Originally Posted by
speedbird91
I’m in the incredibly fortunate position to be a Train Driver here in the UK for a long distance, high speed Train Operating Company, which (despite what the Daily Fail like to promote), is a fantastically lucrative role for both work-life balance, and for the wage slip each month. Each night I get to go home, see my wife, attend parties (most of the time) and the railway provides a lifestyle that we sadly all know aviation definitely does not.
You won't have a work life balance full stop. Depending on your roster patterns, you will spend half your life trying to be awake when you want to be asleep and the other half trying to get to sleep when you want to be awake. You will suffer from poor food/diet on a daily basis and due to early starts and late finishes your days off will be much diminished, particularly so if you have any kind of commute to the airport. Unless you are on a regular roster pattern, you won't be able to accept invites to social events until your roster is published. Sadly, the aviation career has, over the years turned into a job where pilots are just thought of as over paid button pushers and the renumeration reflects that.
There are undoubtedly some good moments but they are few and far between. Aviation does appear to be an exciting, glamorous career but the reality is much different. The golden age of aviation has long passed. I would make the most of your current job, enjoy the work life balance and good renumeration and find a hobby that gives you the enjoyment that you (mistakenly) believe that aviation would give you.
I was fortunate enough to move into a different career and to retire early but most people that I know who have been in aviation for any length of time have gone part time as it is the only way they can cope with the lifestyle. That alone probably tells you all you need to know about being a pilot. You have a good job, a good lifestyle and probably a good pension, aviation will struggle to match that for you.