Air Traffic Controler: This Job is Tit

Introduction
If you cannot handle stress, don’t even consider the job. Should you buckle under pressure then you are essentially worthless as an Air Traffic Controller, and if you are worthless then you are dangerous. However, if you are calm, organized, mathematically inclined and have a good memory, you contain all the requisite skills to take on the job and do it successfully.

Job Function
The point of an Air Traffic Controller’s work is to make sure that all of the planes from all of the different airports make it safely to their destinations in a timely manner. Sometimes this is downright dreadful: the logistics of doing this is astronomically difficult, there is so much to keep track of, and making sure that a plane lands at Logan Airport at its appointed arrival time feels unnecessary. It is at these times when the job seems to be busy-work. Conversely, these are the easy times, when no one’s life is at stake and you can take a breather. It is the intense stuff, though, that I enjoy about the job. When the paths of two planes is disastrous and a flight path must be found that will allow their safe travel, it is a feeling of relief that has no equal when you figure a way out of killing hundreds of travelers. This is, of course, what makes the job so stressful, but it is also what makes it so exciting and worthwhile. Lifestyle
Air Traffic Controller’s have to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. To manage this we work on revolving schedules, so that this month I might work night shifts, and the next I might do the evening shifts. Since the job is so stressful in nature, and since everyone knows full well the stress involved and the possibility of tragedy that could result from too much stress, the management does everything in their power to relieve that tension. This means you never work more than an eight hour day, and that you are given ample vacation time. The work itself is intense, but by no means will it rule your life…unless you have a fondness for drugs, since you will be routinely tested for them.

Additional Information
The work is fulfilling and you can feel good about what you do, to make no mention of the fact that it is a pretty high paying job, but the real joys are found in the simpler moments. Saving the lives of hundreds of people by one quick decision is all well and good, it certainly does warm my cockles every time, and making sure that planes reach their destination on time is also nice, but every so often you get the opportunity to really delay a plane. It’s unavoidable, there will be a crash if you don’t, so you have to do it…I find that this is the greatest joy in my work-day, to make someone’s girlfriend wait an extra two hours to pick them up at the airport. Maybe that makes me sound spiteful? Well, we all need an outlet, and this job offers just that: you get to ruin a stranger’s (actually, a whole plane full of strangers) day and are perfectly justified in doing so: wonderful.