Advice for an aspiring airline pilot

Life is sometimes tragically short, so you'd better enjoy every minute of it, too. Liking what you do goes a long way towards that.

Yeah, if I were to come down with an illness or otherwise be on my deathbed, I do not want to look back and reminisce on my thousands of hours spent at a desk.

Heh, my last words would be, "Someone make sure to turn on my out-of-office notification!"

I don't miss that, at all. I wish I made as much as I did but that's certainly not everything.

Also, I have four straight days off, and other than putting in a swap request, I haven't thought about anything work related other than debriefing over beer yesterday with a colleague. I'm not really winning financially, but I'm sure doing better than I was overall.

I think that's the important thing: you're satisfied with your work. It seems very few are able to say that these days.

Yep. Fulfilled my crappy landing quota this week too, so the rest of the month should be made of awesome. (Somedays you grease them; somedays you don't.)

Thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it! I was disoriented but now I feel more confident about my future. Sorry for replying so late, I've been very busy the last few weeks (SAT, projects, etc...) Once again, thank you for your kind words and support!

Best Regards

Enjoy the ride.

Ugh I remember the SATs. Good luck on those! And remember to have fun and enjoy yourself in the long run.

The only thing i remember about my SATs was having a five alarm hang over.

As far as advice to the OP:
I wouldnt get tied down anywhere starting out. I think ive moved states 5 times in the past 9 years, my last move was last week. There will always be good jobs, but you have to be willing to go out and get them.

Do what you want to do, and be FLEXIBLE, be willing to move across the country for a job, be willing to do things you never thought of doing. Take some chances, make some mistakes and live your life the way you want.

Looking back to the start of my PPL to where I am today the adventure has had its ups and downs, moving something like 8 times, and making friends all over the world, it has been one heck of and experience and I wouldnt change it for anything.

Ah, I feel like I missed out in high school.

This is true to an extent. I for one have managed excellent QOL while commuting to reserve (no, I'm very serious, and you can PM me about it), but that's going to come to a screeching end here pretty soon. You'll probably have to move for at least your first two "serious" aviation industry/pilot business jobs.

good point. I have no doubt that a good QOL is easy to maintain by commuting, but im speaking from a prospective as someone who has never gone to the airlines, and probably never will. If you cant commute, then you're going to be moving for that shiny jet job quite a few times.

As much as i talk smack, the beagle would have been one of the few regionals i would have gone to, just because i could move in with my parents.

To the OP:
I think the most important thing to remember is that its damn near impossible to make this job work on your own. At one point or another you WILL find yourself dependent on someone else for the sake of your own success, and that can be pretty tough for aviation alpha dog types.

Truthfully, one of the reasons I have the airline gig, and not the comparably financially lucrative mapping gig, has everything to do with travel benefits (non-existent at previous company). And fixed-wing turbofan

On a micro level, things are good...and I can't control more than the micro level, so I won't worry about it

I'd be toast without my family and friends, for sure.