Blatantliar - Sorry to have mis-quoted you, I read the 'popular' in the quoted section as meaning popular to employers and therefore more likely to get work. Not as you intended it.
KingRB - Good luck to the guys and girls that get through and reach their goals. It is a great job, by far the best around and I can't hold it against those that get to a stable job. If they crack an airline gig in under 5 years, bloody good show. I wouldn't be telling a new starter to expect that kind of progression though.
I have heard similar to:
"stick at it long enough, you'll make it to where you want to be. The ones that don't make it are the ones that quit".
many times over the years. But I see guys around my local field, the career has cost them relationships/health/happiness, still they push on. Some of them have made $$$, but there are a few around that have stuck at it and still work as contract pilots earning just enough to cover rent. That thought terrifies me, there's a few that really should have thrown it away decades ago.
P.S. I don't want everyone to be thinking I'm a downer here, '4forward8back' doesn't refer to my career, it's how you prime a Gipsy Major.