Air traffic controller with aerospace engineer degree?

Question

Help! Can I get a job as a air traffic controller with a aerospace engineer degree?

Answer 1

Threre are 3 different routes to this occupation as identified in the link below.  You can become an air traffic controller without any degree whatsoever or with as much education as you want.  There is a test that is administered by the FAA to determine aptitude to learn for those without experience.  An excellent way to learn how is to join the Air Force, or Navy, or Marine Corps (don't know about the Army).  If you are already finished with college, they will pay your loans off and be happy to do so to make you an officer.  If you are not finished with college, they will be happy to give you a fat bonus and train you.  Your success in landing that particular training and job in the military depends on what they currently need and are offering, but there are so many cool, high-tech jobs to choose from in the military that you may not care anyway if you can't get that particular one.

Now, my question for you is...why would you want to suffer through an aerospace engineering degree - which would offer you an excellent and interesting career as an engineer in aviation - only to spend your days in a control tower worrying about whether a bunch of whining overpaid pilots are keeping their assigned altitudes?  When I was in my early twenties, I considered becoming a controller.  Fortunately, my uncle (an aerospace engineer) talked me out of it.  I went on to become an engineer in a different field and feel like I dodged a bullet - there is a reason why controllers have such a high suicide and divorce rate.  My uncle, by the way, had a great career at several research labs and made a ton of money.  Aviation is a great field, but ATC is the epicenter of stress, and frankly there are better paying jobs that are far more interesting but still involve aviation.  Aerospace engineer is one of them if you are willing to put in about three years at a slightly lower wage in order to end up with many more years at a higher wage.  Besides, an engineering degree is rock solid and portable.  People trust you when you have any type of engineering degree at all and will hire you for all kinds of professions that have little to do with engineering.  They know you are a problem solver and brighter than average.  On the other hand, what are you going to do with 10 years of ATC experience after you become bored with it?  Can you say "Pizza Hut?"

My advice: get the engineering degree and work in an engineering field.  If you must be an ATC, get your experience in the military.  At least you will get to play around with much cooler aircraft, and maybe get lucky enough to spend some time goofing around overseas. Ahh......the memories.

6/29/08 - New information reveals that you are from the UK. Well, that changes things a bit, unless you are from the UK trying to become an ATC in the US.  If you are trying to become an ATC in the UK and are under age 30, you still do not need a four-year college degree - much less an engineering degree.  Check out this training school for information about ATC training in the UK:  http://www.nats.co.uk/text/42/air_traffi...

Also: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/...

Answer 2

Not really. Only a few are hired without specific training prior to hire.

Controllers get a specific degree, offered by only a few schools, that concentrates on the air traffic control system, not on how to design aircraft.

Google things like air traffic control school.

Edit:

These comments were for USA. According to Wiki, going into NATS as a trainee controller is the only way to get a controller position with NATS in the UK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_traffic...

Here's the NATS' employment website:

http://www.nats.co.uk/text/9/careers_tra...

Apparently NATS runs their own training academy. See what their requirements are. There are few other companies that run ATC, but most is NATS.

Since you are an engineer, there is another possibility: see about working for NATS as an engineer. You would be involved with developing and testing new equipment and procedures. They might even allow you to go through the training for the controller at engineer pay, rather than trainee pay.