Some of the replies given in this subject show exactly why one should not enter the industry.
However, to be able to contribute I feel that experience in other areas in "industry" is required. Working 23 years in the aviation industry and being happy with your lot can make one as jaded as someone whos only been in it 6 months and finds it all a**e.
Its one thing being experienced and satisfied with your lot. But that can also translate as old and trapped with deminishing opportunities to move on. To move on does not mean to transfer your efforts to another company within the industry. thats just the same job with a few different faces and different pay scales.
Moving on is gaining experience and credit in whatever you do in life. Taking that and any qualifications gained (qualifications, not licences) and puting them to use in a different environment.
In my eyes engineering is more than reading manuals and jocards. Engineering also involves creative problem solving and a need to improve. This is what is wrong within the industry in as much as we are not provided, on the whole, the opportunity to engineer (why in my eyes our job title is wrong).
I've not got long until I've finished another set of qualifications that will allow me to do just that. Another set of qualifications that have broadened my job opportunities not set me down the tunnel following a pin prick of light called retirement.
So again don't do it. If the sum of your ambitions is to glance at the occasional half errect nipple coming home of a charter flight at 3 in the morning. Or be stuck on a bliding hot pan in some god forsaken expanse of concrete with no assistance watching the crew wander of to air conditioning and a nights sleep fine, join it.
If you want to engineer and expand your horizons don't.