Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

cbsnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 172 posts

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#151

Post by ddejohn »

ipsod wrote: post #125
ViktorRay wrote: post #118

Wait after reading the article it simply says that many of these hired people also play video games. Their definition of “video gamer” is literally just somebody who says they play games. I don’t see what the big deal is. Lots of young people play games every now and then. Many medical students play video games. You don’t see articles saying “America’s new surgeons…are video gamers!”

Movie watchers and food eaters, too.

100% of air traffic controllers had consumed dihydrogen monoxide prior to an aviation disaster.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#152

Post by ASalazarMX »

Neywiny wrote: post #3

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...

"Weird, this always worked in GTA V..."

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#153

Post by red-iron-pine »

ViktorRay wrote: post #118

Wait after reading the article it simply says that many of these hired people also play video games. Their definition of “video gamer” is literally just somebody who says they play games. I don’t see what the big deal is. Lots of young people play games every now and then. Many medical students play video games. You don’t see articles saying “America’s new surgeons…are video gamers!”

"US hires over 2000 people who eat tacos as Air Traffic controllers"

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#154

Post by red-iron-pine »

ksymph wrote: post #90

To be clear, they began a recruitment ad campaign targeting gamers, and ended up meeting their hiring goal of 2,000+. It's not like they pulled 2,000 gamers off the street and stuck them in ATC towers. Better link (.gov): https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transpor... > With only about 25 percent of controllers holding a traditional college degree, this effort is focused on reaching talented young pe…

there are similar campaigns in Canada for NavCanada hiring ATCs as well

their ads have been targeting busy waiter/waitress staff, as handling a bumping restaurant floor gives the multi-tasking skills needed, or so goes the thinking

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#155

Post by imtringued »

colordrops wrote: post #81
layman51 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's cool, but sim racing enthusiasts typically have gaming peripherals like steering wheels, pedals, and gear shifters that bring them closer to the experience of a real race car driver. For FPS games, they might be realistic in terms of detail, but how would most video games capture the physical stamina needed to carry around equipment, or maybe even aiming and maintaining the sights, equipment, etc.

Do you realize how much stamina and physical prowess are required to drive an F1 car?

Yes, I'm pretty sure most people will realize that the difference between the stamina and physical prowess needed to go from driving virtual F1 races to driving real F1 is much less than the difference between the stamina and physical prowess you need to go from being a soldier in call of duty to being a real soldier.

You know, the former involves physical steering wheels, shifters, pedals, realistic vehicle models, etc.

Meanwhile the latter involves pressing a single button to reload a fire arm and clicking a mouse button to fire.

You have to be pretty dense to think that aiming with a mouse has any resemblance to aiming with sights or a scope or even just pulling the trigger. You know, real guns have recoil.

Meanwhile most high end steering wheels have force feedback that can "fight back".

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#158

Post by olelele »

comrade1234 wrote: post #4

I 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…

I guess he never heard that the first reaction to combat is to soil oneself. In the Scandinavian military service I did they taught us to go to the toilet as a readiness maneuver.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#159

Post by monster_truck »

ikr678 wrote: post #95
mwambua wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure - but I know there's a really serious community of folks who do ATC virtually on VATSIM: https://vatsim.net I feel like those folks would already have been candidates for air traffic controller jobs though.

I suspect popularity of sims like this is because of people who cannot be candidates for ATC roles - either have family or lifestyle restrictions that prevent them relocating or doing shift work, drug dependencies or medical issues, or criminal backgrounds.

The biggest one tends to be that they are simply too old, or have retired already. The retirement age is 56, with effectively no exceptions.

Virtually nobody lasts that long. If they don't end up needing a prescription that disqualifies them before 50, they end up getting incentivized to leave at 50 anyways.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#160

Post by jmpman »

One of my pilot friends told me that he knew of someone training to be an air traffic controller, and they completed the training but were denied the job due to an Obama era racial quota program which discriminated against him. I was skeptical of his claim, as he leans as far right as they come, and anything that Obama touches, he criticizes. But in this scenario, his anecdote was correct. Don't know if that's still the case, but recently it was.
Post reply on HN