Buzz, I face a similar conundrum!
I've had a great passion for aeroplanes and flying since I was a kid, however for various reasons didn't pursue a career in flying directly after school, instead going to Uni and subsequently obtaining work in the medical field. After several years of very secure and decently paid employment in this sector, I decided to follow my dream and become a pilot.I completed my CPL over several years while still working full-time and being supported by my girlfriend/wife.
Last year I moved 'Up North' in order to pursue a career in aviation, regardless of the very significant drop in job security and renumeration that move would entail. It was an expensive excursion and while it was a lot of fun, unfortunately it proved fruitless (except for one flying job offer which I turned down for, erm, safety reasons).
My experience was that while some guys had a run of good luck and found good work with decent operators fairly quickly, many junior pilots were hanging around for up to a year before finally finding flying work. What's more the work was not always full-time, so pay was less than the 36k/yr you may expect, or involved questionable safety standards, or moving to very remote locations, or a combination of those!
In this situation the young punks have an advantage in my opinion, as they should be more flexible with location (not having to worry about the wife finding work at oodnawhoopwhoop) and usually won't have the responsibility of mortgage payments over their heads.
Having said that, i think anyone with the right attitude and persistance will get there, it's just a question of how much you are willing to sacrifice.
So I'm currently back in a major city and back in my original profession.The question is: Do I go all-in and have another go at kick-starting my career as a commercial pilot? Or do I resign myself to only flying for fun?
I have been strongly considering Instructing, as it would allow me to fly every day, and I enjoy teaching students and junior staff in my current job, so I think it would translate to the same with flying.
Still, there's the problem of very low pay for a good 5 years and comparatively poor job security.
Hmmm...
Pull-Up-Terrain, follow your dream, you only live once! Having said that, as a comparison, everyone from my Uni course had work within 3 months of finishing the degree, the starting salary is in the high 50s and after a few years close to double that.