US Hires Over 2,000 Video Gamers As Air Traffic Controllers (cbsnews.com)
- Reference: 0184934578
- News link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/08/12/0542256/us-hires-over-2000-video-gamers-as-air-traffic-controllers
- Source link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-gamer-air-traffic-controllers-faa-recruitment-sean-duffy/
> U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a recent social media [2]post that the federal agency's [3]recruitment campaign to recruit gamers as air traffic controllers has been a "game changer" for the Federal Aviation Administration. [...] When Duffy announced the initiative in April, he acknowledged that the Transportation Department needed to extend its reach to recruit prospective air traffic controllers.
>
> "A lot of what they do playing games ... is what they do ... controlling traffic in the air," Duffy told CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave in an interview on Tuesday at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport. Duffy added that many current trainees started out as gamers. Only about 25% of controllers hold a traditional college degree, while former controllers note that gaming requires many of the same skills that air traffic controllers use on the job, such as thinking quickly, staying focused and managing multiple sources of information as they guide more than 80,000 flights to their destinations daily.
[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-gamer-air-traffic-controllers-faa-recruitment-sean-duffy/
[2] https://x.com/SecDuffy/status/2086574114215493969
[3] https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/04/10/219202/to-fill-air-traffic-controller-shortage-faa-turns-to-gamers
How am i supposed to leave ? (Score:2)
I am supposed to quit the country. Now i will have to leave by boat ! Well, at least less risk of TSA or ICE.
Anyone else have that ATC dos game as a kid? (Score:3)
No? Just me?
[1]https://dosgames.com/game/air-... [dosgames.com]
[1] https://dosgames.com/game/air-traffic-controller/
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I had an ATC DOS game when I was a kid, but I don't think it was that one. I checked MobyGames, and still don't know which it was.
Ubermicro (Score:2)
Yeah I can see that. The skill they're referring to is called ubermicro. If you have ubermicro you can definitely manage an ATC board.
Just... wow (Score:2)
Nothing says "clown-show shit-hole" like hiring gamers - many of whom undoubtedly live in momma's basement and maybe work at 7-eleven or Walmart - to look after the safety of all those people both in airplanes and under their flight paths. Brilliant!
I wonder how many of these fledgling ATCs will only find out the hard way that THIS game is for keepsies, and that dead "NPCs" - aka passengers -and their families may come back to haunt them for reals.
Plus, at some point the ones who actually turn out to be goo
Re: (Score:2)
Considering those gamers living in momma's basement and maybe working at 7 eleven or Walmart might have clocked in more hours playing video games which nowadays are not too different from an actual simulator used by Boeing or Airbus, just in a smaller scale, but with all its supporting functions being delegated to those willing to do it, than someone who never ever seen what an ATC job entails but wants a 6 figure job to pay for their unrelated college education? Yeah, better those 7-eleven or Walmar gamers
I'd really like to be snarky about this (Score:2)
But it actually seems like a good idea. Like a stopped clock, this administration is accidentally correct every once in a while, but it's definitely a lot less than twice a day.
Game mode (Score:2)
I hope someone is letting them know this game is stuck in permadeath mode.
Experiment (Score:2)
Will it work? Perhaps. Needs to be tested.
The job is well paid hell. Too much stress. But part of that is excess overtime. If we can hire enough people the job could become better, if less paid due to less overtime.
They had to find suckers somewhere (Score:2)
It's a shit job for which you are underpaid and which has only gotten harder under this administration. No wonder they had to hire people who spend their time in fantasy worlds because they are capable of sufficient suspension of disbelief
Re:They had to find suckers somewhere (Score:4, Insightful)
I first off agree it is a super high stress job with long hours, but I don't know I would call it underpaid. It's a six figure job with almost guaranteed overtime with federal benefits. I see the average salary is like around 150k with great job security and benefits, and the overtime will push your pay way above that. I mean who gets a six figure job that actually gives you overtime. Working in tech will require you to work all of those extra hours for just your base pay, and we are talking people under 30 here as they cap starting to 30 years old.....
Re: (Score:2)
> It's a six figure job with almost guaranteed overtime with federal benefits.
Take a long, careful look around you, then tell me you're confident that all of what you just said will still be true in a year or two.