JungleBus

That's rather strong, and frankly posts like this don't do anything to educate wannabees, because they discount it as the ranting of someone who's completely disgruntled. If you really think it sucks, explain why.

For me, it comes down to this:
-The flying itself is enjoyable. But I'm an aviation nerd at heart & have been since childhood, I turn off the automation quite a bit and hand fly, and I'm a simple enough guy to still enjoy that after 20 years of flying. Not everyone does. Some are over it by year 2.
-You'll spend a lot of time away from home. I have no kids and an independent wife, am fairly restless and don't like to stay in one place for long, so it's perfect for me. But for a homebody or someone with kids or a needy wife, it could be torture.
-You're in a notoriously unstable industry & stand an excellent chance of finding yourself out of work & unable to find similar employment at some point, or at least having to change employment at lower pay a few times.
-The industry is primarily concentrated in major population centers, particularly in the eastern half of the country, and you need to be willing to relocate numerous times throughout your career or else have the huge stress, time & financial burden of commuting.
-The regionals are pretty soul-destroying. If your individual airline doesn't treat you like dirt, their major airline partner will, and if the major doesn't treat you like dirt, a portion of their pilots will. And if everyone treats you well and life is pretty good, you're likely expensive enough that you'll shortly find yourself losing flying to someone who's being treated very poorly/cheaply indeed. Rinse and repeat for a decade or better. It's really tough to keep a positive attitude and see better things ahead, as many posters here demonstrate on a daily basis.
-12 years after graduating, I still have much of my student loan debt, and flying is almost twice as expensive as when I went through. The return on investment simply isn't there until you get to the majors, and when you get there is a total crapshoot that depends as much on luck as good choices or personal qualities you may have. Have had a few friends get there after 3-5 years at the regionals, quite a few more with 10+ years and no nibbles yet.

Now, this is the stuff nobody told me when I started 20 years ago, because forums weren't around then & none of my family or friends were pilots. Had airlinepilotcentral been around, I probably still would have gone into aviation, because I ate, drank and slept flying as a teen. But I'm a very distinct minority. Most of my college aviation friends were going into it for money, lifestyle, etc. Many of them stopped flying after 9/11. And right now it's basically only the aviation nerd kids that are still going through. Ergo, readily available information on quality of career = pilot shortage (or scarcity, if you will).