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by ye_lavinia » Sat, 31 May 2008 7:04 pm
passion guy: you mentioned you have the passion for radar. This is my point again-- how much do you REALLY know about the job? Allow me to explain.
When you join, you get automatically assigned to either AREA or APPROACH stream. Trainees don't have a choice here, and once you're in a stream, you're in there for your entire career.
For AREA pple, they're those working with radar the whole time. But, when they first start working officially after training, they only have the "Area Non-Radar" licence. It'll be after a couple of years before they're sent back to academy to train for their "Area Radar" licence. So for the first part of your career as AREA person, you can't use the radar and control. You're working next to the radar-licenced controller, helping him/her, using your paper strips and notes...
For APPROACH pple, they start their career either at Changi or Seletar Airport. (Most prob it'll be Changi cos the last Seletar batch was 5 years ago.) These are called aerodrome controllers, they control basically everything that's in the airport, reagarding ATC. If you only have this aerodrome licence, you CANNOT work with radars, even though there're a couple in the airport control tower. REason's very clear-- You don't have the training and licence to use the radars!!
After a few years in the control tower, holding only an aerodrome licence, the controller will be sent to the "Approach Non-Radar" and "Approach Radar" course. Only when you pass, THEN you can be posted to work in the radar control room.
Points to note:
-- When I mentioned going for a 2nd training to get the additional licence, HR did not explain if the bond period is still being dedeucted, cos according to their initial explanation reagarding the Primary course training and OJT, as long as you're in 'school', you're not fulfilling your bond. (NOTE AGAIN: Training involves theory training, simulator training, and OJT.) So don't be surprised to discover that you are only allowed to leave 7 or 8 years after your first day in the company, due to all these training.
-- If your passion is to work with radars, there's no guarantee you can do so within the first 2 or 3 years of your career. Like I said, the previous Seletar Airport batch of Approach controllers has been holding on to only ONE licence and still not going for their Radar training.
Eugenia89: It's true that the gratuity might be quite nice after over one year of training. But some guys who received their 'fat gratuity' told me, sure it's nice to see your bank account get fat suddenly. But don't forget, it's THEIR money after all. And how long can it last?
~~
I guess it's quite tough for those who have a family to take care of. They can really see past the gratuity and think of the further 6 years. They can't change their career path and just take home whatever is that amount HR gives them. Not to mention, shift work needs a lot of understanding from their family members.