Lowest/Highes paying jobs

[RP170]

I once tried to stick up for pilot pay, as not being so bad, but I am beginning to see just how much people can make, outside of aviation. It isn't all peaches and cream, but I know of plenty of people who graduated school with starting salaries of $60K+, in various careers, including some, that just a few years later, are making six figures.

My wife started at 90K from day one out of college in medical sales. She is also provided with a company car and the gas and insurance are also payed for. She is well over 100K now and only has a bachelors degree. There are much better professions out there than aviation!

 

[Caveman]

I'd rather be a pilot making $70K than a pharmacist making $100K. I'm not some starry eyed kid with SJS either. I'm a grown man that will be 50 in a few months. Let me tell you something about life: you better figure out what it is that makes you tick and then go do it regardless of how well it does or doesn't pay. I'm well aware of the troubles that plague our industry. I know all about strikes, furloughs, displacements, whiplash, etc, etc. Know what? It doesn't matter one whit. I'm a pilot. That's what I do. Can't help it and I won't apologize about it. I'd love to make $250K, but if the economics of the business dictate that my pay is $70K, so be it. I'll do my part to help it improve but I'm not gonna quit flying and go be a pharmacist just to make more money. I'd rather take a bullet.

 

[PilotOnTheRise]

I'd rather be a pilot making $70K than a pharmacist making $100K. I'm not some starry eyed kid with SJS either. I'm a grown man that will be 50 in a few months. Let me tell you something about life: you better figure out what it is that makes you tick and then go do it regardless of how well it does or doesn't pay. I'm well aware of the troubles that plague our industry. I know all about strikes, furloughs, displacements, whiplash, etc, etc. Know what? It doesn't matter one whit. I'm a pilot. That's what I do. Can't help it and I won't apologize about it. I'd love to make $250K, but if the economics of the business dictate that my pay is $70K, so be it. I'll do my part to help it improve but I'm not gonna quit flying and go be a pharmacist just to make more money. I'd rather take a bullet.

I would also rather make $70K, and enjoy my job, than $100K, and hate my job. I too, do not want to become a pharmacist. It doesn't appeal to me. At the same time, I don't want a job that I constantly have to worry about being furloughed from, and starting over at square one, again; especially if I have a family to feed, and a home to pay for. The instability makes being a pilot, a good job, but not so much a good career. Afterall, all anybody really is worth, is first year pay, because no matter how much experience you have, if you are kicked to the streets tomorrow, you are starting over at year one, with all of the other new hire FOs.

I am not saying that I am NOT going to pursue a career being a professional pilot. I am just really beginning to question the airline route. There are other routes; such as corporate, and charter. Or, there is the option to pursue other careers, and leave flying as a hobby.

 

[atl pilot]

1. Air Traffic Controller $102,030

Shoot we have several controllers at ATL, the busiest tower in the WORLD, who wil NEVER make that under the FAA's new pay bands.

 

[regionaltard]

Food Preparation Workers
Average hourly earnings: $8.88
Average annual earnings: $18,480

I work at SkyWest flying RJ's I wear paper hats...

 

[MINIME]

I once tried to stick up for pilot pay, as not being so bad, but I am beginning to see just how much people can make, outside of aviation. It isn't all peaches and cream, but I know of plenty of people who graduated school with starting salaries of $60K+, in various careers, including some, that just a few years later, are making six figures.

Money is not everything, but the airline industry is just way too unstable, for such low starting pay, and having to spend so much time to reach the better pay. Not to mention, a furlough means starting over, at year one, whereas in other careers, a layoff means getting another job, at the same pay, in most cases, or, using the experience from the previous job, to get a better paying job, than the one before.

You mentioned some of the higher paying jobs, not requiring a degree; what about the ones requiring a degree? Here are some fields, not so much specific jobs, that have high income potential, even from the get go.

Finance - Starting salaries can be on the high end. I've heard of people getting $60K starting salaries in the finance field, and making six figures just a few short years later.

Information Technology - I've seen plenty of $70K+ salaries to start, and many in the $100K+ range, with just a few years experience.

Pharmacy - As mentioned by others, and almost anything medical pays well.

There are many other fields, than just the above. They are just a few that come to mind.

My sister is currently in her first year of pharmacy school. It is a hard curriculum, but she will more than likely start off making at least $80K+, when she graduates.

FWIW, as a customer service agent/ramp rat for a regional airline, I just made my first year mark, in mid December, and made $22K. It is sad that a regional pilot makes that, or not even that, their first year, and for some, even their second year, etc.

I love flying, and it is all I have ever wanted to do. I am sure it is a fun job, and probably beats almost any job, in that category. BUT, sometimes it isn't all about fun, when you are trying to support a family.

As much as I love flying, with the clear instability, and uncertainty that now looms over the airline industry, I am seriously looking at stopping at my instrument rating, for now, which I start work on, next week, getting back in school, and pursuing other careers, whilst watching, and waiting for the dust to settle. As much as I have always dreamed of being a pilot; I think I can honestly say, I have achieved that dream, just not in a career sense. Maybe my dream is just better spent as a hobby, and pursuing a better paying, much more stable career. We will see. Life is full of surprises. I am just glad, that at just 23, I am able to see this clearly, and accept it, rather than being blinded by it all, because of a shiny jet.

I wish I would've had your intelligence when I was your age. I know for certain, judging by what my friends have done, I'd be way better off financially. The savy ones have good savings and plenty left over for fun.:bawling:

 

[bigbird]

What about working in computers? Good money, challenging. Home everynight

 

[G21Agoose]

What about working in computers? Good money, challenging. Home everynight

............no girlfriend, no dress sense, no friends except Star Trek figurines.........

 

[Nevets]

1. Air Traffic Controller $102,030

Shoot we have several controllers at ATL, the busiest tower in the WORLD, who wil NEVER make that under the FAA's new pay bands.

I think someone in ATL tower could make that much after five years.

Including Locality Pay

 

[hindsight2020]

I don't want to be a pharmacist either but I don't think getting my pilot jollies off is worth starving and not having lateral career options like the rest of the rational world. Something's got to give. Starting salaries are a joke, and pilotontherise is correct, you are in effect worth only as much as first year pay will grant you, because that's the market value if you were to leave your employer for another (laterally, not going 121 to 91 etc). Look at the pay differential between the income and benefits you want to have within your employer and what they pay their new-hires. That's the opportunity cost value of getting your pilot jollies off. Even for the majors that's way too ridiculous of a pay cut to consider seriously as a primary means of supporting a family for 30 years.

As to the unhappiness issue, I think it's relative. In my book I don't differentiate between financial-induced stress and vocational frustration. It's the same sh$tty feeling. I know this for a fact. I was in a job where I was both financially and vocationally unhappy (academia).

Do you really think all these thousands of people grew up dreaming of one day becoming a pharmacist??? HELL NO! These people are mature enough to recognize that in this country at the end of the day it is about paying the mortgage (as to the social value of our cultural vices, and making a living being a government sanctioned de facto drug dealer, that's for another thread), and that as mundane as a desk job seems, you can always get a hobby, which is what all these people do in real life. Of course we as pilots are exempt from that reality....right. Look, the happiest people I've ever met in aviation are the dudes who do it part-time, the ones who own their airplane at the local airport and fly for fun, and the trust fund babies that fly for regionals without a single regard for financial bottom lines. Hell, my buddy from UPT whose father's a UPS CA told him straight up "don't get into this sh$tty business" and you know that guy ain't starving. When you remove the real world from the job, no sh$t you're living the dream..... This thread reminds me of that commercial where the guy is all happy with his car and house, wife and kids by the pool and he says all chippy "How do I do it?...I'm in DEBT UP TO MY EYEBALLS, SOMEBODY HELP ME?" Either pilots find a way to bringing compensation to the 21st century, or you're really better off as a provider and person pursuing something to pay the bills and flying recreationally. Good luck to us all in this crazy addiction.