Penko
Yes, of course I am. A bit.
There have always been crappy jobs, but at the other end of the scale there used to be truly great careers with what we now call "legacy airlines"
I think we need to stop whineing though because there was a reason that they used to get paid a lot.
It used to be a difficult club to get into.
Anybody who has seen modern civvy pilot training knows it is not now, and worse, even if you have the "right stuff" you don't get taught the basics.
No stalling!(and what they do teach is frankly dangerous minimum height loss crap)
No spinning!
Training aircraft that are gentle and don't bite!
The airlines/aviation world have taken the gamble that we don't need good pilots anymore because the systems so rarely go wrong.
I think that they are wrong, but the people who set the standards for licences and type ratings seem to disagree.
It is very easy to get our wages back up. Make it very very difficult to pass the next check.
Unfortunately, the CAA training schools etc make more money from people passing tests, so there is no incentive.