I am no cargo "expert" but I have just joined as a DEC on B744 fleet in SE Asia after 11 years of flying passengers.
Its early days yet but so far its an improvement on everything I have previously done and I am very happy. The top gun jokes about hauling rubber dog poop out of HKG do not reflect the reality of the job. We recently flew an F1 teams cars to a Grand Prix and there is always something new such as a special charter to keep you on your toes.
There are no cabin crew so you become fairly good at working the ovens but the quality of food is good, the schedules are great and there is a decent amount of time off between trips. Leave could be better and there is a fair amount of positioning but no job is perfect. A stable roster, decent time off at base between patterns and the confidence to be able to make plans is a welcome improvement on what I had become used to in my last outfit.
Great bunch of guys to work with and the salary is not too shabby either.