I'm a 26 year old wannabe with a PPL and I'm only too fully aware of the difficulty ahead of me, as I plan to join EFT's integrated APP in September.
It seems apparent to me that alot of people are jumping into this without any sort of contingency plan.
It seems there are a few precautions to ensure your survival, but they seem to be ignored by many.
These days IMHO it's insanity to start this route without a degree or experience in a career you can return to after your training while you wait your lucky break. It also seems to make sense to choose a course that offers hour building through flight instruction, to improve your chance of that lucky break.
Upon completion of your course, if that break takes a long time to materialise at least you will have a FI qualification, and a chance to secure some hour building work with your local school. And in my case I can use the bus/marketing degree i'm just finishing to join an airline in admin or junior management, and start sleeping with a girl from HR!
Remember there are alot of people that are getting that break, and from what I read its down to their hard work and determination, and I guess they are too busy flying jets to comment on this thread!