Same song second verse.

[TXengineer]

Howdy all. Just another early thirties possible career changer here.

The urge to get out of the cube farm I’m currently in can get pretty high, especially when you work next to a major airport and have to endure the pain of watching airliners taking off and landing on those nice clear sunny days. So I get a bug up my arse to look into what it’d take to change careers at my 31 years of age and here I ended up. I’ve been lurking around for a while reading the various areas of these forums and the site in general. From that and some other research (BLS, flight schools, dad) I came up with my positive and negative list.

Positives:
• Not being stuffed in a cubicle all day.
• Higher salary potential compared to current career. Key word is potential.
• Hire probability higher than the average due to BSME degree, work history (10 years) and inside contact.
• Easy to fall back to current career if things don’t pan out.
• Retirement essentially secured with current 6 figure balance in 401k.

Negatives:
• High initial training costs.
• Low initial salary.
• Long and/or non-standard initial working hours.
• Cyclical market.
• Unions.

Flying isn’t new to me. My dad had a Cessna 172 through the first half of my life and at the age of 11 I was flying it from start up to full stop albeit with some help from pop. Those rudder pedals didn’t stick out quite enough or it could have been that my legs weren’t long enough. Something like that anyway. I almost went into the air force as an aircraft mechanic since they were bugging me about every week after I scored in the top percentile for mechanical aptitude on the ASVAB way back in high school. In the end I decided against it since I didn’t want to put off college and here I am working as a mechanical engineer looking at the sky every time I walk into work, out for lunch, between buildings to labs and back to my truck to go home.

After some thought I’ve decided to sit on the idea for a year then reevaluate the notion. Essentially I need to cool off before making a decision to toss an established and stable career aside for one that’s essentially the opposite. The majority of the decision is financial. Being that I’m just coming out of debt puts a dampener on thoughts of going back into debt especially at a lower salary and higher debt load. The non-debt approach of part 91 is a thought, but with my current job’s schedule and Houston Texas’ weather it’d take 4-5 years to get through the instructor ratings. I’m just going to have to chew it over a few times.

I think I know the answer already (keep my current career and purse flying on a PPL basis), but I’m going to give it a little more time to reflect on.

Anyway, thought I’d add my musings to the site for others who’re contemplating a career change to read.

[braidkid]

There is absolutely no reason why you cannot get all your ratings while keeping your day job. None at all. I did it, numerous others here have done it. It took me 6 months to get all my ratings up through CFI while working full time. You can certainly do it in that time or at least a year.

I can not stress keeping your day job. I was in your shoes a few years ago. Hated cubicle life, couldn't quit my engineering job fast enough. I got all my ratings and then instructed part time for about 9 months before instructing full time.

Not to discourage you, but I am now back living cubicle life and have decided not to pursue flying. I have not had one regret. One thing to chew on is that cubicle life becomes much more appealing after dealing with the financial uncertainties of a flying career. Personally I wouldn't trade my comfy cubicle for a low paying night in a hotel room for anything!!!

[Texguy]

In my case I think I'd rather just take out a loan and devote all my time to getting the ratings. I'd have to anyway since my job doesn't pay that much. Furthermore working full time and being a full time student at the same time doesn't appeal to me. Sure I could work until I've got all the money saved up, but isn't that seniority number important? Just trying to understand, braidkid. I realize debt sucks. I wonder if anyone here is glad they took out a loan.

And welcome, TXengineer.

[kellwolf]

Honestly, I'd rather not have the debt than have a lower seniority number. That cushy line with the days off does me no good if all my disposable income goes to Sallie Mae. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably work my ass off for a month or two, knock out a rating, work again, knock out another rating, etc, etc. Yeah, it takes long, but it makes it a lot easier to live on a CFI/first year regional FO wage.

[Doug Taylor]

[ QUOTE ]
Honestly, I'd rather not have the debt than have a lower seniority number.

[/ QUOTE ]

Another disciple of the church of jetcareers that "gets it"!

[SteveC]

[naunga]

Well from my perspective here are my thoughts...

I too am working a job that I can't stand. I mean there are days that I'm almost in tears getting ready for work. It's awful, except for payday.

I've finally decided to pursue a career as a chef. While it's not aviation related it does share a lot of similarities. Long hours, low pay, PITA customers, unions, work place drama, AND a high costs to enter the field.

I've managed to find a program that will allow me to get a great education at a decent cost and I can keep my current job, because eventhough I hate the job it is paying for the training for my new career, so I've now got a reason to continue.

It was very tempting to just leave take loans out the arse and go to school, but I realized I like having heat, water, etc and just couldn't afford to be out of work. I've tried saving, but I have a lot of debt from other education and just don't have a lot of disposable income.

I can tell you if I were to do it again I'd have spent a year living on half my salary then quit my job. Hind sight's 20/20 right.

One more thing to consider...make sure you really want to be an airline pilot. I know when I started flight training I had a really romantic notion of what airline pilots did. It wasn't until I started traveling a lot for business that I realized an airline pilot's life might not be all that great. I mean Cleveland, OH is only new and exciting the first time you're there (and even then it's questionable). I have a friend flying with ASA right now, and he says the same thing. I mean how many times can you fly into Bentonville, AK before it gets old? From what I've seen pro flying, especially airline flying, is great for people who can deal with monotany. I realized that what I hated about being a cube dweller would not be aleviated by flying. I'd simply be moving into a smaller cube with more buttons....maybe a better view.

Of course my intent is not to discourage you, if this is your passion and love then go for it, but be smart about it. The urge to get out of the cube farm can make you not see the big picture. I've been there. I looked seriously into a million things (computer animation, game developing, flying, law, architecture...you name it, I seriously considered it). It took a lot of soul searching and even some vacation time before my true love (cooking) emereged, and I know that's my true love, because I'd gladly do it for free, even with all the BS.

Finally let me say that whatever you decide you need to have a plan. If you have a family you need to continue to support them or have a plan for your spouse to pick up the slack. If you're single you still need to figure out how you're going to pay rent, etc. I know it seems obvious, but like I said the desire to get out of your cube can blind you to some of the more mundane details.

Anyhow, there's my two cents.

Naunga

[mtsu_av8er]

[ QUOTE ]
One thing to chew on is that cubicle life becomes much more appealing after dealing with the financial uncertainties of a flying career. Personally I wouldn't trade my comfy cubicle for a low paying night in a hotel room for anything!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Remember - everything here is opinion!!

I wouldn't trade my low-paying airplane job to go do anything else!

[braidkid]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One thing to chew on is that cubicle life becomes much more appealing after dealing with the financial uncertainties of a flying career. Personally I wouldn't trade my comfy cubicle for a low paying night in a hotel room for anything!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Remember - everything here is opinion!!

I wouldn't trade my low-paying airplane job to go do anything else!

[/ QUOTE ]

True, it's all relative.