CrimsonEclipse

I've been in aviation nearly 15 years in one form or another, pilot, mechanic, support, scratching my way up from a ramp rat, paying my education through hard work and long hours. All of my degrees and licenses will add up to about $85,000, all paid without loan or debt or help from parents or spouse. I take great pride in my accomplishments, and I know that most could not have followed my path.

I also knew that the intended target, good pay, good hours, was a shrinking one, and my values have changed. I was no longer willing to sacrifice my friends, my loved ones and my passions for a command at a bigger plane and the "possibility" of advancement.

It was clear that my future was not in aviation, especially not as a pilot. The problem was how to leave a life long career without going bankrupt. I had pondered this for 5 years and finally, my decision was made for me. I was fired because of my "attitude". Not because I was unsafe, but because I didn't follow the party line. I could have fought it, but I really didn't want to stay.

Unemployment paid my bills, and the Workforce Investment Act paid for my schooling as a Server Administrator. All my tests passed, new certificates in my pocket off to a new career.

But, I.T. has similar problems as aviation, too many people willing to work long hours, holidays for minimal pay just to gain experience. If I have 5 years experience and an alphabet soup of certificates, I could muster between $10-15/hr. It reminded me of the regional airlines but worse in some ways since the technology changed every 3-5 years. For comparison, I can easily make double that as an administrative assistant walking some CEO's dog. It's still a strange world.

Somehow, I found a way. I've found more than one position requiring my combined skills. My chosen field is still in I.T. but in a niche market where is pay is modest, but acceptable, health care provided, day shift, week days, and all holidays off. All of this on day one. And the best part, I have only one boss.

Will I miss the long hours, massive fatigue, boredom, politics, bad weather, delays, TSA, customs, coach tickets, uniform, endless paperwork, laughably incompetent management, hurry up and wait, and the long list of inconveniences?
No, not even a bit.

When I go to renew my medical, I won't be concerned if I pass. To get on the airport, I will walk through an open gate, and leave when I feel like it. I will be #1 or #2 for take off and I'll even have a tower to talk to, sometimes.

I don't want to go back to where the joy was sucked dry from the dream. Keep the "dream job" trap for the next group of kids rushing to fill the "void" of the next "pilot shortage".

If asked: "why don't you fly professionally"
I can happily respond: "it wasn't for me"
and be absolutely sure.

CE

flywithjohn

Good luck...

Foxy

You can't adequately train for that job. It takes intuition and mindset. Fortunately, the same sort of skills necessary to be a good (not necessarily a successful) pilot.

"IT" is not where you want to be. Learn some Unix, bring your "A" game as a systems manager and emergency specialist extraordinaire to an interview, and I'd hire you for a NOC position in a heartbeat. The lower bar on that starts at about $25-$30/hr. After five years or so, if you have a legitimate interest in computers, networking, and systems, you should be able to get a mid-level systems administrator jobs in one of the tech parts of the country, at $75-$85k, assuming there are no major economic shifts (There could be). Five years, again assuming no major economic or market shifts, and you shouldn't have a problem breaking $120k. Very senior sysadmins/architects top out about $150k, but at that level you can also push $110/hr consulting, if you're good.

Don't waste your money on certifications. "THEY" will tell you that you need degrees and certifications, and a steady work history, and to wear a suit and tie to an interview, but "THEY" teach because they can't do; I show up to interviews in a T-shirt and jeans, at most. I've never owned a suit or a tie, and I dropped out of school in the 7th grade. I generally don't hire people with degrees, unless they really knock my socks off. (Hasn't happened yet)

If you spend your time trying to compete with the bottom feeders, you'll end up on the bottom. The key is to make yourself genuinely valuable and get past them quickly.

Does the field have problems? Oh heck yes. Tech is a horrible self-serving industry, full of fail. It's also the source of one heck of a lot of money, but that money spends a lot of time changing hands within tech and then much of it leaves the country.

Management consists predominately of people whose daddy bought them a degree at (Stanford compatible school), so there are plenty of bad decisions that come down from above, which you'll have to fend off.

It's more important to carve a niche for yourself that allows you to learn a system, rather than individual technologies. Systems don't change nearly that frequently, and the stuff under the hood is slow to change as well. New buzzwords float around every five years or so, but they tend to describe things that already existed as if they were new and novel.

It's more important to be happy than to be rich. The two are not synonymous.

I honestly wish that all the people who don't absolutely have to fly for a living in order to satisfy their souls in a way that nothing else can..... wouldn't. :/

Sometimes when I talk to people, I realize that there are just too many people in for "a job", "an easy job", "a job that isn't real work", and not enough people in because they simply can't imagine doing anything else in life.

Just my $87.42 worth. (I charge by the hour)

~Foxy

SkyHigh

Foxy,

You seem to hold the overly romantic and unrealistic views of a hobby pilot. Flying is not a religion. For most of us here it is a job and as such it has some income and lifestyle obligations to fulfill in order to compensate for the hardships and investment that it takes to get there.

After four years of college and surviving flight school I don't think that anyone would say that it is an "easy" job and by the time you have made it to the regionals you have already put a lot of work in for little in return.

People who get into this career to "satisfy their souls" are the reason why we are not paid anything anymore. The airlines have learned that people like you will work for nothing. In a short time the airlines will be filled with aviation martyrs who live alone in studio apartments praying that crew scheduling calls.

The rest of us have lives to live. I got onto profession to make a better living than a mailman. Currently the mailman has a better deal. You go and satisfy your soul. I have a family to raise.

I think it is ironic that you ended your post with a statement that implies that you value your time when clearly you don't.

Skyhigh

Foxy

Flying is not YOUR religion.

I have always, my entire life, wanted to be a pilot. It's all I ever wanted to do. I worked my ass off to get my pilots license at 17, and then I then ran out of money. My parents had none, and I lived forty miles away from the nearest town. The job I was working as a ranch hand dried up, and I was completely unable to secure student loans for any sort of flight training or college. So I went into computers, having more or less accidentally taught myself that skill.

I want to fly for a living. I don't want to work for the airlines, but I do want to work as a CFI, maybe teach float flying for a while, maybe think about bush flying down the road, maybe... who knows.

If that makes me a hobby pilot in your eyes, then so be it. I don't particularly care. I understand your viewpoint as it pertains to aviation, and I understand your negativity, but I don't care to be typecast by you.

You seem to care more about family and status and propriety than flying. So be it. I will not judge that, but not all of us are that way, regardless of age or social status.

I didn't say it was an easy job. I said that there's a perception that it's an easy job, which apparently attracts many people who are happy to sign on the dotted line.

Take your grievance with the aviation industry out on somebody else.

The reason pilots aren't paid anything anymore is because pilots bend over backwards to keep their jobs and management takes advantage of that. Pilots don't fight back. They could, if they tried, but they're terrified of rocking the boat and getting fired, and getting a bad reputation, and not being able to find a job. Or of 'harming' their company, and thus their livelihood.

I would submit that YOU are the problem. YOU are seeking a job that pays well, and you don't care what it is. You chose flying...as did many other people, when faced with the exact same problem. The flight schools sold people like you a dream that doesn't exist anymore, and by the time you realized it, you were already in with no escape.

Again, leave flying to those who can do nothing else.

Pick someone else to go after. Seriously.

~Fox

Bustin

Foxy, hope you get to make some money one day flying the way you want to fly. You have a very healthy outlook on the industry and it sounds like you're going about realizing your dream of flying just the right way.

Skyhigh, you are absolutely right that pay is low because there are those that pursue their dreams and are willing to make financial sacrifices to make that happen. But that is something you should have considered when you chose aviation to make money. I was told over and over again prior to gaining any experience (or even any ratings) that if I was doing this for the money I should move onto something else. Choosing aviation as a lifelong career is a bit like betting your retirement on a poker game. You might double up and retire a wealthy dude and you might lose it all. Honestly, if you don't love flying I don't see how you could even stick with this career. I love it and still keep one eye out for any new, more stable career choices that may fall into my lap. I do hope that you are successful and are able to keep at it until 65 and cash out a hefty 401k. The majority opinion seems to be that QOL and pay should be on the up at airlines over the next 10 years.

SkyHigh

When I started flying pilots made a lot more money and had a better quality of life. Had I or my classmates known what lied ahead I am sure that we all would have chosen something else.

I love to fly as much as the next guy but I love myself and family more. A profession that demands as much as aviation does has a lot to live up to.

Fly for fun as a hobby. Work to make a living. Aviation costs a fortune to get into and should pay a fortune in return. Imagine if dentists made 30K after all those years in medical school and as interns. No one would do it.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

~Foxy,

Flying has always been a prominent place in my life but until you have to make your entire living at it I do not think you will understand.

It is unfair for you to criticize a person who has put it all on the line for aviation and is disappointed at the results.

Why don't you pick on someone else. Seriously. Flying for a living is not a religion.

Skyhigh

brianb

Foxy,

Give it up. Sky won't listen to other viewpoints regarding the profession. He lives in his own "little" world and nothing you say, even if it makes sense, will make a difference. He travels down a one sided slope and he will never arrive at a compromise with you no matter how much sense you make. Good luck in your endeavors.

SkyHigh

Brian,

I listen and read every post. The problem is that you are wrong.

Skyhigh