No mention of what games they're playing? Also no mention of when the NYC ones were told to move to Pennsylvania or be fired? Interestingly also cbs's article https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-philadelphia-a...
US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
41–50 of 172 posts
Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
#42I had a coworker from the democratic republic of Congo who insisted that if he was back home he would do ok fighting because he played lots of first-person shooters. I mean he was 100% serious about this. We argued about it. He got a commitment from our employer to pay his undergrad tuition. But he disappeared one day, probably went home to fight and die. I search for him every now and then but I think he's gone. I t…
The US Army did a bunch of recruiting to teenagers like this, successfully. Work for us, it's just like Call of Duty! They had their own branded FPS even.
Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
#43Are they focusing on RTS players with high APM?
They tried, but the max hiring age is still 31.
Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
#44I had a coworker from the democratic republic of Congo who insisted that if he was back home he would do ok fighting because he played lots of first-person shooters. I mean he was 100% serious about this. We argued about it. He got a commitment from our employer to pay his undergrad tuition. But he disappeared one day, probably went home to fight and die. I search for him every now and then but I think he's gone. I t…
For anyone contemplating the same, go play paintball for half a day. You don't just get killed every other round like in Arma, the "death" it's somewhat painful, you get out of breath and start valuing any semblance of cover very much (and get killed from and unexpected direction anyway).
Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
#45Only 10% make it through the first week? At least the weed out process is quick.
Where do you see it taking a week? > Historically, fewer than 10% of applicants met the FAA's requirements to work as an air traffic controller and gain admission to the agency's training program. It sounds like they are weeded out before even being accepted.
The medical certificate weeds out many of them. Many video gamers are proud of their ADHD, and that is a no-no. If they've been depressed, have sleep disorders, etc. They would have to go through a difficult process to be issued a certificate if they eventually are able to. I doubt a casual, "sure, I could try it", applicant would spend the $6000+ to get the medical in that situation.
Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
#46From a very naïve perspective, why isn’t air traffic control a solved problem?
Would love to be educated here, but it seems like there are just not that many moving pieces per airport (This all seems like queuing theory and collision avoidance, which are very well done by computers.
Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
#47No mention of what games they're playing? Also no mention of when the NYC ones were told to move to Pennsylvania or be fired? Interestingly also cbs's article https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-philadelphia-a...
It shouldn't really matter. If you have the proclivity to sit on your bum for hours monitoring many parameters at a time and making decisions you're a much better fit to be trained up for ATC than someone picked at random.
Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
#48From a very naïve perspective, why isn’t air traffic control a solved problem? Would love to be educated here, but it seems like there are just not that many moving pieces per airport ( This all seems like queuing theory and collision avoidance, which are very well done by computers.
The collision in LGA in March revealed to me that not all objects are tracked.
Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
#49From a very naïve perspective, why isn’t air traffic control a solved problem? Would love to be educated here, but it seems like there are just not that many moving pieces per airport ( This all seems like queuing theory and collision avoidance, which are very well done by computers.
I remember in the 1980s, when there was an attempt to rewrite the US air traffic control system in Ada. A friend of mine, was on that project.
It did not end well.
It's a very hairy problem, and mistakes are very costly.
On another note: Those video gamers are gonna have some pretty clunky video experiences.