Hola Reluctant737 -
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In a sense, I recognize you as I was at your age, or about the same. Add about half of a century of years, and aviation, and I might be today, what you will be in 2050. For that I wish you the best. However 1960 was notably different then that today is.
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The only thing you do not know is what is it to be, say, a "50 years old pilot" flying his career, for which the main reason is making a living. You do not have that experience, and you are (lack of life and career experience) unable to compare.
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1960 was different. Many kids of my age, dreamed of being pilot. I would say, 99.9% wanted to be fighter pilots, Mach 2, 60,000 ft, F-104 Starfighter. Being a transport (= airline or military) pilot ... how horrible..! Flying a stupid Convair CV-440, a cargo DC-3, a C-119 or a Pembroke, what a disgrace. So I took the military pilot career as my goal. Going to the dance clubs, then to impress young ladies required a flight jacket with a F-104 squadron emblem, and a MG sports car. I was one of those. What I cannot grasp is, why today's young guys with dreams of being pilot, do not dream to be a FA-18 or Rafale "Top Gun" jockey instead of "driving a cattle car" limited to 30º bank.
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But in training in USA (NATO) I had met USAF pilots (reservists) who were in real life, airline pilots, who had a paycheck with 4 digits... living in a country with palm trees and blue skies. They told me that airlines were keen on hiring jet fighter pilots, so was my first aviation education. Join airlines...
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I joined the airlines for $$$ primarily. As a low life F/E 727. Then became F/O, then instructed in classroom and simulator besides line flying. Of course, I did love flying then, but the financial aspects became more relevant. From love of flying for airplanes, it changed to love of flying for money. The change occured around the time I became a captain.
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No need to mention how the industry turned with the Middle East war 1973, deregulation 1979, airline bankruptcies, layoffs, unemployment, bankruptcies, and being based far away from home (half a world away). Eventually I got married, quite late in life (I was age 50 when we moved to live together). And then, airline job became just that, a job, and a paycheck. My wife was the most important thing for me. The only thing I kept on liking were the layovers, flying with a crew that were all friends, getting my wife along on trips, visit far away places with reduced fare tickets and discounts.
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An aviation career goes in stages. You are as you are today, because you are some 20 of age. When you will be 40, your ideas will be completely different. I am retired now, and in view of the airline industry as it is today, never would I want to start that career today. All my mother paid, was my PPL. I would never spend $100,000 to become a 737 F/O, Do I miss flying, yes, as it was, not as it is today. Flying a 737 with FMS and auto-this and auto-that from Manchester to Amsterdam would not turn me on.
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Good luck to you all with RyanAir an equivalent loco. And get out of these operations ASAP for a better life, a better paycheck, and respect of your pilot peers with legacy airlines. When I am in Europe, Paris to Brussels, I travel with the Thalys TGV city center to city center in 70 minutes, not Beauvais to Charleroi, and wasted hours to go to/from airports and being treated like cattle.
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Happy contrails