My brother was an air traffic controller for about 35 years and loved it. He spent 4 years in the Air Force out of high school (1970s), specialized in electronics. Later when Reagan fired the striking ATCs, he applied, was hired, and the rest they say is history, working mostly in the northeast—Syracuse, Rochester, Pittsburgh, and 20 years at Philadelphia before mandatory retirement, but was able to continue for another 5 years or so at State College, PA. Lord knows how much he made over all those years because he was very happy to work nights, weekends, holidays, and overtime. Now at 69 and having been retired close to 10 years, no doubt, he’s enjoying every bit of that annual six-figure retirement pay.
It's a highly specialized skill-set, and air travel would be impossible without them.
I've been on the "nuts and bolts" side of aviation for 44 years, most ATCs probably wouldn't be happy doing that.