Career Path
Hey guys,
I'm going to spare the typical long explanations of dreams and aspirations and get into what I'm asking about. I'm late to the race, I'm 24 years old. I've recently released from the army where I had spent the last 5 years full time. I'm currently in my first semester of an aircraft maintenance program at a college here in ontario. With money and time as factors I had decided that a career as an AME would be a shorter route to industry and satisfy my hunger for aviation. It looks like I was wrong. It's a great program and I'm doing well, but I'm an operator, not a supporter. I have the fortune of having an aircraft in the family and they have offered to let me use their plane to get certified, eliminating a large portion of the costs. So, I'm at a crossroads. Drop out of this program and dive head first into certification, or ride this out and have this maintenance diploma under my belt (as well as more debt). My biggest question is: will having a maintenance background help me or hold any weight in my favour whatsoever in a career as a pilot, or will I be wasting time and money that isn't necessary. Keep in mind that without this program I won't have a post secondary education.
Hopefully someone here has even turned maintainer to pilot themselves.
Any advice is appreciated!