A career changers story- where we are now

[eastbayk]

I always see a lot of people posting who are looking to change careers, but not a lot of stories and follow up from people who actually made it happen. So in order to make the "you haven't posted in a month" message go away, here is our story of how the big career change went for us.

Just over 2 years ago, while in our early 30's, we picked up and moved from CA to FL for flight training. We both left good paying jobs and a settled life for an adventure. And we schlepped along the kid as well. A started at flight school in Feb 2006 and I went to work at a boring job that kinda paid the bills. We financed school with a home equity loan that we paid off when we sold the house and lived partially off his cashed in 401k. A made it through flight school, thereby nullifiying all those arguments that you can't make it through immersion flight school with a wife and kid in tow.

In July 2006 he started working as an instructor for the school. We survived that too and in April 2007, we finally hit milestone 1, employment with a regional airline. At the time, it was one of THE airlines to go to and we were very happy. We had made the change, we did it.

Life was going along very smoothly for us and we were making all sorts of plans and patting ourselves on the backs, when in Feb 2008 A was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After less than a year with the company, all of our plans went on hold. The company has been great to us and the pilot group helped us out immensly with financial donations as well. We are waiting for the long term disability insurance to kick in and are almost done with treatment. BUT, it will still be another 6-12 months before A can return to work. And there are rumors around that furloughs are coming and there may not be a company to return to. However, thanks to having been a great employee, A has been able to return to his old flight school and pick up work there- both to assist us financially and to keep him busy while he's waiting to get a medical again. Eventually, he hopes to be able to return to airline flying.

There are probably a lot of lessons in the story, but the main points I'm trying to get across are: Yes, career changers can be and are successful. Yes, you can do this, even if you have a wife and kids. Never burn your bridges, you never know where you'll work in the future. Always buy the insurance, you never know what can happen tomorrow. And mostly, you can never predict what is going to happen both in the industry and in life, but doing something that makes you happy is always going to benefit you.

K

[surreal1221]

Well said K, thanks for sharing.

I think I speak for all of JC, heres to a bright future for you and A.

[learflyer]

What or who is "A"? I must be getting old.

[PGT]

Originally Posted by learflyer

What or who is "A"? I must be getting old.

something tells me it's her other half...

[surreal1221]

Originally Posted by learflyer

What or who is "A"? I must be getting old.

It is her significant other's first initial.

[TexasFlyer]

Great post! Thanks for sharing the adventure and positive experiece.

Oh, and god bless you both in getting through the current times. I'm sure it's tough, but your positive attitude and outlook simply says it all... best regards.

[N826AW]

Keep us updated on how you and A are doing. Best of luck!

[jbail3p]

Bravo! Thank you for posting this. I would like to make this change in my life and it is awsome that you posted something positive. I wish you and A the best with your situation.

[juskl]

Live life to it's fullest, do what you want in life, get what you want out of life, And love those closest to you as much as possible, for Life can and does happen. God bless and Good luck.

[Hypersonic_Wings]

It was nice to read a success story. I hope he'll be flying for the airlines again soon. Yes, I agree doing what makes you happy in life is very beneficial.