Coast Guard · ATON
As an Aids to Navigation Specialist, you kept waterways safe and navigable—installing and maintaining aids to navigation with precision. That transfers to maritime operations, surveying and GIS, facilities and electronics maintenance, and environmental careers.
There's no one-to-one civilian crosswalk for ATON—the Department of Labor doesn't map a single job title to it. These are the specific civilian roles Aids to Navigation Specialist experience genuinely maps to: what each pays, what it involves, and why it fits.
$88,730/yr mediantypical $45k–$162k~35K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: Associate degree, apprenticeship, or vocational training
Command or supervise operations of ships and water vessels, such as tugboats and ferryboats.
Why it fits: Your Aids to Navigation Specialist experience maps directly onto the transportation & logistics side of this role.
$48,940/yr mediantypical $35k–$79k~56K U.S. jobs
★ Bright Outlook — Rapid growth
Typical entry: Associate degree, apprenticeship, or vocational training
Perform surveying and mapping duties, usually under the direction of an engineer, surveyor, cartographer, or photogrammetrist, to obtain data used for construction, mapmaking, boundary location,…
Why it fits: Your Aids to Navigation Specialist experience maps directly onto the engineering & technical design side of this role.
$46,700/yr mediantypical $31k–$73k~1.5M U.S. jobs
★ Bright Outlook — many openings
Typical entry: Associate degree, apprenticeship, or vocational training
Perform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair.
Why it fits: Your Aids to Navigation Specialist experience maps directly onto the maintenance, repair & installation side of this role.
$50,660/yr mediantypical $36k–$85k~32K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: Bachelor’s degree typically expected
Perform laboratory and field tests to monitor the environment and investigate sources of pollution, including those that affect health, under the direction of an environmental scientist, engineer,…
Why it fits: Your Aids to Navigation Specialist experience maps directly onto the science & analysis side of this role.
$48,400/yr mediantypical $32k–$79k~30K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Stand watch to look for obstructions in path of vessel, measure water depth, turn wheel on bridge, or use emergency equipment as directed by captain, mate, or pilot.
Why it fits: Your Aids to Navigation Specialist experience maps directly onto the transportation & logistics side of this role.
$46,420/yr mediantypical $29k–$81k~3K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: High-school diploma plus short on-the-job training
Operate small motor-driven boats. May assist in navigational activities.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Aids to Navigation Specialist occupations on the transportation & logistics side—a natural next step.
$94,270/yr mediantypical $57k–$142k~9K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: Associate degree, apprenticeship, or vocational training
Supervise and coordinate activities of crew engaged in operating and maintaining engines, boilers, deck machinery, and electrical, sanitary, and refrigeration equipment aboard ship.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Aids to Navigation Specialist occupations on the transportation & logistics side—a natural next step.
$219,140/yr median~94K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: Bachelor’s degree typically expected
Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, usually on scheduled air carrier routes, for the transport of passengers and cargo.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Aids to Navigation Specialist occupations on the aviation & aircraft side—a natural next step.
$87,290/yr mediantypical $40k–$129k~28K U.S. jobs
Typical entry: Bachelor’s degree typically expected
Inspect equipment or goods in connection with the safe transport of cargo or people.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Aids to Navigation Specialist occupations on the transportation & logistics side—a natural next step.
$113,080/yr median~53K U.S. jobs
★ Bright Outlook — Rapid growth
Typical entry: Associate degree, apprenticeship, or vocational training
Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft on nonscheduled air carrier routes, or helicopters.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Aids to Navigation Specialist occupations on the aviation & aircraft side—a natural next step.
$76,210/yr mediantypical $49k–$114k~12K U.S. jobs
★ Bright Outlook — Rapid growth
Typical entry: Bachelor’s degree typically expected
Research, study, and prepare maps and other spatial data in digital or graphic form for one or more purposes, such as legal, social, political, educational, and design purposes.
Why it fits: Closely related to your Aids to Navigation Specialist occupations on the engineering & technical design side—a natural next step.
Roles selected from the O*NET occupations that fit Aids to Navigation Specialist experience; the Department of Labor doesn't publish a one-to-one crosswalk for this code. Pay is BLS OEWS (May 2023). See the O*NET crosswalk.
Adjacent and stretch fields where your experience gives you a credible starting point.
$88,730/yr medianCaptains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels (representative)
Why it fits: Navigation-aid installation and maintenance fit maritime operations and facilities.
What it takes: Document systems and vessels.
Explore this route →$48,940/yr medianSurveying and Mapping Technicians (representative)
Why it fits: Positioning, charting, and field measurement support surveying and GIS.
What it takes: GIS/CAD tools; licensure is not implied.
Explore this route →$66,680/yr medianElectrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment (representative)
Why it fits: Nav-aid electrical/electronics work transfers to facilities and electronics maintenance.
What it takes: OEM/trade training.
Explore this route →$88,730/yr medianCaptains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels (representative)
Why it fits: Waterway operations support port roles.
What it takes: Document scope.
Explore this route →$91,100/yr medianDetectives and Criminal Investigators (representative)
Why it fits: Waterway work supports environmental and compliance roles.
What it takes: Environmental training helps.
Explore this route →Why it fits: Experience supports federal maritime series.
What it takes: Target the specialized experience.
Explore this route →Use the level that reflects what you actually did—not rank alone. Two people with the same code and very different experience should not submit the same résumé.
Lead with hands-on tasks, tools, equipment, qualifications, safety discipline, and the conditions in which you performed. Do not inflate supervisory scope.
Add team leadership, training, inspections, work allocation, quality control, readiness, and the people or assets you directly supervised.
Emphasize multi-team operations, schedules, resource forecasting, safety systems, policy enforcement, advising leaders, and organization-level results.
A translated title isn't enough. These four moves turn Aids to Navigation Specialist experience into evidence a civilian hiring manager can act on.
List the systems, vehicles, equipment, and tools you personally operated as Aids to Navigation Specialist—plus qualifications, certifications, and the recurring high-stakes tasks you owned.
Coast Guardsmen led, dollar value of equipment you were accountable for, workload, readiness rates, and safety or quality outcomes. Scope beats adjectives.
For any target role, name the license, degree, or software it requires and start now—your GI Bill and credentialing assistance can cover most of it.
Recruiters rarely search “ATON.” Search job boards by the equipment, skills, and outcomes above as much as by “Aids to Navigation Specialist.”
You don't have to make this jump alone. These programs exist specifically to move service members into civilian careers—most are free, and several pay you while you train.
Train or intern with a civilian employer during your last ~180 days on active duty—at full military pay.
Earn a paycheck while you train for a trade or technical role; USMAP can credit the military training you already have.
Corporate fellowships and hiring events that place transitioning service members and military spouses.
Free career training and nationally recognized certifications for service members, veterans, and spouses.
VA-funded high-tech training (IT, cyber, data, software) that does not touch your GI Bill entitlement.
Free local career centers plus certification and state-by-state license finders for any field.
How to use this: Treat these as targets, not limits. Your exact duties depend on your assignments, so lead with what you actually did—and remember that regulated careers require their own license, certification, or degree.