Originally Posted by
Cpt. Underpants
No, he's obviously not saying you should stay away and wait for the tide to turn.
It will never turn (not in your favour, anyway)
The reality is
Low initial salary
Massive training bond
Expensive housing
No overtime, ever
You'll be at the bottom of a 1000 strong second officer "seniority" list
Advancement from SO to JFO is currently at 5 years and could easily reach 10 years or more
The airline is not growing in pilot numbers (seats, sure, but not airframe drivers)
Crewing compliment is being driven by accountants, not safety, and CN, FO, 2 x SO will be the norm
Apart from a swathe (±150) of retirements of A scale legacy pilots in the next 3 or so years, there are a lot of relatively young captains who will not be reaching retirement age for at least 25 years
You'll be poor and unable to afford to purchase any property in HKG, ever
Caveat emptor
If you join now, promotion to JFO who actually can fly a plane, requires at least 7 years or more, assuming they promote around 100 SO per year (which clearly they do not).