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A Career Changer Speaks
This is by a guy at a US regional but there's enough crossover to other airlines and parts of the world that you might find it interesting. It's a pretty negative tale on one hand but I'm glad the guy has made choices that made him happier.
https://goldengooseguide.com/2018/06...h-8-2-million/ |
mthere is also this guy, i believe ex BA A320 captain based in LGW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0N7Ede66mY
Originally Posted by bafanguy
(Post 10317499)
This is by a guy at a US regional but there's enough crossover to other airlines and parts of the world that you might find it interesting. It's a pretty negative tale on one hand but I'm glad the guy has made choices that made him happier.
https://goldengooseguide.com/2018/06...h-8-2-million/ |
Originally Posted by azdriver
(Post 10317519)
mthere is also this guy, i believe ex BA A320 captain based in LGW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0N7Ede66mY |
From what I gather BA boy makes a mint writing mobile apps without the stress and the 0330 alarm clock and he's set up some 'inspirational' channel on YouTube and seems to be just another social media narcissist. What a spud. In this age the kids will spend their parents' nest eggs on becoming the next instagram thing. They'll tire of the job and become disillusioned. I've noticed a few people on here over the last couple of years of observation wanting to leave the industry and that simply wasn't the case in my days. The thing is intagram et al are great when you're 22 and under flying the jets but tragically soon enough someone younger and prettier with a more engaged fan base comes along and you're toast quicker than you can imagine but are saddlesdwith years of £1000 a month loan repayments in a job that you're really not that into. Trafic yet tragically satisfying for the rest of us! You can't put a price on likes and followers though, can you? |
Originally Posted by Enzo999
(Post 10317707)
Dear lord he will be sadly missed!! |
Hmm. Quite interesting to see and hear the reasons why the BA captain left his career in aviation. I think we all experience low periods in our careers from time to time. However, I feel like the whole "I want to make a difference" argument is very much a product of the times we live in. Everyone thinks they are special, and destined for something "more". Wish him all the best in the future, and good luck. With that said... He is in for a VERY long struggle uphill if he thinks he can be a programmer and succeed at it. Especially making apps. EVERYTHING is outsourced to china, eastern europe and india these days. The race to the bottom has already happened in most parts of that industry. I have a degree close to that as well, and most of the guys I know struggle to keep or get a good job. Also, Programming is very repetitive after a few short years if you are building software by demand. I really hope he has something completely new to bring to the table! I wonder why he went cold turkey on it? I would think part time is possible in BA? We even have that in LOCO's. Anyways, no real "judging" here- we are all fulfilled by different things. It just seems like he could have slowly progressed into his next endeavour a bit less abrupt?
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I wonder what a Pan Am pilot would have said in the 60's or 70's about his job.
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why the BA captain left his career in aviation |
Can’t believe the level of judgement on here. It’s his life, pure and simple, free to go about in any way he pleases as long as he doesn’t harm others in the process. Who the **** is anybody to judge someone they don’t know? |
I’d agree to some extent but if somebody starts broadcasting that (to paraphrase) 99.9% of the time the sectors are a doddle with minimal mental challenges and that “we” just sit there and read the papers then I feel that does us all a great disservice (for all sorts of reason) and I’m afraid some pushback is understandable. I don’t know about everybody else here but I still get satisfaction fromgetting several hundred people safely to their destination, the ex-BA guy patently doesn’t... different strokes I guess. Must admit he sounded tired/fatigued as much as anything...anyhow I hope China works out for him...is he still allowed to videoblog from the aircraft? |
Yeah Wiggy but that’s his opinion, it doesn’t really matter. He contradicted himself big style when he said 99.9% of the time nothing goes wrong and then in the very next breath started describing a day where everything that could go wrong with the aircraft did go wrong! I’m responding mainly to the comments as to his character based on the fact he’s on social media. I may not agree with it either but it’s a different world nowadays. |
You’ve got to be thankful for the little things in this life. Like the fact that the Chinese government still blocks YouTube. |
Originally Posted by Superpilot
(Post 10318127)
used many an exaggeration to get his point across, e.g. "up to 7 days waking up at 3am to go to work". That kind of pattern is no where near the norm and most of us seldom fly more than 4 days in a row. I'd say he's pretty ripe for judgement.
(To be fair the title of the video is (paraphrasing) why I quit my job as a BA Captain, not why I quit my job as a commercial airline pilot. That kind of scheduling is unfortunately all too common amongst junior SH Skippers, hence why many have one foot out the door). |
There was an interesting thread a while back on the Aus/NZ forum about bullying. The comcensus being that if you are putting yourself out there then you're going to take the feedback both good and bad. If he is off to China then I expect a video in the not too distant future about why he quit. I do question why he's set up a channel. In the real world people change jobs and company quite regularly and I don't think your average viewer would understand the significance of quitting and going to another employer. I hope his his Chinese experience goes well! Good luck to the guy. |
Originally Posted by dctPub
(Post 10318165)
Trust me when I say that the only "people" making a mint in the mobile app world are massive software studios focused on milking every last cent out of addicted mobile game players.
Writing code is fun and rewarding when you are working on personal projects which matter to you. Much like flying is fun when renting a 172 on the weekend. Fair play to him for having the guts to walk out of BA. However, he does come across as just another desperate voice screaming out for attention in the maelstrom of social media. |
Some personal perspective on the way out.
I have been out and back into flying airliners for a couple of times; for the third time now I am trying to get out for good (if everything works). I never posted a video on social media, though. In the last 15 years a dramatic decrease in working conditions has been happening: both in monetary terms and quality of life. I did made the big $ in China and was an early comer to that part of the world but on an hourly rate, all factored in the deal was never better then the one I had in a Major back in Europe. The price needed to be paid in decreasing QOL and health was -on the other hand- quite astonishing: I never fully realised it until I had to break away for few months. After seen it all, in Europe, China and middle east, I have the feeling that I can't stand it anymore: I have also performed some consulting (inside and outside aviation) an the kind of unprofessionalism and total disregards for stakeholders that I have seen in the aviation businesses has been too much for me. It all started to fall down when a relatively small ACMI-charter-line operator that asked me to find a senior network manager -with abysmal conditions on offer- and when I predicted they would not find anyone they were so infantile in their reactions to my feedbacks that I questioned my ownself in working for such a bunch of whining kids. Shortly afterward my little firm was contacted from a very big operator in Ireland with specifics for a human resources management program that made a crook looks like a puppy bear. Theirs lacks of morality and business integrity forced me to refer to our legal department: when they came back to me advising that participating in such a project would have had serious legal consequences in our country, I the concluded that I was done with the airlines business altogether. I have friends out there, first officers, normal line captains, training captains working for some low fares operators that are showing clear signs of mental health issues. Some others, in the same operators shows some discontent but seems to get by. They do all complain though, how the "fly rinse and repeat" at those paces is soul destroying. I sometime question if the corporate managers of these outfits are totally clueless or just plain criminals for ignoring the signs and consequences of the practises they are managing and implementing in their companies. It's clear to me that, direction taken in Europe, Middle East and Asia has been -for far too long- the worst one. So, inshallah, these will be my last months of flying... Keep the blue side up. |
Originally Posted by Superpilot
(Post 10318127)
Wait a minute Rex, he's delivered a message to a very large global audience and used many an exaggeration to get his point across, e.g. "up to 7 days waking up at 3am to go to work". That kind of pattern is no where near the norm and most of us seldom fly more than 4 days in a row. I'd say he's pretty ripe for judgement.
I have a sympathetic ear for guys who complain about short haul being tiring but when you’ve made a rod for your own back I stop listening. That said, good luck to the guy. He did the right thing leaving BA and I really hope it works out for him. |
Willy Walsh, the man in charge of IAG, agrees entirely with this chap, and has said so publicly on numerous occasions. Willy has often related how his origin as a pilot in Aer Lingus was something he just stumbled into, and that he quickly realised it is a boring, repetitive and unrewarding job. He was very chuffed to escape it into a real and interesting job as a manager, and never looked back. |
Was this guy a cadet ? Always seems they are more interested in “ give me a time you helped a customer “ than if they have a passion for aviation .....and without that it will always look grim after a few years |
Originally Posted by Meester proach
(Post 10318611)
Was this guy a cadet ? Always seems they are more interested in “ give me a time you helped a customer “ than if they have a passion for aviation .....and without that it will always look grim after a few years |
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