Two very good posts by Firebird and Cactus Cutter! Well said on both sides.
While CC's post was a tad more brief and easier to understand - and not at all untrue......, I believe that - as of right now- for a lot of us at the regional level - Firebirds post is a bit more accurate.
For me - there will be no "career" at the regional level....nor at the major level at this pace.
I'll probably aim for the corporate/fractional world at some point (may be doing so now - who knows?
).
But, being a guy who worked in another profession for 13 years and made decent money (and was miserable and wouldn't go back for anything), my goal is to be paid for what I do and not to stay at the regional level where we are paid fast food wages....simply because "we love to fly".
IMHO, there are WAY too many pilots out there with the "I'd do this for FREE!" mentality - and those at the top of this industry know this - so at the low-end of the aviation totem-pole are screwed when it comes to getting paid.
I've made a good living before. I was qualified to do so. It'll happen again.
Just not in the 121 world.
(The above was my opinion. Yours may vary - may even differ completely and that's fine. I hope it does. R2F) 