Accountancy or Commercial Pilot?
Join Date: Mar 2007
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That's the whole point, absolutely nothing is full proof, so doing a boring, expensive accountancy degree because you think it is going to be an element of 'the winning formula' is crazy. As soon as you think you have it sussed, something, guaranteed, will change everything.
I think the ideal situation for anybody of this age over the next five years is to be in education or, be it a mix of a degree and flying training or working with the public, facing customers, learning how to handle people (which to me is a far better education) and then flying training.
You do NOT need a degree, it isn't a back up plan. A back up for what? So you get a degree in law or accountancy and then do your flying training, it all goes really well and you come straight out with a job as a pilot aged 24 let's say. You fly for 14 years and then develop diabetes at the age of 38 and lose your medical. How the hell is that degree going to make a blind bit of difference to anything apart from having added to the debts in your life?
Do not over look the fact that with degrees like law and accountancy, you need experience within the industry which WILL delay your whole life for the sake of a 'back up plan'. Life is finite, don't waste it. The more experienced can answer this but I'd imagine the qualifications are also time expiring. If not, they should be!
It is a completely different story if you went about your life and became an accountant and then all of a sudden whilst driving home in your Ford Mondeo past Heathrow Airport, you felt a 777 shake you as it came over the threshold of runway 27L - You then have an epiphany that you are living to work and flying for a living is the only way to break this mind numbing boredom and mediocrity. (no offence to accountants, it is a respectable living
)
They are two different stories with several similar elements. All I am really trying to say is DO THINGS FOR THE RIGHT REASON - really think about what I am saying.
I think the ideal situation for anybody of this age over the next five years is to be in education or, be it a mix of a degree and flying training or working with the public, facing customers, learning how to handle people (which to me is a far better education) and then flying training.
You do NOT need a degree, it isn't a back up plan. A back up for what? So you get a degree in law or accountancy and then do your flying training, it all goes really well and you come straight out with a job as a pilot aged 24 let's say. You fly for 14 years and then develop diabetes at the age of 38 and lose your medical. How the hell is that degree going to make a blind bit of difference to anything apart from having added to the debts in your life?
Do not over look the fact that with degrees like law and accountancy, you need experience within the industry which WILL delay your whole life for the sake of a 'back up plan'. Life is finite, don't waste it. The more experienced can answer this but I'd imagine the qualifications are also time expiring. If not, they should be!
It is a completely different story if you went about your life and became an accountant and then all of a sudden whilst driving home in your Ford Mondeo past Heathrow Airport, you felt a 777 shake you as it came over the threshold of runway 27L - You then have an epiphany that you are living to work and flying for a living is the only way to break this mind numbing boredom and mediocrity. (no offence to accountants, it is a respectable living
)They are two different stories with several similar elements. All I am really trying to say is DO THINGS FOR THE RIGHT REASON - really think about what I am saying.
Hovering AND talking
Join Date: Feb 2003
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As I've said on another thread (I can't remember which 
), a degree in accountancy is NOT an accountancy qualification; that takes another three years (or more). A degree in accountancy is just a degree, like any other. The syllabus of most accountancy degrees that I've come across is actually very theoretical and, to be honest, airy-fairy; they don't deal with the nitty-gritty of tax, VAT, double-entry bookkeeping, ledgers and all the lovely stuff which I would like an accountant to know.
For information, the Chartered qualification is not time-expiring as long as you pay the annual subscription of £285 currently (see, it ain't just the CAA). This entitles you to ...er ... put ACA after your name. There are requirements to self-assess your continuing professional experience but you can be exenpted from this if you work outside the field.
To be honest, not much changes in real life finance - the principles remain largely unchanged.
If I had a choice (and I do recruit accountants) between a 22 year old with an accountancy degree and a 38 year old retired pilot who once held the ACA qualification, I'd go for the ex-ACA (all other things being equal). His or her information may be out of date but they would at least know where to look and be aware that somethings may have changed. The 22 year old would have to be trained in the workings of the real world.
If I had my time again (now, not 1983 when there were no women pilots), I'd have joined the RAF.
Cheers
Whirls
), a degree in accountancy is NOT an accountancy qualification; that takes another three years (or more). A degree in accountancy is just a degree, like any other. The syllabus of most accountancy degrees that I've come across is actually very theoretical and, to be honest, airy-fairy; they don't deal with the nitty-gritty of tax, VAT, double-entry bookkeeping, ledgers and all the lovely stuff which I would like an accountant to know.For information, the Chartered qualification is not time-expiring as long as you pay the annual subscription of £285 currently (see, it ain't just the CAA). This entitles you to ...er ... put ACA after your name. There are requirements to self-assess your continuing professional experience but you can be exenpted from this if you work outside the field.
To be honest, not much changes in real life finance - the principles remain largely unchanged.
If I had a choice (and I do recruit accountants) between a 22 year old with an accountancy degree and a 38 year old retired pilot who once held the ACA qualification, I'd go for the ex-ACA (all other things being equal). His or her information may be out of date but they would at least know where to look and be aware that somethings may have changed. The 22 year old would have to be trained in the workings of the real world.
If I had my time again (now, not 1983 when there were no women pilots), I'd have joined the RAF.
Cheers
Whirls
