I'm truly saddened to read some of the postings on here and I sincerely hope that they are very much tongue-in-cheek, or the job has changed drastically.
I started at Heathrow in January 1972 and spent 31 years as a Heathrow Director as well as 20+ years in the tower. I never once considered myself any better than any other controller, ATCA, typist, toilet cleaner or anyone else. I did my job and thoroughyl enjoyed it as it had been a dream of mine since I was about 10 years old.
NO ATCO is special and those who think they are are foolish. Those who are real stars at particular positions often fail miserably at others. I've seen plenty of ex-Heathrow controllers fail elsewhere and come back to Heathrow. One develops skills in particular tasks which may not be needed elsewhere - really good tower controllers might be rubbish on radar. A really hot Gatwick Director might be useless on the TMA or AC and vice versa. A well respected TMA wizard might go under in seconds on Heathrow GMC (seen it happen several times).
Don't EVER, EVER talk down another controller until you can do his job better than him..
Bren McC