What's your long term career strategy?

[800Dog]

I like your style. I plan on getting hired with a GOOD major airline, and enjoying the good life for a few years. I would like to retire young and RICH! instead of being unhappy at some second rate airline for years. the pickins are getting slim though.LOL

That's my plan and I am sticking to it.

Retire young and rich? Major airline pilot? Talk about clueless! Try medical/law school or develop an internet startup clueless one.

 

[instructordude]

Go to NetJets then.

Do they hire colonels?

 

[amt]

Dude, just apply for the ones you have people to walk your stuff in...Most airlines are hiring but not necessarily going to pick you just because...

 

[Lear70]

Retire young and rich? Major airline pilot? Talk about clueless! Try medical/law school or develop an internet startup clueless one.

That's not a guaranteed ticket either...

Unless you specialize, docs don't make all that much more than a pilot at one of the majors and has about half a million in med school loans to pay off.

And unless you're a really GOOD attorney with a good firm, they don't make all that much either. I know of several who barely eek out a 6-figure income and they've been doing it for as long as I've been flying (15 years out of college).

Nothing is really that lucrative anymore unless you get into the right "nitch", our profession included.

 

[pilotyip]

good pay

That's not a guaranteed ticket either...

Unless you specialize, docs don't make all that much more than a pilot at one of the majors and has about half a million in med school loans to pay off.

And unless you're a really GOOD attorney with a good firm, they don't make all that much either. I know of several who barely eek out a 6-figure income and they've been doing it for as long as I've been flying (15 years out of college).

Nothing is really that lucrative anymore unless you get into the right "nitch", our profession included.

I think I just heard that airline pay is OK?

 

[800Dog]

That's not a guaranteed ticket either...

Unless you specialize, docs don't make all that much more than a pilot at one of the majors and has about half a million in med school loans to pay off.

And unless you're a really GOOD attorney with a good firm, they don't make all that much either. I know of several who barely eek out a 6-figure income and they've been doing it for as long as I've been flying (15 years out of college).

Nothing is really that lucrative anymore unless you get into the right "nitch", our profession included.

We must be running with different docs and attorneys. My cousin is an ER doc. Left med school with 200k in loans, nowhere close to 500k. He is 42 and makes about 500k a year. Father owns a hospital and his docs make big $$. He just hired two new physicians and they received a 250k signing bonus! The attorneys I know here in ATL make significantly more than any major airline pilot and law school did not cost them any more than a civilian pilots ratings. I will agree with you that some do not make great $. My PCP only makes 100k. She is only 33 though.

 

[Lear70]

I think I just heard that airline pay is OK?

No. I think GP's in this country are woefully underpaid as well for the services they render, as are RN's.

So are we... and I'm a little confused how you made the mental leap from "doctors and lawyers don't make all that much either" to "we're all paid OK"...?

You have some interesting ways of bridging two unrelated facts and trying to correlate them...

800Dog, I guess you have some friends who work in some very well-paid facilities.

I have 3 first cousins who are doctors, 2 first cousins who are RN's, 1 first cousin who's a LNP, and a 2nd cousin who's a Nurse Anesthetist.

One of the docs is doing good, he's a cardio specialist, albeit in a small town, but makes probably $300k a year. Not bad for 42. The other two are GP's and only clear about $100k after they pay all their office staff and various insurances.

They all went to small private church schools for med school, so likely their bills are higher than average, but $200k is pretty low for getting all the way through college and med school.

The Nurse Anesthetist is arguably doing better than the rest of them. She has $80k in student loans, is 29, and is pulling in about $150k a year. 4 years of college, 2 years of nursing school, 2 years of practical experience, then 2 years of NA school and came out making over 6 figures. Not bad...

 

[Black Hawk]

Working in medicine and law is great if you're into it. If you'd rather be somewhere else then any job can be miserable including the high paying ones.

 

[800Dog]

No. I think GP's in this country are woefully underpaid as well for the services they render, as are RN's.



They all went to small private church schools for med school, so likely their bills are higher than average, but $200k is pretty low for getting all the way through college and med school.

200k was for med school only. He paid it off fairly quickly. Not too difficult when one is pulling in 300 to 500k. I cannot understand why anyone would pay over 200k for medical school to become a GP? Difficult to justify. I think most professions are underpaid these days. CEO would be an exception!

 

[560NJA]

Just wondering if any have thought about NJA as a career, especially with the new contract that looks like it will pass. Starting FO could make 60,000+ without trying to pick up overtime and 100 bases to choose from. Just food for thought

 

[PCL_128]

I think I just heard that airline pay is OK?

No, you just heard that the middle class is being crushed by the rich and powerful. Pretty soon, the entire working class will be equally miserable. So, if your idea of "ok" is being just as screwed as the next guy, then yeah, I guess it's ok.

 

[Vspeeds]

Working in medicine and law is great if you're into it. If you'd rather be somewhere else then any job can be miserable including the high paying ones.

I totally agree!

Trust me not all of us have the aptitude for Medicine or Law!
I personally, find them both, as boring professions. Simply cuz I don't have an aptitude for none of them.
I choose this profession & I just gotta keep truckin' along!
Our jobs are more like 6 monthly or yearly jobs, based on medical, line & other proficiency checks.
But I rather be a pilot any day!!!!

My .02 cents folks!

 

[Lear70]

Can't argue that. I love the idea of practicing medicine... but I don't have the head for it.

I can memorize systems diagrams and numbers all day long, but can't recall proper names of muscles, bones, and god knows what kind of new medicines they come out with every month more than a few minutes at a time.

Some people probably just weren't cut out for it...

Law, on the other hand, bores the crap out of me. I turned down a full-ride scholarship to Vandy Law. Twice. Probably stupid of me in retrospect, but it's just too... slimy.

Kind of like becoming an airline CEO...

 

[pilotyip]

unanswered question

No, you just heard that the middle class is being crushed by the rich and powerful. Pretty soon, the entire working class will be equally miserable. So, if your idea of "ok" is being just as screwed as the next guy, then yeah, I guess it's ok.

What is middle class income? is it 46K, 50 percentile, is it 75K, 70 percentile, is in 90K, 80 percentile, is it 110K 90 percentile, what is middle income? When your were commenting about the demise of the middle class, I ask what defines middle class, you went house, cars, good schools, I then ask you to define middle class by income level. I never got an answer; please define it so I can rebuff your answer. Most pilots make a good living compared to the rest of the individuals in this country.

 

[PCL_128]

When your were commenting about the demise of the middle class, I ask what defines middle class, you went house, cars, good schools, I then ask you to define middle class by income level. I never got an answer; please define it so I can rebuff your answer. Most pilots make a good living compared to the rest of the individuals in this country.

I didn't answer your question because I find it to be absurd to pick an income bracket to call "middle class." For one thing, a certain income level here in suburban Atlanta will yield a different quality of life than it will in suburban Detroit, and a much different quality of life than places like NY, SoCal, Coastal Florida, Boston, etc... Income numbers don't address the issue. Actual quality of life does. The fact is, to make a large six-figure income as a Doctor, Lawyer, etc..., you have to work in one of the big cities where such an income doesn't go as far as it does where I live. Doctors that work in suburban and rural areas make much less. So why try to pin it down based on an income strata? Sorry, doesn't make sense. That's why I gave you an answer that includes things that are universal: healthcare, cars, home ownership, etc... These are things that every person in the "middle class" should be able to afford.