PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Is post-secondary education really worth it?
Old 2nd Dec 2017, 19:30
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+TSRA
 
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Welcome to PPRuNe avftw,

The short answer to your question is few operators in Canada require a diploma or degree. Most don't care about how you worked towards the licenses and ratings, just that you have them and the minimum experience levels required to apply for the job.

The great thing about aviation in Canada is that there are thousands of paths to each position, and the path I used to get to my job may not be the path you want to take. You ask what the odds are of getting a job with 200 hours? Right now pretty good. The airlines are clearing the slate with huge hiring, creating a vacuum behind them for pilots straight out of flight school. For now, your best course of action is to get your licenses and ratings as quickly as possible and get a flying job. Gone are the days of sending 50 resumes out and getting 1 response for a ramp job in Yellowknife.

With that said, you are only ever a second away from another 9/11 type scenario which dries up all the jobs and you're left loading bags onto airplanes instead of flying them. This is why getting that education to a diploma or degree level is necessary, as all the guys and gals you'll be in competition with will likely have one.

Also, most pilots don't spend their entire career on the flight deck. Most step out of the cockpit and work in training or management at some point; either by choice or otherwise. Having prior education can definitely make these excursions into other areas more rewarding, both professionally and personally.

Finally, you have to consider what will happen if you show up to your aviation medical one day and the doctor pulls the plug on your career for you. In one day your entire life can be turned upside down, and a pilot without prior education can often be left flying in the wind, with not a lot of transferable skills. Managing people, time, and tasks are very transferable, but flying an RNP or ILS to minimums during a snowstorm with gale force winds don't have much in common with anything if you're now trying to sell insurance.

You might consider the cost of staying in the program is too expensive now, but honestly, the cost is not as great as the potential losses you might see without the education.

Therefore, I'd suggest you stay the course and finish your training. Your future quality of life might just thank you for it.
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