what would you do, go for it and take the risk or use the money for something else?
What I would, or what anyone else would do is frankly irrelevant. It all depends on your personal economic situation, location and personal motivations.
Sorry to be abrupt but there it is. What i feel you are asking is, is it worth investing in becoming a pilot with the potential investment/return appropriate with a minimal amount of risk to your investment.
Right now, the industry is having probably one of the hardest times ever, GA is on it's arse so when people suggest building time on a corporate jet before going to an airline, they are talking through their rectums. Getting on a corporate jet is the same deal as with any other paying job on the flight deck;
get to the back of the line.
I use that term 'paying job' deliberately as the only chances right now are for you to pay to fly. can you afford that after paying for your licences and keeping current ?
As noted previously, there are reams of pilots in Europe looking for jobs, many with significant hours, type ratings and time on type. So the question is going overseas to build time, well yes there is that option, but again,
get to the back of the line there buddy.
Overseas job demands are another case in itself. limited prospects, limited scope (big demand for captains while the locals crews build up the experience and start to push the ex-pats out, reductions on the capacity to employ ex-pats in order to protect local employment etc etc
ad nauseum.
The answers to your questions are found in this forum, but will be found by reading the T&E forum.
Ask yourself, why do you want to be a pilot ?
I am sick and tired of hearing that hackneyed old expression from ab-intios that '
i love to fly'. If you love flying don't become an airline pilot. The job, the lifestyle ? it isn't what it was. The reason for most people it seems is that they are in love with the idea of what they think it is. And then this 'dream' is enforced by by the sales lines and marketing of the FTO's.
Rather than looking in the wannabes forums (which if anything is searching for confirmation bias to countermand what your gut is telling you) spend 3-6 months reading and taking in the T&E forum. Then you can formulate a decision based what is right for you.
*good luck*
