[AMA Request] An Air Traffic Controller

I am an Air Traffic Controller, I have been for about ten years.

1) I absolutely love my job. It is the best decision I have ever made. I have always been obsessed with aviation and I'm even doing some flight training. ATC is like a behind the scenes look. It was extremely helpful during my flight training to have that experience. I enjoy and am excited to be at work everyday. I think I have the best job around.

2) My biggest challenge was being a trainee at Nellis AFB. I had to really humble myself and work extremely hard to earn my way through the gauntlet of extremely difficult ratings. It was a tough place to go without any prior experience but I think it was and will continue to be a solid foundation for the rest of my controlling career.

3) I do not consider my actual job to be stressful nor difficult. I do consider training to be extremely stressful and very difficult. Once you know what you're doing, it is a breeze. Once you have a few ratings, people sort of back off and let you do your thing. When you're new, you'll never do ANYTHING right even if you do it all perfectly. Our job has a lot of subjective opinions about it. How much should somebody be turned, when to do it, what altitude works best, when to say no, when to say yes... It is different from one controller to the next depending on experience, skill, mood, whatever. They will always correct you on something and you've got to stay humble and take it in stride.

4) go to CTI school or join the military first. Be quick to listen and slow to argue. Study everything. Ask questions. Make people explain anything that is even slightly confusing. Then... Go ask another person. They'll all have different opinions and some will be flat out wrong. Don't ever tell people that they are wrong unless you can absolutely prove it beyond doubt... Even then, tread lightly if you're a trainee. Do NOT screw up anyone's food order. You'll be the guy who goes to pick up food for a while.

5) I have a bunch, and I would love to share them. Crazy emergencies. Dangerous situations, threats to national security. Cool pilots, terrible pilots. Extreme weather, fires, equipment failures, idiot controllers, smart controllers, hilarious IFR room antics. I've seen a lot of awesome stuff and if you would like, reply to my comment and I'll share what I can when I have more time.

/r/IAmA Thread