So much of this game is down to luck - and specifically luck with timing - that everyone will have different experiences. Ask 10 pilots and you’ll get 15 opinions.
Me, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. But . . .
(a) I had more than 10 years in a previous (office based) career, so know only too well the crushing monotony of a 9-5 job, not to mention the stress of the daily commute and the pressures of working with big financial numbers in a target based organisation. It gives me perspective when I consider the merits of flying for a living.
(b) I have been very, very lucky with my timing. Landing my first turboprop job and getting a foot in the door just before the financial crash, getting a jet job in the Middle East and building priceless experience when there were very few options back home, and somehow ending up a long haul pilot in a big legacy carrier, joining right in the middle of a huge recruitment bulge. And luckiest of all, being on a fleet that is not only still flying, but actually quite busy.
If the dice had rolled the other way, I might have qualified when there were no jobs, or been made redundant (more than once), or lost a fortune to a rogue flying school.
This can still be a great job (and career), but it can also be brutal. Timing is everything.