FAA Reviews

Former Employee – worked at FAA

Pros – Good caring and dedicated people
Casual fridays
Interesting work when involved with different departments
40 hours and overtime is rare and must be preapproved.

Cons – Watch your back
Don't do anything more than expected
1 year probationary period
Departments are dependant on annual budgets
Any overtime or extra work must be preapproved or you will not be paid and may be reprimanded

Advice to Senior Management – Plenty of good people who care about what they do. Too much micrmanagement from DC or OK city that should be done locally.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at FAA

Pros – Great salary, very quickly go from 40K to 80, 90 and eventually 100K+
relaxed dress code
challenging work

Cons – possibility of becoming a 'training failure' which 1/2 of my class fell victim to. this is the biggest downside...you could end up wasting a lot of time and money if you fail to make it through the first year of training. The worst part for me was the fact that I heard that due to the amount of failures in my class, they decided to change the training program to ensure more people made it through to actual, relevant, live traffic training.

people make a good deal of money, yet are often whining about not making more. most of the whining I overheard came from people making over 90K a year.

The abnormal schedule, for example, 3-11pm, 2-10pm, 8-4pm, 6-2pm followed by a night shift the same day of 10pm-6am really messes people up. I saw walking zombies every day. I have met people who had to work this schedule well into their 40s. think about it, you are gone 2 evenings a week, one overnight, and basically the best way to deal with the overnight is to not sleep all day when you get home at the crack of dawn so if you think about that, does the money justify what type of life you will have?

there is a rift between the Union members and non-union types. a lot of trash-talking behind people's backs, and it all seems very high-school.

not a con, but a final warning. I would not count on basic intelligence to carry you through to CPC (certified professional controller) Most if not all people who make it through have sacrificed a lot of personal time studying their ass off to make it, and sometimes that's not enough. if you really want it, it will consume you for a good 2-3 years until you are fully checked out....that is, if you make it thru training. my advice, have a back up plan.

Advice to Senior Management – allow controllers to decide if trainees are proficient enough to do the job. don't fail candidates out in early, rushed, unrealistic training scenarios.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at FAA

Pros – Secure and stable, and some good people

Cons – No room for growth, No fun

Advice to Senior Management – Be open and flexible with your staff people

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at FAA full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – pay, flexible schedule (provided you request far in advance), good rate of earning leave once you've been in for 15 yrs, training schedule

Cons – work schedule(rotating shifts), required to schedule leave out 1 yr in advance, supervisor can change schedule throughout year after the annual schedule has been established, Congress uses your job as a political football cutting your salary

Advice to Senior Management – Remind the flying public and Congress that FAA actually produces income for the gov't and before FAA was required to be part of the General Fund we were able to cover all of our costs & upgrades and still have a surplus at the end of the year.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at FAA

Pros – Not sure, I'm not sure. Not too sure.

Cons – You can meet many diff people

Current Employee – been working at FAA full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – A very good place to work with good benefits.

Cons – Like any job--you'll have your good and bad days.

Advice to Senior Management – An organization starts at the top.

Current Employee – been working at FAA full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – If you are willing to relocate and work hard there are many opportunities to excel in the agency. The agency values people that love to work and put in hours both at the job site and at home.

Many positions allow flexible schedules and 4 day work weeks (10 hour days) but mainly in the unionized positions.

Plenty of training too, you will be overloaded with the amount of trianing required to have a technical job.

Cons – The agency focuses too much on metrics, and not enough on people. They fail to make the connection that treating people well will result in great metric performance. Sadly if you do not meet 100% of goals that are often not related to safety, you are still not up to their expectations. It causes undue stress and can lead to unethical behavior.

The core comp pay system is an awful answer to the GS scale.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop the reverse discrimination that is ongoing, it affects morale over time.

Restructure the pay system to attract talent and keep what you do have. The poor performers are the ones that do not strive to leave and accept the pay they have. Turn-over is high and people will often not come to the FAA as an airway transporation systems specialist to start at ~$40-50k when they are making considerably more in the private or military sector doing similar work.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at FAA full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Good pay, some good people

Cons – Different shift everyday, no weekends off, stress, watch your own back with your coworkers

Advice to Senior Management – Get a clue!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at FAA

Pros – -Interesting work
-Good opportunities
-Decent pay
-Time off

Cons – -Work can get repetitive
-Lacks leadership
-Poor communication

Advice to Senior Management – -Learn to lead and make tough decisions

Current Employee – been working at FAA

Pros – Never is a boring minute.

Cons – On call 24/7 365 days a year.

Advice to Senior Management – Need more HR support for routine actions.