Transport and logistics
What does an Air Traffic Controller do?
Getting people and goods where they need to be, on time and in one piece.
What the day is like
- Indoors, under a roof.
- A screen and a keyboard.
- Right or wrong, to a standard.
- No two days alike.
The facts
- Pay
- $148,080 a year, median
- Air Traffic Controllers, May 2025
- Usually needs
- Associate's degree
- Several years, and usually a formal qualification.
- Jobs
- +2% projected change in jobs, 2025-2035 projections
- Demand looks growing slowly
What is good about it
- It pays well against the rest of the work on this site.
- No two days are the same, if that is what you want from a week.
What people find hard about it
- Sustained concentration
- Shift work
- Mistakes that matter enormously
Selection is hard, training fails many, and there is an upper age limit to start.
Will machines take this job?
What machines will do to this work. Routing and scheduling are heavily automated; responsibility for a vehicle, a load and a schedule stays with a person.
How to find out whether it suits you
Visit a control facility and watch a busy period from behind the position.
Would this actually suit you?
CareerDNA works that out from what you choose rather than from what you say about yourself: two minutes of choosing between real jobs, a few puzzles, and some questions about what you are like. It is free, it saves as you go, and it will tell you plainly where the answer is thin.