After a standstill lasting a couple of years (about 2009-2013) I see a lot of movement now in the pilot market. I'm working for a semi-lowcost airline in NW Europe, and we are foreseeing problems te get pilots in the future. A lot of our FO's are 'upgrading' theirselves to the main carrier (really a lot, last year more than 10% of all pilots), so we need a lot of new guys. The new pilots are partly firsttimers, partly coming from other airlines like Ryanair. The company is even starting its own flying school to secure enough new pilots for the future.
So I don't know if there is a real shortage at this time (we still manage to attract enough new pilots), but management is taking measures for a possible shortage in the near future.

Sad, and weird, to hear. I'm well in my 40s and have not seen anything similar. Every company I've worked for so far has a mix of junior vs experienced SWEs. But then again, I'm in silicon valley where there is always a market for people with skills. For comparison (and not to show off), my W2 income for last year was well above 300k (this includes base, bonus, RSUs etc).Of course, that includes the silicon valley bonus (cost of living is horrible). I've yet to see air crew make that.

My point being that at this point in time, young people interested in aviation must make a choice between cash and their dreams, and potentially have a plan B.

Just an FYI, every captain at DL, UA, AA, SW,A FDX, UPS makes more than 300K, and quite a few FOs do too. At least 30,000 pilots make that much money.
And on a totally unrelated note:"ook uit holland??"

I guess there might be more than one but the individual starring in the video EatMyShorts provided ended up flying in the Far East but (judging by a follow up video) seemed to hoping for a career change at some point.

Yes, that was the chap!

Quite a few skippers in China lift $350k net if money is your thing.

I've never seen an FO go above 300k, but good for them if they do. If at flagship carriers, getting to that level requires seniority to get to the left seat, and a mix of skill and luck to get to the left seat of long-haul. In my team, I have newgrads starting at 150+, with midlevel engineers (think early to late 30s) well above 200k. While that for sure is possible at a flagship carrier, we all know that for the average flyboy hopeful, that's simply a dream that is either unattainable or will take a lot of time. Which brings me back to my original point: have a plan B.

Holland is a long time ago. Lost NL citizenship and haven't been back in a long time.

And don't go flying for money alone. If you can't say "doing what I love and getting paid for it" at least sometimes, it's not the right job for you. I am not foreign to coding but I would think more than twice about changing from flying to coding just to increase my salary.

There's the Matrix movie ... :ooh:

There is a certain je ne sais quoi knowing that you guys are exercising code I wrote and systems I helped design :)
But don't expect huge sums or any thanks.

How many WOW's pilots on the market? (European? Americans? Others?)

178. Mostly Icelandic and other European nationalities.

I was chief pilot of a small skydive operation for several years. It was surprisingly difficult to find suitable pilots. You know pilots who I felt comfortable enough that they were competent enough not to kill our customers.

The good ones were obvious and soon moved on to better things. Others not so much. One lad seemed to fit the bill but after quite a few hours sitting right seat with him I just couldn't let him solo. CPL he might have but no. Saw him lately still floating around.
Not everyone has what it takes. So yes plenty of pilots are out there but not everyone has what it takes.

Maybe. However, with that experience the entry level jet is then an A320 or 737 and a command in five years. Of course one could get his CPL and a degree at something like Embry Riddle or UND (costs are similar) and then spend another 100k to get the required 1500 hours for his ATPL. Different systems and very different job markets.