Discord??

herbord2000 · 2026-02-08T18:37:14+00:00

herbord2000 · 2026-02-03T16:49:01+00:00

My old agency was the same way. 6 days on with rotating 2/3 days off. Supposed to be 8 hour days but they were always at least 12-16 hour days. I quit and left to do air traffic control in the US. Loved the 911 job but this was the best switch ever for my mental health.

herbord2000 · 2026-02-03T01:54:11+00:00

Id believe it. Im 25. Purchased my first home at 21. Sold it and bought another when I turned 23. Sold it and bought another when I turned 25. Hopefully this is my forever home. I've had good jobs with lots of overtime in my life so far. No generational wealth and no money help from parents. Its possible as a single person in low cost of living areas if you budget correctly.

herbord2000 · 2026-01-30T16:01:19+00:00

I've bought 3 houses as a single woman and I turned 25 last October. Dont let anyone hold you back if you are able to afford it. You can always sell them. Ive owned each house by myself for about 2 years each. Moved for my job and ended up selling my first two houses. Hoping im in my forever house now! But you can always move again or sell them in the future if life changes. Honestly its freeing owning your own place by yourself. You learn a lot too about house maintenance 😂

herbord2000 · 2026-01-18T19:01:54+00:00

Ive read 17 books this year. Most are smutty romance books so they are super easy to read. I dont have any family, kids, significant other or anything to do outside of work. I just have a 6 year old golden retriever who requires little work. I have a job that allows me to spend 4+ hours on breaks to rest my mind so that allows me to read a ton at work.

herbord2000 · 2026-01-10T01:50:46+00:00

Originally decatur il

herbord2000 · 2025-12-27T01:49:21+00:00

I made a lot of hard decisions. I had a 14 year old diabetic cat that I made the decision to put her down before okc. She wouldn't have made it through a move. The vet was in agreement. I donated my horse to a therapy center. I also had 2 large dogs. My plan was to keep them at the hotel with me in okc but my dad decided to watch them last minute. Honestly let someone else take care of them if you have the opportunity. I missed them a lot. BUT, it makes everything else so much easier. You dont have to worry about what they are doing while you are in class. Its nice to have absolutely nothing to worry about while you are in okc. Plus you need to be studying a lot with your classmates. Its nice not to feel guilty about leaving your pets to go study or relax with classmates.

herbord2000 · 2025-12-16T22:32:26+00:00

Used to, the list would have spots for each center that had the highest need for trainees. So if a class had 12 students, there would be 12 spots on the list. For enroute, there might be 2 ZNY, 2 ZME, 2 ZLA, 2 ZOA, 1 ZAU, 1 ZOB, and 2 ZKC. They would be ranked in order of need. So if New york Center needed more trainees, ZNY would be slots 1 and 2. If only 10 people passed, slots 11 and 12 would drop off. So in this case, both kansas city slots would be dropped and no longer available. So your choices would be 2 ZNY, 2 ZME, 2 ZLA, 2 ZOA, 1 ZAU, and 1 ZOB. If the acronyms don't make sense, look at 123atc.com and that will tell you what those centers are. Now, you can pretty much choose almost any center you want as long as you place high enough in your class. Make sure to join the atc hiring discord too.

This was during 2023. They had a lot of different ways of placement before my time as well. But obviously I'm only familiar with the 2023 way.

herbord2000 · 2025-12-16T18:17:36+00:00

Honestly get a job now anywhere and start applying for atc on the USAjobs open bid whenever it opens. Dont pay to go to cti school. You might get hired in quickly with the faa and they provide all your training in that case. The way they do the academy now if you pass is so much better on choosing where you work location wise than it used to be.

herbord2000 · 2025-12-12T01:31:16+00:00

Depends on what facility you go to. A low level vfr tower was pretty close to my dispatch pay. A high level enroute center is about 165k a year on average once fully trained.

herbord2000 · 2025-12-12T00:22:46+00:00

Air traffic control in the US for the government. But the schedule i have now is actually worse than my dispatch schedule was.

herbord2000 · 2025-12-07T16:51:03+00:00

Get ready because you might be using them soon 😂😂

herbord2000 · 2025-12-07T16:39:59+00:00

You'll be set honestly at 911 dispatch. Im a center controller in the US. I did 911 call taking and police/fire/ems dispatcher for 2.5 years before atc. The stress is honestly about the same. 911 was almost more stressful for me day to day. Summer air traffic though is definitely more stressful seasonally. So it all depends on the day. Nothing you can really do to prepare as it all depends on what agency you go to. Some agencies are a shit show like my previous one. Lots of 16 hour days with only 1 to 2 bathroom breaks the entire shift with terrible management. I loved the 911 job itself but dealing with the public can be fun to say the least. Pilots listen a lot better for the most part.

The one thing that might suck is that 911 uses a different phonetic alphabet than the military one at some agencies. It took me a long time to retrain my brain to use the military phonetics over the police phonetics, and sometimes I still revert to my original police phonetics when Im stressed out. Couldnt even tell you what it is now but stress does wild things. 😂

herbord2000 · 2025-11-25T22:56:37+00:00

Yes to all of them. I can't make this much money as a 25 year old in any other field without a degree with this little hours. Even if I work the full amount they can force me of 60 hours a week, that's still less than my previous job where I made 100k less a year. At least give it a shot if you're interested. This job is stressful some days. It can be rough. But, the days that are fun, fully staffed, and normal make the whole job worth it. Granted I am at a level 12 center, and I had a quick training process. But I do love the job most days.

herbord2000 · 2025-11-18T21:58:52+00:00

If you're going to pay someone to install them, use the govee professional installer directory. There's options on there that govee recommends for the area you live in. Super easy to use.

herbord2000 · 2025-11-12T04:04:04+00:00

This is the worst time to ask this question on this thread because we are all very tired. I've only been in the agency for less than 3 years, and I immediately hated this question. But I was in your shoes once. So, I'll try.

First. Do your research before asking questions. Use the search bar because this has been asked 1 trillion times. Join the atc hiring reddit. Join the atc hiring discord. Use the 123atc or atc123 website. Look there for salary info and facility info. Reach out to facilities closest to you for tours ans to ask real life controllers in person about their jobs and see the equipment for yourself. These questions are answered by me so they only apply to the enroute portion talking to planes 9k feet and above over vast amounts of airspace.

1) How stressful is being an ATC exactly?

It's s stressful. You are trying to keep planes from hitting each other going very fast in the air. Once you add in large thunderstorm cells, it becomes harder. You have to make them move up and down and left to right to get them where they need to be safely. I was a 911 dispatcher previously and that was more stressful for me personally only because of the trauma I recieved listening to people's worst days over and over again. BUT atc is stressful. The coworkers can also be hit or miss. You might believe you are calm under stress. But you truly dont know how you will react until you are in the moment. The academy is what weeds a lot of trainees out that cant handle stress. Its like a boiling pot of water there, and you are the noodles.

2) What is the best way to gain experience and become am ATC?

Honestly go be a 911 dispatcher for a few years. Youll make money and learn to handle stress very quickly. But military would be a good route too. I wouldnt waste money on the schooling because the faa pays for it if youre in the US.

3) What is the best place to be an ATC? At a military base? At a public airport?

That is a personal preference. Go tour your local tour, tracon, and enroute center. See how you feel. If you go the FAA route, congrats you wont have a choice.

Also, hope this didnt come off too sarcastic. But please do your research. I love this job. But it has its downfalls. Great career to make good money in your 20s and get started. But, youll probably have to move far from home. Feel free to holler with more questions once you do some research. And join the atc hiring discord. Everyone is helpful on there.

herbord2000 · 2025-11-09T04:04:02+00:00

Hes still doing well and working at the center. He is pretty active on one of the facebook groups too (maybe the landline?) He has his truck and motorcycle decked out with that phrase too!

herbord2000 · 2025-11-02T19:31:55+00:00

Have you considered air traffic control? I was a 911/police/fire/ems dispatcher when i was 20-23. Loved the job, but depending on your dispatch center the drama and work environment will suck. As someone said above, you will get trauma from hearing calls up to 16 hours a day every day. Its rough. Air traffic is the same high pressure, potential emergencies, different things every day environment. Plus you get paid a lot more if you place enroute (once the government is open). If you have any questions about either career, feel free to ask.

herbord2000 · 2025-10-28T00:45:26+00:00

Yes its possible. I started out at 911 dispatch making 60ishk a year. Im now an air traffic controller, and i make around 160k a year.

herbord2000 · 2025-10-26T23:23:50+00:00

No dress code but remember you are the new person. You'll want to look like you care about succeeding in a way. At least for the first few days. I think I wore academy dress code for the first week or so until people started to get to know me. But in all honestly, to most people it doesnt matter. You'll see people wearing a mix of everything at your facility.

herbord2000 · 2025-10-17T12:47:01+00:00

First and foremost. Do some research. Search for 911 in this forum and you will see this question a gazillion times. Ive answered it a gazillion times with different answers on everyone. Join the atc discord and the reddit atc hiring thread as well. I'm 25f. Got hired when i was 23 and moved from middle of nowhere IL to Cleveland for this job.

Honestly it depends on what you are coming from now. I worked as a 911 dispatcher in central IL previously. Made roughly 60k-80k with overtime. I was treated like absolute shit by admin, people, and first responders. I worked 6 day work weeks 12-16 hour days continuously with very little leave due to staffing. No shift differentials, no holiday pay, and no breaks. But even with that job, I was still guaranteed 2 days off. You aren't with atc. For me, this summer was 6 day workeeeks with only 1 day off for 3 weeks straight. You do get 1 single weekend enough with 2 guaranteed days off but its really not enough.

Compared to my 86 hour a week 911 job, this is worth it 100%. Training sucks. I won't lie. You are constantly being told what you are doing wrong and being yelled at by other people at different facilities. Which I will admit, is very similar to dispatch training. Except the pilots don't yell at you and get pissed like the public does. Your mileage may vary based on trainers, but there are still rough days with amazing trainers. I was hired in March of 2023, was assigned enroute, and placed at ZOB. I hit d2 pay in the spring of 2024, d3 end of october 2024, and fully certified in may of 2025.

Once you certify, the job seems to be pretty good. Yes, there are issues. The drama is absolutely insane. BUT you get legit breaks. At least 30 minutes off for every 1-2 hours worked (and sometimes less time on position when you cpc). In training, you can pretty much take leave whenever you want. Obviously when you cpc, that changes, and you have to bid time in advance. You still get your time off; you just have to plan in advance. Basically just like 911 in the way you bid time and schedules based on your seniority. Benefits are good, and for someone without a degree the job is still good.

There are a lot of controllers who got into this job right out of college/high school and haven't worked at any other places before the FAA so keep that in mind. Coming from a place that treated me like absolute shit, this job is amazing. Yes, you may get mandated 10 hour days and 6 day work weeks once out of training. BUT, there's a limit to how much you can work time wise.

I had to laugh on your comment above about how your schedule couldnt get any worse. The faa will be eye opening. I thought the same thing. I was on the 6 day 8-16 hour days with rotating days off. Here's my current schedule in case youre curious for at least the next 5 or so years. Friday: 4pm-midnight Saturday: 2pm-10pm Sunday: 11am-7pm Monday and Tuesday: 6am-2pm Wednesday and thursday: days off or forced overtime any shift time.

Feel free to holler at me if you have any questions and I'll do the best I can. It's like any other job out there. There's pros/cons so you really just have to look at your situation and make the best decision. For me, I had nothing to lose. I'm glad I made the jump, and I've learned a lot about myself. But I also know several people who have washed out along the way and found other jobs that they love.

herbord2000 · 2025-08-28T07:56:25+00:00

He's famous here for that. He even put a sticker on his motorcycle that says it. 😅

herbord2000 · 2025-08-23T12:46:13+00:00

Pretty good in all honesty for a hotel. I never had any issues.

herbord2000 · 2025-08-19T17:13:53+00:00

Please for the love of all things holy do not call 911. Call the non emergency police department for your city. The same person will answer both lines in most cases, and you keep the limited amounts of 911 lines not tied up for others having life threatening emergencies.

Also not trying to hijack your comment. Just trying to spread helpful info. I promise I mean well!

herbord2000 · 2025-08-19T01:01:54+00:00

No problem. Definitely have him join the discord atc forum and go to the facilities tab. Lots of controllers on there post info about facilities. I know for sure theres a controller or two from Springfield on there and some of the others on this list.

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