So far I've only made it to the second page of this thread and I'm sure I'll have more to say but I must reply to Flare Dammit.
You tell this kid to "go for the airlines" like it is the ultimate and INEVITABLE end goal of a fixed-wing career. What a load of bull****. Compare the number of airplane licences in any country to airline jobs and you'll discover a lot of these people are not in the big iron. The bottom end of airplane flying has INVARIABLY, in my experience, been far worse than anything I've seen in rotary aviation.
Low-time instructors who should be out learning how to fly are working for minimum wage, passing their inexperience on to the next crop of dreamers. The next few steps up are just as low-paid all because the CHOSEN FEW make some ungodly sum of money in their golden airliners. And all along the way the employers and outsiders encourage this idea that all the crap is justified because of this mythical golden ring.
You said that there are perhaps 100 such DREAM JOBS as DesertDude had in the industry. Pardon me? I work for a company with stock purchase plans, good wages by the standard of the society I live in, pension plan, medical, equal time schedule, and on and on. And there are 120 pilots IN THIS COMPANY ALONE. I've had VFR jobs that had even better benefits. One of the best VFR companies I worked for had 90 pilots employed.
If your inner child needs to make a quarter million dollars a year in order to feel adequate then good for you, but that has NOTHING to do with the industries we are talking about.
If this kid decides that he wants to try to accomplish something with his life and decides that a 747 captaincy is his end goal, I'll applaud his ambition and do my best to give good advice. But I would also council him on how UNLIKELY his goal is of being realized. Just like I would say the same to a prospective helicopter pilot who decides he wants to be a west-coast helilogger making the big coin in the front of a chinook.
If we have gone through years of pain and suffering in our various jobs then WE HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT. On the other hand I have voted with my feet or in less severe cases just called someone's bluff when he said fly or get fired.
Compare apples with apples or stay away from the next generation of pilots.
Given the choice of 747 Captain or Puma Offshore IFR Captain, my choice was and IS easy.
What do you think it is??