With FSI a lot depends on which learning center you're employed at. The large ones, Atlanta, Huston etc will operate 24/7 and almost 365 days a year. Not so different from airline scheduling. Yes you do get to go home every day but it may be at 0400 or to an empty house in the middle of the day. At first you will find it challenging and as you progress in the classroom and the sim it becomes a rewarding experience. Beyond that it will be largely dependant on your own temperament as to how satisfied you are with the life. It does become repetitious and in my case after a couple of years I found that job satisfaction was largely dependant on what interaction existed in the classroom... for the most part it's pretty positive as you're dealing with professionals eagre to do well but it's not always the case. Another consideration is the lack of potential to progress. There are few opportunities for promotion and even a sideways move to re-kindle the enthusiasm is unlikely to be available. For someone in their later years this is generally not an issue and it makes for a good semi-retirement move but for someone younger it is a consideration. Another misconception is that it is a comfortable life of ease. It's quite draining. Before going into the classroom there's pre-tutoring work to do, checking a number of issues relating to qualifications of each student, even ensuring that all the preperatory work done by the admin and training managers has been done correctly.. it's down to the instructor ultimately not to have missed anything that would require the student to be brought back from half way around the world at FSIs expense to redo a sim ride... Once in the classroom or the sim you are totally focused with everyone focused on you as the instructor.. the students will vary according to ability and enthusiasm and it's up to you to recognise strengths and weaknesses.. too much time helping one slow student will result in you losing the attention of the brighter ones.. during the break you'll be preparing for the next session/subject or sim work... As we used to say "There's no 'cruise' section for instructors" . I would often be at the center at 0600 and leave at 1800 with no real break in the day except maybe a 20 minute lunch and the whole day would be pressured.
You can find yourself working a very long week, at the center I worked at 60+ hours was not unusual though I wouldn't claim it as the norm. It will vary with the months. Until a couple of years ago there existed an 'Instructor Incentive Plan' which resulted in a considerable increase in income if certain hourly thresholds were exceeded, this at least offset to some extent the fatigue. Unfortunately the management recognising that in the current job market people had few options open to them they decided that they didn't need to continue with the plan and so we all went back to the basic salary.
As I said at the beginning, a lot will depend on which center you're employed at and the policy of the Center Manager. Ours employed a policy of not allowing (full time) instructors to fly professionally during their 'off' time which would have added some interest and been a boost to the coffers, other Center Managers actively encourage their instructors to fly, especially on the type they're training on in order to remain current.... I've heard it said that 3 years is a typical time for instructors to remain.. I have no idea if this is true though it was in my case, and it probably refers to instructors well below retirement age. I found it a rewarding experience, I'm very grateful to FSI for the opportunity it offered me and I left on very good terms, I would consider doing it on a part time basis but would not want pursue it again full-time.. Nice to have the T Shirt.