2:1 Degree and 25 (by one day!)
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
From: UK
I personally don't think it helps a great deal. Airlines are more interested in your aviation experience, your life experience and then maybe your educational qualifications. They can also work against you - it may take some explaining as to why you are not following your field of expertise. I have 2 degrees and a diploma, all in Law. I got a job 2 months before a mate who has no degree to my knowledge, but like me, a great deal of life experience earned in the emergency services. Don't think qualifications really had much to do with it - flying experience, networking and immediate availability got us our jobs.
Last edited by G-LOST; 24th April 2004 at 20:09.
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 66
Likes: 0
From: london
Hello
Thanks for the informative posts. Firstly, onthebuses, you're a moron who's really missed the point. Look at how many hits this thread as had. It's a very serious consideration which I don't see discussed anywhere else. Also your attitude towards learning disorders and educational standards is/are dangerous, distasteful, inconsiderate, and utterly unnecessary.
Secondly, Scroggs, thanks your post perfectly sums up my present position. I've had a couple of lessons, and I'm going to study for my PPL in one month. Whilst I understand this will not be a perfect insight (like many brief internships and vacation placements), I feel it's as close I can get without actually doing the job (?). I've also been chatting to pilots and and training providers who think it's a good idea. For the record, there has been a mixed response from these guys about the relevance of a degree.
onthebuses (pal), I wasn't expecting to leap into a shiny jet liner immediately after I qualify.
I'm sorry if my posts have been a little vague. I'm quite prepared to have to pay for the training myself. Naturally I'd rather not, and I'm really quite apprehensive about doing it if the employment prospects (given age, the licence, medical, a positive and affable personality [and degree!]) aren't reasonable. I'm really quite positive about about flying as a possible career, but I'm NOT going to spend vast tracts of cash if the chances of employment are stupidly low.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think it's important to be very pragmatic about spending 45K in any situation, and I expect something positive for my investment. As a consequence, perhaps my post about educational standards was a little boastful. I want it to be. I want it to increase my chances of gaining employment, especially after nervously spending 45K. I now understand that perhaps it's not as useful as it is in many sectors, and I very much appreciate the majority of your posts.
Kind regards
Thanks for the informative posts. Firstly, onthebuses, you're a moron who's really missed the point. Look at how many hits this thread as had. It's a very serious consideration which I don't see discussed anywhere else. Also your attitude towards learning disorders and educational standards is/are dangerous, distasteful, inconsiderate, and utterly unnecessary.
Secondly, Scroggs, thanks your post perfectly sums up my present position. I've had a couple of lessons, and I'm going to study for my PPL in one month. Whilst I understand this will not be a perfect insight (like many brief internships and vacation placements), I feel it's as close I can get without actually doing the job (?). I've also been chatting to pilots and and training providers who think it's a good idea. For the record, there has been a mixed response from these guys about the relevance of a degree.
onthebuses (pal), I wasn't expecting to leap into a shiny jet liner immediately after I qualify.
I'm sorry if my posts have been a little vague. I'm quite prepared to have to pay for the training myself. Naturally I'd rather not, and I'm really quite apprehensive about doing it if the employment prospects (given age, the licence, medical, a positive and affable personality [and degree!]) aren't reasonable. I'm really quite positive about about flying as a possible career, but I'm NOT going to spend vast tracts of cash if the chances of employment are stupidly low.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think it's important to be very pragmatic about spending 45K in any situation, and I expect something positive for my investment. As a consequence, perhaps my post about educational standards was a little boastful. I want it to be. I want it to increase my chances of gaining employment, especially after nervously spending 45K. I now understand that perhaps it's not as useful as it is in many sectors, and I very much appreciate the majority of your posts.
Kind regards
Moderator
Joined: Dec 1997
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 4,929
Likes: 6
From: Suffolk UK
What thanks for getting back to us.
Firstly, don't let people wind you up - it's not worth the wasted heartbeats!
Secondly, well done for seeking opinions from pilots first hand. Beware taking their opinions at face value, though - many instructors, let alone PPLs, have little or no experience of the professional jobs market, and will feed you their preconceptions and assumptions rather than facts. The important fact is that your degrees count for much less than you might expect in this field. Their importance lies in their relevance to alternative employers should flying not work out.
Thirdly, even more well done for starting down the road to a PPL - you'd be amazed how many people profess flying as their ideal career, yet they've never gone and had a go at flying an aeroplane.
As the 'Do You Really Want To Do This' thread is beginning to explore, earning to fly is as valid a way of getting your aviation fix as is flying to earn, and may suit many people better. Maximum earnings in airline flying, after 30+ years of what to many people would be long haul tedium, is around £120,000 pa in UK. The average for experienced pilots is between £40k and £60k per year. It's relatively easy to earn a great deal more than that outside aviation in a number of career fields, without some of the disadvantages of aviation's somewhat strange employment idiosyncracies, including the vast investment up front! Think about that before you commit to those tens of thousands of pounds for your training.
Anyway, from your last post, I think you've gotten the idea. Best of luck, whatever you finally choose to do.
Scroggs
Firstly, don't let people wind you up - it's not worth the wasted heartbeats!
Secondly, well done for seeking opinions from pilots first hand. Beware taking their opinions at face value, though - many instructors, let alone PPLs, have little or no experience of the professional jobs market, and will feed you their preconceptions and assumptions rather than facts. The important fact is that your degrees count for much less than you might expect in this field. Their importance lies in their relevance to alternative employers should flying not work out.
Thirdly, even more well done for starting down the road to a PPL - you'd be amazed how many people profess flying as their ideal career, yet they've never gone and had a go at flying an aeroplane.
As the 'Do You Really Want To Do This' thread is beginning to explore, earning to fly is as valid a way of getting your aviation fix as is flying to earn, and may suit many people better. Maximum earnings in airline flying, after 30+ years of what to many people would be long haul tedium, is around £120,000 pa in UK. The average for experienced pilots is between £40k and £60k per year. It's relatively easy to earn a great deal more than that outside aviation in a number of career fields, without some of the disadvantages of aviation's somewhat strange employment idiosyncracies, including the vast investment up front! Think about that before you commit to those tens of thousands of pounds for your training.
Anyway, from your last post, I think you've gotten the idea. Best of luck, whatever you finally choose to do.
Scroggs
