Associate Professor Rick Motawakel, left, shows a circuit board to electronics students Leonar Colindres, Nathan Bode, Francisco Ortega and Omar Labra. Colindres has been given a full-time job at the Federal Aviation Administration while the other three are on internships as part of the Collegiate Training Initiative.
After a seven-year stint with the Army -- including a one-year
tour in Iraq -- Leonar Colindres was ready to spend more time
with his wife and children.
He was faced with the issue of how his skills as an infantry
staff sergeant would help him get a civilian job.
Like thousands of soldiers before him, he turned to college
to acquire job skills.
“I really didn’t know what to do. My counselors
said ‘Why don’t you try electronics?’”
Colindres said.
With that, he enrolled in electronics technology courses at
Antelope Valley College in spring 2006. Today, thanks to a
cooperative program between the college and the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), Colindres just started a full-time job
with the FAA in Palmdale.
Four other AVC electronics students have been offered internships
that could eventually lead to full-time job offers from the
FAA.
“I think over the last 10 years we’ve actually
hired 18 students from (AVC’s) program,” said
Elmore Wigfall, FAA technical operations manager for the Los
Angeles District. “Some of the best techs over here
came from the program.”
The venture is the Collegiate Training Initiative, a nationwide
program between select colleges and the FAA that enables electronics
students to get internships and, potentially, full-time jobs
with the agency.
"Since the FAA systems are actively involved in air traffic
control operations, the reliability of those systems is critical,”
said Maggie Drake, AVC dean of technical education. Drake
has first hand experience working as a technician with the
FAA during the early part of her career.
“They have very high standards for the technicians that
they hire. It is a credit to the quality of our program that
we have so many former students succeeding with this agency,"
Drake said.
“We usually take three students a year and we give them
at least one year of on-the-job training,” said Wigfall.
The training consists of computer-based instruction and hands-on
experience.
Interns gain exposure to the multi-faceted electronics needs
of the FAA, including communications, surveillance, navigational
aid for aircraft, engineering support and automation systems.
“After that one-year of internship, they’re eligible
for direct hire right into the FAA,” said Wigfall.
For anyone familiar with the involved process of acquiring
civil service jobs, the CTI approach provides an attractive
option.
“They’re easy to hire and they’re good techs
as well. (AVC) seems to get a mature group of people who are
really looking for jobs,” Wigfall said.
Wigfall noted the additional benefit to both the FAA and prospective
employee in getting to see if the interns are a good match
for the agency and vice versa.
“I think the program as an outreach between the FAA
and the community is an excellent one,” said Wigfall.
“It gives us the opportunity to go and recruit to bring
in good people who will stay in the area.”
For interns, it’s the potential to get a job that has
a minimum starting pay (which includes locality pay) of $41,461
a year. Experienced technicians with several years experience
at FAA can move up the merit pay system ladder to earn in
excess of $100,000 annually.
But the money is a secondary consideration to Colindres.
“My whole goal in life is not to make money, it’s
to be happy. They’ve got a whole bunch of things you
can move around into,” Colindres said.
Even as a high school student, Colindres had a desire to “be
involved with things going to outer space.” Providing
support to air traffic is not far from the mark.
Among the four students invited to take part in the internship
program is Nathan Bode, who is spending his summer alternating
between taking an electronics course at the college and working
as an intern at the FAA in Palmdale.
Bode’s been interested in electronics since he was a
child.
“My grandfather was an electronics technician and an
electrical engineer. My dad was an electronics radio communication
technician in the Navy,” Bode said.
So when Wigfall and his FAA associates came to AVC to discuss
the internship program, Bode jumped at the chance.
“It’s a great opportunity and anyone who has the
opportunity … should take it,” Bode said.
Wigfall said there are no guarantees of a job for Bode or
the other three interns. Yet he is quick to add that he’s
“been successful about 98 percent of the time”
in hiring interns for full-time jobs.
The FAA manager went on to explain that Palmdale is a challenging
location to recruit employees. People outside of the area
are not interested in moving here, he said. Thus the internships
take on even greater significance for staffing in the district
Wigfall oversees, which includes facilities at Boron and Dagget.
“What we try to do is get people interested in electronics
and we place them in our disciplines as needed,” Wigfall
said.
Rick Motawakel, AVC’s full-time electronics technology
instructor, said the success of students in the FAA program
and elsewhere is helping revive an instructional program that
lacked significant enrollment.
In addition, the need for technicians and high salaries are
getting the attention of students. Plus, the traditionally
male-dominated field is attracting women as well.
Motawakel said about a third of his students are women. The
profession offers a clean environment and is considered more
a “white collar” job, according to Motawakel.
“Right now there’s a lot of need for electronic
technicians out there,” Motawakel said. He explained
part of that demand is created by retirements.
Furthermore, Motawakel said an engineering major graduating
from a university would be hard-pressed to find an entry-level
position that pays as much as some of the electronic technicians
can earn with just a two-year degree.
That reality isn’t lost on Bode in his internship.
“I’m five classes away from getting an A.S. (Associate
in Science degree.)” And that will put him in line for
possibly getting a job with the FAA.
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