Haven't posted on FI in at least a year but this topic is worth consideration.
I left the IT field for the regionals and too this day would encourage anyone to do the same. Lots of the people on here(like any sampling of pilots) that extoll the virtues of an office job have never had one.
Now IT jobs vary widely so keep that in mind. And what is important to me might not be important to you. That is important.
As background, I worked for a major consulting firm doing database conversions. After leaving I was one of the fortunate ones.. I did all my ratings in 1 year, instructed for 2, got picked up by the regionals right at 1000/100 and in 6 years I've been a captain for almost 4 of them. Exactly how your life works out is of course key.
When I did consulting I traveled more than I did as a pilot. Routinely gone 4 or even 5 nights a week. I worked 70+ hour weeks. I was always too exhausted to do anything in my free time. All of my free time was spent worrying about work, checking email, getting ready for work, etc. And this was before things like Blackberrys. I have to think it's worse now.
The upside to that job. Pay. Pure and simple money. At 5th year captain pay I still don't make what I did when I left consulting. I'll never touch what I could have made if I stayed. 15 year guys in consulting routinely made 7 figure salaries.
However now I go to work do my thing and come home. Most weeks I have 3 days off and I don't have to think about work hardly at all. Remember to wash my uniform.. thats about it. I wish their was more stability in the airlines.. but there isn't that much more in IT. Companies go under, consulting contracts fall through, people get laid off. The big stability advantage in IT is your experience is portable. You can find another comparable job and not start over at the bottom.
Anyway.. PM me if you have more questions I'm happy to share my experience. But give this decision a lot of thought. Especially if your going to be giving up a lot of seniority where you are.
cale
I left the IT field for the regionals and too this day would encourage anyone to do the same. Lots of the people on here(like any sampling of pilots) that extoll the virtues of an office job have never had one.
Now IT jobs vary widely so keep that in mind. And what is important to me might not be important to you. That is important.
As background, I worked for a major consulting firm doing database conversions. After leaving I was one of the fortunate ones.. I did all my ratings in 1 year, instructed for 2, got picked up by the regionals right at 1000/100 and in 6 years I've been a captain for almost 4 of them. Exactly how your life works out is of course key.
When I did consulting I traveled more than I did as a pilot. Routinely gone 4 or even 5 nights a week. I worked 70+ hour weeks. I was always too exhausted to do anything in my free time. All of my free time was spent worrying about work, checking email, getting ready for work, etc. And this was before things like Blackberrys. I have to think it's worse now.
The upside to that job. Pay. Pure and simple money. At 5th year captain pay I still don't make what I did when I left consulting. I'll never touch what I could have made if I stayed. 15 year guys in consulting routinely made 7 figure salaries.
However now I go to work do my thing and come home. Most weeks I have 3 days off and I don't have to think about work hardly at all. Remember to wash my uniform.. thats about it. I wish their was more stability in the airlines.. but there isn't that much more in IT. Companies go under, consulting contracts fall through, people get laid off. The big stability advantage in IT is your experience is portable. You can find another comparable job and not start over at the bottom.
Anyway.. PM me if you have more questions I'm happy to share my experience. But give this decision a lot of thought. Especially if your going to be giving up a lot of seniority where you are.
cale
