It depends....doesn't really help anyone. Here are my thoughts in no particular order.
- the money (good bad or indifferent) has always been on jets - particularly big ones
- TP pay is lousy and a flight instructor can hardly make ends meet. The pay figures are all ove on ppjn.
- there is a lot of anecdotal evidence to demonstrate that it is difficult to get off a turbo prop onto a jet with many airlines favouring new cadets over experienced TP pilots. Hence these pilots find themselves pigeon holed. Many have found that the Middle East is about the only place willing to accept their hours
- in order to fly big jets and get big money you generally have to fly smaller ones. Most of the job opportunities on these are coming through cadet or mentored schemes such as CTC or the BA FPP.
- it is very hard to find a high paying airline these days. Most are struggling financially. Even those that are cash rich still beat you over the head with the corporate mantra that they are under intense financial pressure and must tighten the belt. Hence inflationary increases are at best all you can hope for. If you want to get ahead financially then aviation is not for you.
- make sure you have a plan B
In summary unless you are cash rich and have a fallback plan for your future retirement it's hard to find many reasons to tell someone to part with 100k on a bunch of flying licences that could be taken away from you in a stroke of pen eg: loss of medical. In fact it's actually barking mad if you think about it for any length of time.
My advice would be to try out for a cadetship. Also do the gapan course to find out if you are suited for aviation. Might save you a few bucks. PS: expect lots of positive comments from wannabes who are yet to get into the industry and take it with a pinch of salt.