Well I've been watching this thread with interest.
Like Bern Oulli I have noticed that the proportion of lefties in air traffic is considerably greater than it is normally, although that is purely observation from the day I was at the college until now and not scientific in any way!
I seem to recall from years ago that artistic stuff meant that one particular side of your brain was developed more, so whether that has any bearing on it I'm not sure...
I'm a science graduate, so it's not impossible, but as others have said no-one really cares what you did before. Being a graduate may (and I only say may) suggest that you have the ability to study and therefore cope with the bookwork side of it, but you still need to be able to do the actual job, not something you can do just by reading a book. Having said that, my brain loves logic, and that was a big part of my love of things mathematical; air traffic is a big logic puzzle to me and I relish it.
If I had a pound for all the times I have spent over the years debating with people about having a prior aviaition background and knowledge I'd be rich enough to not work as an ATCO! IMHO there is no requirement to have this prior to entering the job, but it's a darn good idea to gain at least some knowledge if you don't have any! I joined air traffic without much idea about planes at all, but was lucky enough to have been pointed in the air traffic direction by someone who thought I would like it, enjoy it and be good at it. My interest in and love of aviation was sparked by the job rather than the other way round. If some had their way I would never have been in the job, and I've been valid for over 11 years now. (yes I know, still a youngster to many!)
I think one of the most important elements to whether or not people will be successful as a controller is in their strength of character. You need to be able to make decisions and stick to them, but not be stubborn if you need to change them. You need to be able to cope with the character of others too; some personal self confidence is definitely vital.
Then again, in my opinion, the way someone is trained and the attitude, skills and motivation of the trainers has a huge effect on whether they suceed or not. I've been lucky enough to have some very good instructors (Bern Oulli for 1
) who put time and effort into their training and really cared about how people did. I took that with me and when I began to train people I always looked for how I could help people to get there. Sadly not everyone can make it, but I feel we do lose some who could if we tried a different approach or gave them better quality of training.
I don't believe just anyone could be a controller; I do think that some would never get it. If I think through my friends and relatives I definitely know there are one or two who could not. (for instance my brother is dyslexic, and would struggle with callsigns!)
I'm sure that a few years ago they said women would never be controllers; now look at us
I think the biggest thing is that we shouldn't be prejudice against anyone who passes the initial tests which suggest they may have an apptitude. I'm sure that if someone had found the perfect formula for an ATCO they'd have been using it by now...
Cheers,
Northerner
PS I'm hoping my punctuation and grammer are up to standard; but I feel for the kids these days who aren't taught properly - it's not their fault that they don't have the education!
"Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what you're up to..."