how much you can check out on. It doesnt matter on skill but rather who is willing to train you and who is in front of you on your training.

For example at an ARTCC it can take anywhere from 5-7 years to get fully certified...meaning you will be stuck at 31,500 for 2-3 years or so. Thats all fine and good for some people but try living in a high cost area like NY or Miami and you can barely afford to live off that.

Also, you need to spend 17 weeks down in OKC for training at an annual pay of about $18,000 which works out to about $9/hour. You have to pay for your own housing, food and transportation during that time. I believe take home salary for 2 weeks is about $500 without medical benefits (if you chose to decline). Last time I checked the apartments to rent down there were about $30/day.....so after the housing you'll have about $100/m for food.

Currently there are only 2 ways to get hired with the FAA - go to a approved college or be a military controller. There are only 12 approved schools in the US and most of them are pretty costly. My college tuition cost me around $80,000 so also take that into consideration. The FAA needs to hire around 12,000 peope in the next decade and the people that graduated from those schools are being snatched up quickly so they are running out of people. There will probably be some sort of civil service test in the future so the schooling may not be necessary.

I know your son is only 7 but you may want to think closely and do some research into a career with the FAA. I havent even gotten into the Union vs managment issues, work schedules, etc.

i actually want to be one but which colleges do the FAA approve?

 

[TangoJuliet]

Originally posted by: Flammable

Originally posted by: alkohoLiK
I work for ATC and yes, once it was a great job. Not so anymore.

Starting pay is $31,500. Getting raises depends on how much you can check out on. It doesnt matter on skill but rather who is willing to train you and who is in front of you on your training.

For example at an ARTCC it can take anywhere from 5-7 years to get fully certified...meaning you will be stuck at 31,500 for 2-3 years or so. Thats all fine and good for some people but try living in a high cost area like NY or Miami and you can barely afford to live off that.

Also, you need to spend 17 weeks down in OKC for training at an annual pay of about $18,000 which works out to about $9/hour. You have to pay for your own housing, food and transportation during that time. I believe take home salary for 2 weeks is about $500 without medical benefits (if you chose to decline). Last time I checked the apartments to rent down there were about $30/day.....so after the housing you'll have about $100/m for food.

Currently there are only 2 ways to get hired with the FAA - go to a approved college or be a military controller. There are only 12 approved schools in the US and most of them are pretty costly. My college tuition cost me around $80,000 so also take that into consideration. The FAA needs to hire around 12,000 peope in the next decade and the people that graduated from those schools are being snatched up quickly so they are running out of people. There will probably be some sort of civil service test in the future so the schooling may not be necessary.

I know your son is only 7 but you may want to think closely and do some research into a career with the FAA. I havent even gotten into the Union vs managment issues, work schedules, etc.

i actually want to be one but which colleges do the FAA approve?

http://www.atccti.com/ctischoo.html

 

[ViviTheMage]

he is a lil young, but thatd be a neat job.

 

[Auric]

I suppose it's better than "I want to be a firetruck".

But then the fact that he equates it to being "scary" rather than "responsible" or even "neato" is, well, scary.

 

[Fritzo]

Yeah, he's 7. I wanted to be an astronomer when I was 7 because I thought those giant telescopes were super cool.

Jimmy Page wanted to be a biologist when he was 14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfiyEsMOSu0

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Despite the negative responses in this thread which have good merrit's. I am gunna help my son to be an ATC if he wants to. Not only will he make a good living, he will be a part of everyones life. He has my support

 

[RollWave]

5-7 I wanted to be a garbage truck driver (a garbage truck was my favorite toy). Then it broke. I decided then that I'd settle on becoming a lame doctor like my dad...I couldnt deal with the instability of trucks breaking all the time

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Originally posted by: JohnOfSheffield
Meh, brain surgeons are overrated, anyone can be a brain surgeon.

All you need is a hacksaw and patience.

FTW.... lmao

 

[GoatMonkey]

If he's 7 now, by the time he's old enough to do that, the air traffic controllers will all have been replaced by Skynet anyway.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: RKS

Originally posted by: daveymark

Originally posted by: RKS
I've already told my 3 Y.O. he can be anything he wants, as long as it is either:
doctor, lawyer , or engineer (PhD).

asian?

I asked my 4 y.o. what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said "Ice cream truck driver"

lol, 50%; but my wife and I both come from families where education is highly stressed.

Even though a BA/BS would be the minimal education level that we would like we don't care what he does as long as he is happy. If he and his brother both went to law school and decided practice with me I would be estatic.

if your son becomes an engineer PHD, he better be one of the cool ones that develops experimental aircraft or something cool like that, as opposed to just looking into interesting phenomena that will not benefit society for a billion years (yes YOU, nanotechnology )

 

[AmpedSilence]

I wanted to be a truck driver when i was that age. I am now a programmer. Pretty much the same pay, but much better hours. I still like to drive though.