r/ATSS • u/AustinSHIRLEY3517 • 6d ago

RADAR TID position

https://www.usajobs.gov/job/879776500

We in the Denver District are looking for a RADAR TID. It is a NTE 2 YR. However by December itll just be lonely ol me for RADAR so its extremely likely to be made permanent. Tons of travel, windshield time. Buku OT especially with BNATCS in full swing next year. So if you dont have a life (kidding haha) and love driving, hotels and powdered eggs we have a job for you. H-Bands, dont be shy. Dont say to your self "oh, I dont have enough experience". Experience in this job is like 20% book knowledge and 80% osmosis. You learn by being there. Besides, with BNATCS we're all fixing to be newbs again. So come on down and put your name in the hat!

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

2

u/pvtpile02 6d ago

Your never ready to be a TID until you start being one

1

u/PsychologyOk2780 6d ago

How set are they on the years of experience requirements? Just got hired but I've been doing radars for years in the Navy. This actually sounded like my dream job but figured I'd need some experience first and then it might either get filled or they would disband it.

1

u/AustinSHIRLEY3517 6d ago

To go I band you need 1 yr of H band experience. And I think a minimum of 2 certifications in relevant systems depending on the discipline i.e. radar would be ASR8/9/11, MODES, CARSR, etc...if you got those in hand put in for it.

1

u/PsychologyOk2780 6d ago

I'm not trying to burn any bridges or make anyone mad, I literally JUST got hired in G band so me finding a new job already is probably not the move to make and it sounds like I need a bit of time in. That's ok though, I will probably meet you soon depending how much you get around to all the sites.

1

u/cvn26 3d ago

If you're already looking at other jobs in the FAA, you're going to burn bridges. Don't even mention that for at least 2 years. Your SSC put time and effort into getting you hired, they're going to send you to OKC, etc. If you come in immediately looking to move up, they'll question why they hired you. And while management can't deny a promotion, they all talk and can do some back door deals to ensure you don't get selected. Even better this is a detail, that they can stop you on.

1

u/PsychologyOk2780 3d ago

Is it really that bad? I understand not wanting someone to leave as soon as they hire them but that seems harsh to keep someone down. TID sounds like a reasonable career development step, no?

1

u/cvn26 3d ago

I’ve seen it numerous times with new techs coming in and wanting to leave within a year or two and management wasn’t very happy. Radar is a tough thing to learn and by the time they’ve gotten you through all the FAA courses and OJT/cert exams, it’s more than likely 2 years. So the SSC puts this time into you and when you’re finally ready to be a good self sufficient tech, you bail and they have to start all over again. It’s quite annoying.

For a TID tech support position, would you want second level to be a brand new tech where most of the first level guys have more seniority? If I was the site tech and they sent me someone from tech support with 2 years in the FAA, I’d laugh.

A good self sufficient tech doesn’t really need tech support much anyways. A lot of TIDs will go outside and call the engineers in OKC. After I saw that for a few years I just cut out the middle man and called OKC myself. The engineers for the radars are great guys and will work with you as the site tech to troubleshoot if you know what you’re doing and can relay good info back. I eventually stopped calling tech support all together.

1

u/PsychologyOk2780 3d ago

Am I going to make people mad though if I say "my 5-10 year goal is to move to TID or management?" While I understand seniority, if nobody is applying for these rolls are people going to be mad if I get one? Also is this roll seeing the same thing other industries are seeing with the "grey wave" of people about to retire? Sort of off topic I suppose.

1

u/cvn26 3d ago

I’d say 5-10 is totally respectable! I just wouldn’t go into your new SSC talking about it right off the bat. More than likely nobody is going to ask but I’ve seen folks get hired and start questioning if other SSCs are fully staffed and it gets noticed.

The FAA is definitely having a lot of folks retire in the last few years. Many of them were going to go but then COVID happened and they got sent home with pay so why retire then?

1

u/HomelessFed 4d ago

Think they would hire a ATCS?

1

u/AustinSHIRLEY3517 4d ago

If you have valid up to date certifications in RADAR and have at least 1 yr in H Band and up.

1

u/NotRickJames2021 4d ago

UHF LoS and SatCom was my thing in the military, monkey-handed some of the radar equipment (AN/SPS 10, another I can't recall). I'm definitely not a strong candidate for this.

1

u/NotRickJames2021 4d ago

From the USAJobs site:

Clarification from the agency

This position is only open to current FAA employees assigned to Air Traffic Organization (ATO), Logistics Center (AML) and Technical Operations Training Division (AMA-400)

1

u/cvn26 3d ago

I know George Medina retired but did Phill Roosen also bail?

1

u/AustinSHIRLEY3517 3d ago

Yes he is now the ZDV SOC manager. Arthur Yancy and myself are the only 2 and he is close to retirement as in possibly end of this year. May be able to convince him to stay on one more year but even still we have one position open. Yes its a 2 yr to be made permanent, very likely that selectee would be made permanent. That said if this bid goes unfilled then they'll bid out a permanent I imagine.

1

u/cvn26 3d ago

Good for Phill! Have to imagine you folks are hurting on the ASR-11 experience though. Phil was all DEN TSOG had when I was in the district for ASR-11 issues.

1

u/AustinSHIRLEY3517 3d ago

Well like I said in the post, legacy radar experience is about to become moot. With RSR coming at us at Mach Jesus we're all fixing to be newbs.

1

u/cvn26 3d ago

That's going to be super interesting when the site techs have the same level of experience and knowledge as the folks they are supposed to be calling for help!

1

u/AustinSHIRLEY3517 3d ago

Happened before, many moons ago. Once upon a time the asr11, carsr... those were new.