Well - as said, the recent 500% PPRuNe Mod payrise has made a substantial difference to all our lifestyles here at PPRuNe HQ...
I spent the first half of my 20's in Uni/deskjob wanting to be a pilot. I spent the second half of my 20's being a pilot.
As I approach my 30th birthday I am able to look back and say quite honestly that the latter years were better than the former. Not that I didn't enjoy either.
Its just, if you KNOW you have to do something, then do it. Elsewise you'll become bitter about not trying and nagged by What Ifs. It will be a risk and a gamble - I was luck at 25 I had no responsibilites and therefore could treat it as a big adventure. I have the uptmost respect for the 30yr old with mortgage and 2 kids who decides to career change.
For the last 3 yearsish I have been saying don't bother trying - the industry has been brutal to Wannabes in this time. Now things ARE changing. Its time to enter the fray.
I love the job. I hate the fact I am working all this bank holiday weekend, that I have gone to bed after Eastenders all this week, that I have to worry about an annual line check v soon, that I can't go to a mates stage debut tomorrow night as I'm somewhere between here and Alicante.
But I wouldn't do anything else because its a real job - moving x100 people from A to B. Because there is very little management bull!!!!e, because there are no meetings no workshops and no politics. You only work with professionals, you get paid OK and every day there is something a little different and you learn something new. You are sometimes a little scared at work instead of always bored. You sometimes see something or do something fairly unusual.
It beats a lot of jobs hands down. It by no means beats them all. I - like most pilots - think a short lucrative career in the City followed by flying some light aircraft for fun would be preferable.
But hey - life is not a dress rehersal nor is it a competition.
Good luck, yes - on balance - it IS worth it (still).
Cheers
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